Les candidats UMP Didier Robert et Philippe Richert qui sauvent l'honneur à La Réunion et en Alsace, les ministres Xavier Darcos et Valérie Létard nettement distancés par leurs rivaux PS, les Le Pen père et fille, qui créent (encore) la surprise. Le point sur les gagnants et les perdants.

FRANCE Sans surprise, la gauche l’a emporté au second tour de ces élections régionales en France. Une large victoire sans appel face à la droite dans la quasi-totalité des régions. Un scrutin, dernier test avant la présidentielle de 2012, qui va avoir des conséquences sur la vie politique française. Dans une déclaration depuis Matignon, François Fillon reconnaît le «succès des listes de gauche», qui représente une «déception pour la majorité». Reuters / Philippe Wojazer

LIBREVILLE - Visite surprise, constat de fuite, réparation: depuis près de trois semaines, le gouvernement gabonais mène une "opération ...

If you think the delightfully bizarre world of the new Alice in Wonderland movie (opening today) exists only on the big screen, you're in for a surprise. In reality, many places around the USA cater to the quirky and downright weird. Janet Friedman...

Je te poursuis, tu me poursuis. En matière de technologie, le brevet est l'arme privilégiée pour défendre sa création et surtout ses parts de marché. Avec l'explosion du celui des smartphones, chacun place ses pions. Mardi, l'action d'Apple contre le fabricant HTC est vue par beaucoup comme une salve dirigée contre Google/Android. Bienvenue en plein Guerre froide.

Que vise la plainte d'Apple ?
Explicitement, des smartphones fabriqués par le constructeur taiwanais HTC (le Nexus One, G1 et Hero, entre autre). Dans le communiqué de presse, Apple parle d'une «infraction concernant 20 brevets liés à l'interface utilisateur, l'architecture et le hardware de l'iPhone».

Que viennent faire Google et Microsoft là-dedans ?
Dans la plainte, les brevets cités concernent principalement la partie logicielle des téléphones (notamment la gestion du multitouch). Or, les systèmes d'exploitation des mobiles en question ne sont pas développés par HTC mais par Google (pour Android) et Microsoft (Windows Mobile).

Pourquoi aujourd'hui ?
HTC a visiblement été pris par surprise, apprenant la plainte d'Apple via la presse. Mais cela fait un moment qu'Apple prépare la bataille. L'an dernier, à la sortie du Palm Pre, Apple avait prévenu qu'il protégerait sa «propriété intellectuelle» jusqu'au bout. Les relations entre Apple et Google se sont dégradées à mesure que Google poursuivaient sa percée sur la marché des téléphones. Son PDG, Eric Schmidt, a quitté le board d'Apple l'an dernier. Le lancement du Nexus One, vendu directement par Google, a été le coup de grâce. Jusqu'à présent, Google avait bridé le multitouch aux Etats-Unis, semble-t-il, pour ne pas froisser son rival. Mais début février, une mise à jour d'Android pour le Nexus One a mis fin à cela.

Les brevets, comment ça marche ?
C'est compliqué. La situation diffère selon les pays (la portée des brevets logiciels est bien plus limitée dans l'Union européenne, par exemple). Mais l’avocat Eric Goldman, directeur des études du High Tech Law Institute de Santa Clara, au cÅ“ur de la Silicon Valley, l'explique à 20minutes.fr: «Des brevets, ce sont parfois des centaines de pages ultra techniques. Pour prouver qu'un concurrent se trouve en infraction, il ne s'agit pas de l'attaquer sur un alinéa précis. Il faut prouver qu'il viole conjointement toute une série de spécifications».

Qui a quoi à gagner ?
En général, le but final, explique le juriste, «c'est que la justice impose un droit de licence au concurrent pour utiliser une technologie». Cela peut parfois se monter à plusieurs centaines de millions de dollars. Parfois, comme avec Palm, il ne s'agit –jusqu'ici– que d'agiter la menace de la poursuite judiciaire, un peu comme l'arme atomique.

Pourquoi Apple semble plus agressif ?
C'est l'effet «nouvel élève qui débarque». Le feuilleton avec Nokia en est un bon exemple. Nokia fait partie de ceux qui ont développé les standards GSM/UMTS. D'autres, comme Sony-Ericson et Samsung, ont participé. Entre eux, ils s'accordent des licences gratuitement, ou à moindre coût, rappelle le New York Times. Apple, le petit dernier, refuserait de payer les royalties exigées par Nokia, qui a donc dégainé ses avocats à l'automne dernier, avant qu'Apple ne riposte. Ce dernier se bat principalement sur le terrain du logiciel. Pourtant, il n'a pas inventé le multitouch. «Mais Apple essaie d'expliquer que la manière dont il l'a intégré dans les smartphones a été reprise par la compétition», poursuit Eric Goldman.

Et maintenant ?
Dur à dire. La cour du Delaware et surtout l'International Trade Commission vont examiner les arguments des deux partis. HTC, fondé en 1997, dispose d'un catalogue de brevet moins épais qu'Apple. Il faudra voir si Microsoft et Google s'en mêlent. Une chose est certaine: ce dernier épisode ne va pas calmer ceux qui réclament une vaste réforme du système des brevets.

Source : 20minutes ...

It's no surprise given the current hype level, but there are no less than three 3D programming announcements making the rounds today. Two of the three deal with—surprise!—sporting events. More »

It's no surprise given the current hype level, but there are no less than three 3D programming announcements making the rounds today. Two of the three deal with—surprise!—sporting events. More »

Broadway now beckons for 28-year-old Katori Hall, whose play had world premiere on tiny pub stage

It was meant to be the glittering awards night where Jerusalem went up against Enron. But they were both pipped by a play from a young, black female writer which had its world premiere on a tiny pub stage in south London.

Katori Hall's The Mountaintop was the surprise winner of best new play when this year's Laurence Olivier awards were handed out tonight.

Hall, from Memphis, Tennessee, was inspired to write her play – an imagined account of Martin Luther King's last evening before his 1968 assassination – by a family story about her mother. It was spotted by James Dacre, son of Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, who directed its world premiere at the 65-seat Theatre503, above a pub in Battersea.

From there it was championed by producer Sonia Friedman, who took it to the West End, where it won glowing reviews and nightly standing ovations.

Now Broadway beckons for Hall, who is still only 28. Nica Burns, president of the Society of London Theatres, predicted an even brighter future for the playwright with an Olivier under her belt. "It is a wonderful fairy story and the award is going to a very talented and deserving winner."

Elsewhere, it was a bad Olivier night for Shakespeare, the National Theatre and the English National Opera but a good one for Tennessee Williams, the Royal Opera and the Royal Court theatre.

The last, led by Dominic Cooke, had the most to smile about after tonight's black-tie do at the Grosvenor House hotel in London, having a hand in many of the successful productions.

Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem began life there and it won two awards: best actor for Mark Rylance and best set design for Ultz. It was Rylance's second Olivier, winning from a strong shortlist that included Jude Law, James Earl Jones and Sam West.

Enron, meanwhile – a Royal Court and Chichester co-production written by Lucy Prebble – won Rupert Goold the best director award.

The Royal Court's success continued when Michael Wynne's The Priory won best new comedy and, finally, it won the outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre award for the play Cock.

It was not a bad year either for the Donmar Warehouse. Its production of A Streetcar Named Desire won two acting awards: Rachel Weisz picked up best actress for her stunning Blanche DuBois and Ruth Wilson won best supporting actress for her portrayal of Stella. Further success for the small Covent Garden theatre came when rising star Eddie Redmayne won best supporting actor for his portrayal of Mark Rothko's put-upon assistant in Red.

Williams's Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, with its all-black cast, won best revival, beating strong competition that included The Misanthrope and A View From the Bridge.

In the musical categories the most striking winner was a production that was adored by critics – but failed to get audiences to come and see it.

Spring Awakening, an entertaining teenage sexual angst romp, won best new musical, beating musicals which the public, conversely, are going to see in their droves: Priscilla and Sister Act. Two of its young stars also won acting awards in shortlists that included such famous names as Rowan Atkinson, Sheila Hancock and Maureen Lipman. Aneurin Barnard won best actor in a musical and Iwan Rheon won best supporting actor/actress.

The Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park won best musical revival for Hello Dolly! beating A Little Night Music, Annie Get Your Gun and Oliver! Dolly herself, in the shape of Samantha Spiro, won best musical actress.

A new audience award for most popular show, voted for by members of the public, went to Wicked from a list that also included Billy Elliot, The Phantom of the Opera, War Horse and We Will Rock You.

The Royal Opera's Tristan und Isolde took both opera awards: best new production and outstanding achievement for the Swedish soprano Nina Stemme.

The best new dance award also went to a Covent Garden commission, a collaboration between choreographer Kim Brandstrup and Royal Ballet principal Tamara Rojo. The Rambert Dance Company won the outstanding achievement award for its strong year. A special award, equivalent to a lifetime achievement award, went to theatrical royalty – Dame Maggie Smith – while the theatre producer Michael Codron also won an outstanding achievement award for his 60 influential years in the business.

The awards, now in their 34th year, are decided by panels. The theatre panel, for example, which saw 87 shows, is made up of five professionals and four members of the public. And they come after the strongest West End year ever, with box office receipts topping more than half a billion pounds for the first time.

"Last year, with all the recessionary gloom, I predicted a 10% drop in audiences," said Burns. "I have never been so happy to eat my words."

• Olivier awards
• Awards and prizes
• Theatre

Mark Brownguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Besançon ne succèdera pas à Nîmes au palmarès de la Coupe Challenge. Dimanche, sans surprise après la lourde défaite concédée à l'aller (37-14 !), les Bisontines, malgré une victoire de deux buts (28-26), ont été éliminées au stade des quarts de finale par les Allemandes de Buxtehude.

Lionhead's boss and Fable-creator, Peter Molynuex, has said he believes that PC gaming is in the process of being reborn - with upstart Facebook games changing how players expect to interact with videogames.

"I was born on PC," he told Switched. "The PC was this thing that was completely open-ended. That felt great and when I skipped over to the consoles it felt like being slightly imprisoned by this box... But hey guess what? Now they keep giving us this new hardware stuff. Natal and Move... it feels a bit more PCish."

He continued: "The surprising thing about the PC, that is just starting to happen now, is that gaming is being reborn on the PC."

"You've got things like Facebook, everyone's talking about Facebook games. There's this company called Zynga and they've made these Facebook games, 88 million people [play them], and everybody who's making these big opus epics are jealous looking at these Zynga new kids on the block."

"It feels like everything that has evolved in gaming is all changing at the moment. It's changing radically," Molynuex said, explaining why he thought Facebook games could attract large audiences.

"We all want to suggest things to our friends, we want to involve our friends... there is a very interesting future there. Just the very fact that you can show off a little bit, in Farmville's case you can show off your farm. I think there is a real rich future there and I don't see why all types of games, from enormous triple-A blockbusters to the smallest ones can't incorporate that level of interaction."

Molyneux also commented on Fable III, saying that Lionhead wanted to upset gamers' expectations with a different experience than the prior two titles had.

"We could make Fable III like any sequel ... but I think we need to surprise people," he said.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS

Comme la semaine dernière, les résultats des élections régionales 2010, 2ième tour, vont tomber en direct live sur Google Maps.
Il y a bien sur plusieurs autres sources comme par exemple le compte Twitter de Regionales 2010.
Le taux de participation risque fort de ne pas être très élevé, peut être un peu plus que la semaine dernière, mais personnellement je ne cache de voir ce qu'il va se passer dans le Languedoc Roussillon, même si je ne crois pas qu'il y ai de surprises.
On apprend aussi, comme à chaque élections françaises, que des sites étrangers vont nous donner les résultats des élections avant l'heure, comme s'ils pouvaient le faire. C'est le cas de Le Temps ( en Suisse ) ou Le Soir ( en Belgique )
image


Article original écrit par Philippe LAGANE et publié sur AccessOWeb

Le Hertha Berlin, lanterne rouge, a créé la surprise dimanche soir en s'imposant largement sur la pelouse de Wolfsburg sur le score de 5 buts à 1.

À moins d’une surprise de dernière minute, la seule région où se tient un réel suspense est l’Alsace. Dans toutes les autres, la gauche plurielle était donnée grande favorite à l’issue du premier tour (y compris en Corse qui est masquée sur mon dessin).

Le premier opus, qui est sorti fin 2009, avait créé une bonne surprise mais on lui reprochait d'avoir une maniabilité assez exécrable. C'est alors qu'un nouvel épisode a été annoncé et c'est aujourd'hui qu'il est possible d'avoir plus d'informations sur celui-ci. On apprend donc que le jeu sera ponctué de 120 niveaux avant d'en voir la fin et que la caméra ne sera plus aussi embêtante que l'a été celle du grand-frère. On nous dit aussi qu'il sera plus facile d'éditer les niveaux et qu'il sera possible d'attacher les cordes n'importe où sur un objet. Ce sera tout pour le moment, ce sera sûrement lors de l'E3 qui arrive à grands pas où nous auront des informations plus consistante ainsi qu'une probable date de sortie.

Hey..
I've caught myself several times reading these ads, but I must admit that I'm a bit lazy to answer, it's definitlely easier to write one. Here it goes.
My motivations are not that extravagant, I'd like to meet someone with whom I could share interesting things and above all, to learn and develop different ways of looking at the world.
Since I don't suffer from the feminine usual discursive mania and don't have a particular passion for the sound of my own voice (which is nevertheless actually very pleasant), I've realized that my so interpreted connivance allows people to design my character as they want. It's very interesting, for sure, anthropologically speaking. I get the chance to learn with an acute subtlety the most diverse perspectives and angles with which humans can interpret things. But one day it becomes monotone, I get bored and leave. People don't understand, they ask why, and I ask them: why didn't you ask before...? Timing.
So... Sharing... Would be infinitely better.
Ah. Important distinction. I can speak a lot, when pertinent and in a context of dialogue.
Besides, about me... I study, I work when I have to, I've lived in several countries, travelled a lot, met lots of people from the most different backgrounds, I cry in every classical concert I go and in the end of most romances, copiously. I'm quite elegant and good looking, of course it matters. And I passionately love surprises.

Hope you're not as lazy as I am... :)

Cheers!

Certains d'entre-vous l'ont déjà remarqué : il est maintenant possible de s'inscrire sur Consomac ! Grâce à compte commun entre les forums et le site, vous pouvez réserver votre pseudo et réagir aux dépêches bien plus simplement qu'auparavant, notre système se chargeant de se souvenir de vos identifiants et de vos réglages. Des petites surprises sont également au rendez-vous, et d'autres sont prévues pour les prochains mois. Pour bénéficier des avantages des Comptes Consomac, ils vous suffit donc de vous inscrire, gratuitement bien sûr, sur nos forums.

Les pompiers de Bruxelles mènent actuellement une action surprise depuis le carrefour Léonard en direction de la rue de Loi où se tient un conclave budgétaire.

UFO Interactive Games Inc. a annoncé la sortie prochaine du jeu de puzzle Florist Shop sur Nintendo DS.

Dans ce jeu, vous incarnerez Rose, une douce jeune fille qui vient juste de quitter son emploi de bureau pour poursuivre un rêve, celui de mettre sur pied une boutique de fleurs.

Vos objectifs ? Parvenir au meilleur score, servir vos clients, faire évoluer votre entreprise...

12 outils différents pour améliorer vos bouquets vous seront proposés ainsi que 80 niveaux !

Mais UFO a décidé de nous gâter en nous annonçant également la sortie de XG Blast sur DS en été 2010 !

Il s'agit d'un shooter arcade dans un style rétro lumineux et coloré dans lequel il vous sera loisible d'utiliser les fonctionnalités de votre vaisseau en vous battant par exemple contre d'innombrables escadrons de navires ennemis, alors que vous errez en territoire hostile dans le cadre de votre mission...

Plusieurs types d'armes seront disponibles ainsi que différents modes de jeu.

Enfin, connaissez-vous le dicton qui dit "Jamais deux sans trois" ?

Il se prête particulièrement bien à cette grande occasion, car UFO nous annonce la sortie d'un troisième jeu sur DS en été 2010 : Monster Racers !!!

Dans ce jeu, vous partirez en quête à travers le monde, à la recherche de monstres à former, nourrir et faire courir contre d'autres monstres.

Tout au long de cette aventure, vous devrez construire des amitiés durables avec des nouveaux alliés et relever des défis lancés par des formateurs rivaux.

Vous aurez l'opportunité de capturer des monstres sauvages dans leur habitat natif et grâce à la connexion Wifi, jusqu'à 4 participants pourront s'affronter en tournoi ou capturer des monstres en mode safari.

Cet été s'annonce chaud !!

Ideal shared housing. Nice room available immediately! For personal occupancy.

Reasonable $600 a month, truly all inclusive! NOT ONLY electricity, hot water, heat, BUT ALSO laundry, telephone, furniture, AND EVEN high class appliances, high speed Internet, high quality satellite TV!

Yes! FREE utilities (real savings for you). FREE laundry (washer & dryer at home). FREE Internet (unlimited Wi-Fi). FREE television (over 120 channels). FREE phone line (no-limit local calls). FREE parking. One of the best neighbourhood -- friendly and safe -- priceless!

No matter where your are from (student or professional, welcome!). No matter long or short term stay (monthly). No matter when you like to move in (flexible starting date). No hidden fees. No bills to pay. No surprise rate-hikes. No deposit needed. No smoking. No pets. No problem!

Your private bedroom is fully FURNISHED: single size bed, comfortable mattress, study desk, deluxe chair, closet space, floor lamp, reading lamp, chest of drawers, duvet, pillow, bed sheet, drapes/curtains. Second floor of a charming triplex in great condition. Stylish stone wall. Hardwood floors, high ceilings, spacious house, huge windows. Sunny, bright, and most importantly, very clean!

TWO bathrooms with shower/bathtub and twin sinks. Modern kitchen/dining room completely equipped with top-of-the-line appliances: stainless-steel refrigerator, smooth-top stove, range hood, microwave oven, toaster, coffee maker. What's more? Rice cooker, dishware, utensils, lots of cabinets. Extra: dining table set. Plus: premium smoke alarm. Bonus: a terrific terrace!

CONVENIENT location! Corner of major street in the heart of Montreal island. 5 minutes bus to Rosemont metro station; 15 minutes to get to downtown or universities. Easy access to public transportation: main bus routes 197, 45, 10, 18...

Close to all: convenience store downstairs, cafe bar across the street, bank on next block, 24-hour restaurants around the corner, supermarket within walking distance. Relax at the beautiful Parc Père-Marquette, or enjoy the nearby recreation center (FREE indoor swimming pool, FREE ice-skating arena).

Call (or text) now: 514-831-7788 Gordy. Reference preferred.

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Disponible dès maintenant! Une belle chambre meublée. Pour une seule personne. Grande maison à partager. Date et durée flexible selon vos besoins. Location long ou court terme. $600/mois tout compris, même internet et télé-satellite! 2 salles de bain communes. Cuisine complètement équipée. L'endroit est propre et calme. Un des plus beaux quartiers de la ville. Situé en plein coeur de l'île de Montréal. 5 minutes en autobus à station métro Rosemont, ligne orange. Non fumeur. Pas d'animaux.

Très confortable. Très abordable! Inclus dans le prix: électricité, eau chaude, chauffage, internet sans-fil haute-vitesse illimité, télévision satellite (120 canaux), téléphone. En plus: laveuse, sécheuse, réfrigérateur, cuisinière, four micro-ondes, grille-pain, cafetière, vaisselle, verrerie, ustensiles, serviettes et table. Aussi, entretien ménager des parties communes.

Au 2e étage d'une maison triplex charmante. L'espace privée, soit votre chambre, est entièrement meublée et comprend d'un lit simple, literie, bureau de travail, chaise, commode, garde-robe. Grandes fenêtres de qualité supérieure. Beaucoup de soleil. Puits de lumière. Propre et éclairé. Bien décoré. Planchers de bois francs. Hauts plafonds. Accès à une grande terrasse extérieure.

Découvrir et profiter pleinement le Montréal. Vers l'université, centre ville, etc: 15 minutes. Proche de les transports publics, choix lignes d'autobus: #197, 45, 10, 18... Secteur paisible et agréable. Quartier résidentiel plaisant, tranquille et sécuritaire. Stationnement facile.

On 21 March 1960 the South African police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters who were part of political campaign organized by the Pan African Congress (PAC) against pass laws. It is estimated that 69 people were killed on that day in the township of Sharpeville. This horrific event is commonly known as Sharpeville Massacre .

Sharpeville massacre was the turning point in the history of political resistance to Apartheid in South Africa. Since 1994, 21 March is Human Rights Day in South Africa. March 21 is also the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in memory of the massacre.

Every March 21st, Rethabile posts his own poem to remember Sharpeville massacre. His Sharpeville poem for this year is posted on Black Looks:

the day king walked
from selma to montgomery,
the tops of trees shook
as in a forest, and shivered
for this man who had crossed a line
of centuries in the south, but
even more south, we worried for our lot,
resolved as we were to break you,
but you to put us with our ancestors.
of course there have never been questions:
why shoot them in the back? why shoot them?
why shoot? why? but our name got its shrine
where the children now gather,
for sixty-nine of us lay on the street
on that day in march sixty. as others
filled hospitals and covered cell-floors
with clenched bodies, dachau
was completed, stowe published her book,
alcatraz was shut down for good, and
we moved from non-whites
to non-carriers of passbooks.
© Rethabile Masilo

He also posts a poem by South African political activist and poet Dennis Brutus. It is titled, “A Poem About Sharpeville”:

What is important
about Sharpeville
is not that seventy died:
nor even that they were shot in the back
retreating, unarmed, defenseless
and certainly not
the heavy caliber slug
that tore through a mother’s back
and ripped through the child in her arms
killing it
Remember Sharpeville
bullet-in-the-back day
Because it epitomized oppression
and the nature of society
more clearly than anything else;
it was the classic event
Nowhere is racial dominance
more clearly defined
nowhere the will to oppress
more clearly demonstrated
what the world whispers
apartheid with snarling guns
the blood lust after
South Africa spills in the dust
Remember Sharpeville
Remember bullet-in-the-back day
And remember the unquenchable will for freedom
Remember the dead
and be glad.
© Dennis Brutus

Travel Blog Portfolio wishes all South Africans a safe and peaceful Human Rights day and ask them to learn more about Sharpeville Day.

How could such atrocities happen and no one is punished?, asks Sokari Ekine:

It’s been a long time coming, but change is gonna come, sang Sam Cooke about America. He could have been singing about South Africa, or the world, even. For what is baffling is how Sharpeville 1960, Soweto 1976, King’s and X’s murders, the Civil Rights movement, Mandela’s 27 years in jail, not to mention the thousands tortured and killed in South Africa, and tortured and lynched in America, what is baffling is how these have not entered the minds of all and instructed them on the evils of discrimination and segregation in all its forms. That is truly baffling to me.

It is also amazingly stunning that all these things happened and almost no one got punished for it, no international hunt for the wrong-doers, no motivation to see them “brought to justice,” as George Bush the son would say about so many who had committed so less. Today is a day to remember and to know why it should be remembered

Alpha Christian discusses the link between Good Friday, Human Rights Day and Sharpeville Day:

In a recent column in the Beeld, Nico Botha, deals with this anomaly where the Good Friday falls on the same date as the Human Rights Day, or, even better, the commemoration of Sharpeville Day. For many the debate was whether we will loose a public holiday as workers.

Where are we to find the key to link Good Friday to the significance of today, Human Rights day, Sharpeville day ?
I believe the little dialogue between Jesus and Pilate helps us to start to understand this link.

Michael Trapido remembers this day in his post on Thought Leader titled Sharpeville Redux and a Bit More:

On that fateful day a group of between 5 000 and 7 000 people converged on the local police station in the township of Sharpeville, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books.

As the large crowd gathered the atmosphere was peaceful and festive with less than 20 police officers in the station at the start of the protest. Police and military tried using low-flying jet fighters in an attempt disperse the crowd without success.

As a result the police set up Saracen armoured vehicles in a line facing the protesters and, at 13:15, incredibly, opened fire on the crowd.

He continues:

The official casualties were 69 people killed, including 8 women and 10 children, with more than 180 injured.

To date the worst case of police insanity in the history of this country.

As a result there followed a spontaneous uprising among black South Africans with demonstrations, protest marches, strikes, and riots taking place throughout the country.

This led to the government declaring a state of emergency on March 30 1960, which saw more than 18 000 people detained.

Texas In Africa notes that Sharpeville was the first major turning point in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and that the massacre led to the militarisation of the anti-apartheid movement:

The rest of the world started to question the regime's racist policies much more openly; South Africa left the commonwealth a year later.

It also provoked the militarization of the anti-apartheid movement. The ANC's militant wing, MK (Umkhonto wa Sizwe) and Poqo, the military wing of the PAC, both formed soon after the massacre. The next thirty years were marked with horrific acts of violence before - to almost everyone's surprise - the evil of apartheid ended peacefully.

Five years later to the day, American civil rights protesters led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began marching from Selma to Montgomery. The attempt by 600 marchers to do the same thing three weeks earlier culminated in Bloody Sunday, an attack by local and state law enforcement officials. With a protective order from a federal judge, five times as many marchers turned out for the March 21 walk. A few months later, LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act, which effectively ended the last vestiges of legal discrimination in the south.

My students (whom, you will remember, are almost all black men) sometimes debate the question: “Are you a Malcolm or a Martin?” What they mean by this is, “Is social change best achieved through peaceful means (as MLK carried out his work) or violent means (as Malcolm X advocated)?”

I cannot even begin to claim to be qualified to answer this question. If we look at political history, it's clear that MLK's nonviolent methods worked to restore voting rights and some degree of social equality for American minorities, and they worked relatively quickly. MK and Poqo's violent methods certainly also had an effect on the apartheid regime, although the struggle was very long and ultimately did not end because of violence but rather because of economic turmoil and Mandela's willingness to negotiate a peaceful settlement with de Klerk. But nothing approaching true equality of economic opportunity has happened for the vast majority of blacks in either country.

Abioye discusses the international dimension of Sharpeville Day:

In 1966 the General Assembly of the UN proclaimed March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The UN called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. The Canadian government and various institutions in Canada including Carleton University and the University of Toronto, colluded with the white supremacist apartheid government of South Africa by refusing to
divest and continuing to trade with the government and South African companies.

South Africa Good News has posted a statement from Nelson Mandela Foundation:

March 21, 2010, marks 50 years since 69 unarmed protestors were killed by South African police outside a police station in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg.

Nelson Mandela burning his pass on March 28, 1960, in protest to the atrocities at SharpevilleWhen commemorating Human Rights day, during his presidency, Nelson Mandela said: “21 March is South African Human Rights Day. It is a day which, more than many others, captures the essence of the struggle of the South African people and the soul of our non-racial democracy. March 21 is the day on which we remember and sing praises to those who perished in the name of democracy and human dignity. It is also a day on which we reflect and assess the progress we are making in enshrining basic human rights and values.”

Mauvaise surprise, hier soir, samedi, pour ceux qui attendaient le premier épisode de la série "New York Unité Spéciale" qui devait débuter à 23h10, s...

This year's Emerald City Con was... an extraordinary experience.

Truthfully, I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around some of it. Doing our Artist's Alley table as a fundraiser for the Cartooning Class was very much a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment decision, we weren't organized about it at all... and I was very moved, and a little awed, at how well the kids came through. Not just the current students but many of our grads, as well.

The experience could be summed up in this exchange between our friend Lorinda and myself. At one point, I shook my head and muttered, "This is so amazing... I mean, teaching, it's like putting a note in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean, you never really know how it's going to work out."

Rin replied, "Well, you sure had a lot of bottles come back this weekend."

We took a lot of pictures and I think I'll just run those for you and talk a little bit about each one.

*

This is what it looked like before we opened.

And another.

This is the last time we would experience quiet until Sunday evening. LATE Sunday evening. My ears are still ringing a little.

Outside, the crowd was milling around panting to get in.

Clearly, convention security was going to be overtaxed so the stormtroopers thought they'd assist with crowd control.

And then we were off....

This may give you a little bit of an idea of the swarms that descended once the doors were open. Saturday, in particular, was Hell Day.

Fortunately, we had a great crew. I honestly don't know how Julie and I ever used to do this by ourselves. It takes a teenage metabolism to keep up with the Saturday hordes at a convention.

In the rear we have Rachel, Aja, and that's Katrina under the mop, with our friend Rin in the front. Rachel decided to be Rogue again this year, as you can see. Katrina wanted to dress up too but couldn't decide on an outfit (she'd brought a couple.) This is the one she started with, a character of her own named Connor, but Connor only lasted till noon or so.

Once again this year, we won the lottery by having awesome neighbors. One one side we had Jeffrey Ellis and the crew from Cloudscape Comics, a small-press artists-collective outfit based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I bought their anthology book EXPLODED VIEW partly to say thanks for putting up with us but it turns out that I really like it.

It looks a lot like a grown-up version of what we do in class, actually -- every member of the group contributes a few pages' worth of work and then there's bios in the back. Same basic format, just with real production values. A lot of good stuff in here.

On the other side we had Two Percent Solution.

They do a raunchy humor self-published book and a podcast as well.

I'm so embarrassed I can't remember their names -- I know I introduced myself at some point, but I couldn't really hear them very well. The echo chamber in the hall, once the crowds were in, made it nearly impossible to converse on Saturday. But they were great, swore up and down they loved being next to us and claimed we brought them a lot of extra traffic. They were especially hilarious about pretending to almost-swear in front of the kids but they never actually did.

Since we were doing a for-real fundraiser, and thus actually accepting money, our setup changed a little this year.

The idea was that we had students on the left, alumni on the right. As people would approach, the kids would offer them a giveaway book, and if they stopped, then they'd volunteer to sign it.

Ben, Marie, and Eileen, working hard.

Then Katie or myself would explain about the budget shortfall and collecting for donations, and add that anything over $10 got you a custom sketch from an alum. More often than not, they'd at least stop and admire the sample sketches we had up, and put a couple of bucks in the box.

Here's a customer getting The Spiel. Marie, especially, was really good at explaining to people what we were doing.

Many did in fact commission sketches.

Once we were set up it went fairly smoothly despite being a bit cramped, up against the wall as we were.

That's me and my boss, Katie. For the last seven years I've exhorted my various supervisors at school to come to the convention and really see how hard the kids work, but this was the first time anyone took me up on it. It really was a lot of fun having Katie there as she knew nothing about comics, conventions, or geek culture in general. But she adapted quickly. Watching her take in the experience was a lot of fun, and by the end of her day there she was a complete convert. At one point Katie was even speculating on the possibility of doing this kind of thing more often and wondering what other shows there were that we could attend as a class. The Stumptown Festival in Portland, especially, was a possibility we talked about quite a bit. (Katie was also interested in hearing about WonderCon and APE, but I told her, "Baby steps. I'm only just now getting to a place where I think I know how to get us to THIS show.")

The alumni were kept very busy sketching all day both days.

Fortunately they love to draw but my GOD they worked hard. I wish I'd gotten more shots of their work, it was of an extraordinarily high level, especially the high school kids. I was so proud of all of them and the way they've all kept learning and growing as artists, years after leaving my charge.

I did get a few. Here's one of Aja's.

And this is one of Katrina's custom commissions. She asked the lady what she wanted and the woman said, "Well, I like octopuses." (Yes, I know it's octopi but that's what she said.)

For a second I thought Katrina was going to be stuck but then she blew out this caricature of the woman herself with an octopus on her head. Yeah, the kids are THAT good.

Some people were kind of crass about it. This mother, especially, was really annoying. First she wanted to know what she'd be getting for her ten dollars.

It takes a special kind of chutzpah to haggle with a sixteen-year-old volunteer over your CHARITABLE ACT.

Katrina rather helplessly pointed to the samples, but it developed that this woman wanted to see the actual sketch before she would pay for it.

And this woman wanted something special, too-- a caricature of her two boys... an action pose of the two of them in their martial arts class. Geez lady, demanding much?

Here's Katrina working on the commission -- I cropped her out, but cheapskate Mom is hovering just out of frame, watching like a hawk to make sure she gets her money's worth.

Katrina was amazingly diplomatic about it. I thought Rin was going to go ballistic on the woman and I had to squelch a few sharp remarks myself. She deserved some kind of smack.

The two boys with the final product. I think they were a little embarrassed over how their mother treated Katrina.

Fortunately, the finished product satisfied everyone and we got the ten bucks.

But most of our visitors were much nicer. You remember Rachel's shot of the X-Men at the beach?

Guess who got that one.

Yeah, that's Matt Fraction, proud new owner of Rachel's X-Men Beach Party. This may be my favorite photo from the show. Only in comics do moments like this happen: my former student Rachel, the world's most ardent fan of the X-Men, posing with Matt Fraction, current writer of the X-Men comic, who's just told her that her cartoon is brilliant, that he would love to do a scene of the team at the beach and that she's caught all their personalities perfectly.

Matt was great with all the kids. He signed autographs, talked with them about comics, and generally was awesome. Here he is signing an autograph for Emma.

It was only a couple of minutes out of his day but I know how hard it can be to get away from your table when you're working a show, and it really meant a lot to the students to have a pro take such an interest. Even my students, whose comics fandom usually begins and ends with manga, know who Iron Man and the X-Men are. They were thrilled that he stopped by.

Michael Alan Nelson also visited our table briefly.

The kids loved him too, though they had only the vaguest idea of who he was -- I explained he worked for Boom! Comics and I think many of them had the idea he worked on the Muppets or something, since that was always where the line was over there. I enjoyed getting to meet him at last -- I interviewed him here a while back, but it was via e-mail and we'd never met in person. I am a big fan of his Fall Of Cthulhu series, and I got Swordsmith Assassin at the show as well, since Chip Mosher sent us the first issue for review and I liked it quite a lot, I'd been meaning to pick it up for a while now... though I forgot to ask Mr. Nelson to sign it. Too busy chitchatting.

I was mostly at our table all weekend, but Julie got out some. There was no way she was missing Leonard Nimoy.

She was actually in panels for most of Saturday, she also went to see Wil Wheaton and Stan Lee. Of them all, I think Julie was the most impressed with Nimoy's, she said he was "inspiring."

As for me, well, I was enjoying my time at the table because it was turning into old home week. We had many visitors from past classes -- Amethyst, Jessica, Shane, Andrew, and Jay, among others. Some I hardly recognized because they're, you know, adults now. (The last time I saw Jay he was a scrawny little soft-spoken kid. Today he's in his twenties, six feet tall and ponytailed, very outgoing with an infectious laugh. And of course his voice is an octave lower.)

Some even volunteered to put in some time sketching for us, which melted me. Lindon popped up out of nowhere and immediately wanted to put in some table time. Of course I agreed.

A lot of the kids dressed up this year, too. Saturday Lindon was in street clothes, but Sunday she was Pikachu.

I took this one just because it made me laugh.

That's right, Pikachu supports Cartooning in schools!

This is Lindon and Devon. I shot this because when Lindon has her head down -- even today, she always draws with her nose to the paper like that, it can't be comfortable but she always has to get way down there -- anyway, it tickles me because it looks like Pikachu is sitting at the table.

Lots of parents volunteered time too.

That's Marie, Ben, and Eileen, under the watchful eye of Gus' mother Marilyn. She looks a little annoyed, not because of the three kids but because her own son has abandoned his post again.

I get three kinds of students -- the ones who want to write, the ones who want to draw, and the ones who just want to geek out and be surrounded by comics. Gus is one of the geeks. He will produce drawings if you lean on him, but for him the point of being at a con is to get cool stuff. All I ask of the kids is to put in a ninety-minute shift at our table on the day they attend, but Gus could hardly bring himself to even do that much, he'd brought money and it was burning a hole in his pocket. First it was Leonard Nimoy's autograph -- even if you brought your own item for him to sign it was still a wince-worthy forty dollars -- and then he negotiated an advance on his allowance to go buy some comics.

Marilyn has always been one of my favorite parents and her reaction to this was completely charming. She ordered Gus to stay at the table and do his job. Then she went off to go get her son's comics herself. Naturally, not being an expert, she consulted me.

"Randy's Readers," I told her. "He's your guy. He sells comics that aren't collectible, just in average shape... his market is people that don't really Collect with a capital C, but only want to read comics. If I ever get a chance to take a break I was thinking of stopping over there myself, to be honest."

Marilyn agreed that was the place to go and the girls were exhorting me to take some kind of a break, and Marie wanted to come too, so off we went.

Marilyn explained that Gus wanted war comics. "So violent," she said, ruefully.

Gus did the tank for the group poster. He's all about the war comics.

I laughed. "Well, I grew up on blood and thunder myself, it's not all that damaging really. The key is that there has to be a story, I try to make sure they aren't just doing a videogame shoot-'em-up. There's a fine old tradition of war comics that did great stories, Sgt. Rock, G.I. Combat, Unknown Soldier.... we'll find him some of the good stuff."

Marilyn perked up. "Yes, I know Gus liked that Unknown Soldier book you loaned him. I was going to try and find some of those."

I brought this to class to show the boys that even hardcore shoot-em-ups still had to have a STORY. For Gus it was love at first sight.

Mission defined, we now moved with a clear purpose. Once we were at Randy's booth Randy himself stepped in and was very helpful, explaining to Marilyn that there was the Unknown Soldier series from Star-Spangled War Storiesand then there were the ones in his own book.

"What's the difference?" Marilyn wanted to know.

"Later ones are probably cheaper," I told her, smiling. "But I don't think Gus will care that much, he'd enjoy any of them."

As for me, in showing the various war series to Marilyn I stumbled across this one and decided I couldn't pass it up for six bucks.

Sorry, Gus, I got this one.

Our Army At War #269, a reprint of stories featuring work by Joe Kubert, George Evans, John Severin, Russ Heath, and even Mort Drucker (!) I could spend hours just looking at the pictures in this one.

I also fell for a couple of Superboy Giant reprint collections from my childhood that I'd been trying to replace for a while. Mostly these days I'm a trade paperback guy, but nostalgia can still get me.

Marie said curiously, "I know who Superman is, but I never heard of Superboy."

"It's like Smallville, only he actually wears the costume," I heard myself say, and suddenly felt a hundred years old as i realized there's probably two generations of schoolkids now who know Smallville as 'their' Superman the way I think of Bates-Maggin-Swan Bronze-Age Superman as 'mine.'

When we got back I told Gus he had the coolest mother ever. "At your age I'd have killed for a mom who said, 'you finish your work, I'll go make sure you get your comics.' That's unheard of."

Gus blushed, grinned sheepishly, and gave his mother a hug. Marilyn beamed and said, "I have my moments."

There wasn't time for me to do a whole lot of shopping -- there never is -- but Rin found a dealer who had a big box full of graphic novels and trades for $5 and I fell for a couple of those, too.

Empire is one of those late 1970s Byron Preiss productions where he was deliberately trying to move comics into a bookstore market -- about twenty-five years too soon, it turned out, but he produced some handsome books when he was trying. This one was an original piece by Samuel Delany and Howard Chaykin, hoping to scoop up some of that newly-minted SF audience that Star Wars created back then. I'd never actually read it and I've always been curious about it. Holliday I've never heard of, but I'm always up for a Western comic, and for a $5 trade paperback it's hard to go wrong.

Most of our shopping, though, we tried to do in Artist's Alley itself as much as possible. We like to support the creators. Julie picked up the new Muppet book from Boom! where Amy Mebberson was -- you should pardon the expression -- doing a BOOMing business.

Possibly the most popular artist at the show this year.

She was kept busy all weekend. A lovely lady, she was great with all the kids that came up to her and sketched Kermits and Animals and Miss Piggys till her hands were raw, most likely. I don't think a single kid went away empty-handed.

And I made it a point to pick up a bunch of stuff from Camilla d'Errico on Sunday morning. I was able to catch her a few minutes before the show opened, when it was actually possible to have a conversation.

Camilla's a favorite with my kids.

Camilla has been a great friend to my students for many years now... they don't remember her name but they all know the Awesome Manga Lady From Vancouver. I bought about $25 worth of stuff from her because A) I can use it in class and B) she deserves to be rich and I do what I can. She had a line all weekend but I did get to chat with her for a few minutes on Sunday morning. Largely on what became the typical Sunday conversation topic in Artist's Alley, "Great to see you, sorry I didn't come by earlier, we were stuck at the table.... My God! Wasn't yesterday hell? How many people did YOU get?" Everyone loved the increase in business but hated fighting through the crowds on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon I did get around a little bit. I got a couple of books signed from Kurt Busiek and Len Wein, and I had a flattering couple of minutes with Les McClaine, original artist on The Middleman. He saw my badge and said, "Hey, Greg Hatcher! I love your column!"

Seriously. I was shocked speechless. I spluttered and fumfuh'd and blushed like a schoolgirl, finally managing to choke out that I was a huge fan of his, that my students and I all adored The Middleman. This pleased him, and we agreed that it was a shame it didn't last but it was great to have something that cool exist at all.

And I got to say hi to Pete and Rebecca Woods, from Periscope Studios. We hadn't seen Rebecca in about six years, she hadn't come to ECCC in a while, so it was great to catch up. Rebecca immediately wanted to know how Brianna was doing, since when Bri was my student years ago she practically camped out at the Periscope Studios table, and Rebecca happily adopted her. I told her that Bri wanted desperately to come this year but she had finals up at Bellingham, she was in college up at Western. Then we had a mutual groan about how old we are getting.

Because Bri couldn't make it to the convention this year, we wanted to at least let her know she was missed.

When I got the idea to recruit additional Cartooning alumni to do charity sketches for our fundraiser, my first two thoughts were Brianna and Nadine. They're both in college now, and they've kept up with their comics work as well. They were pretty amazing in the seventh grade, and they've only gotten better.

Here's what Bri was doing when she was in my class...

...and here's a more current piece.

Sadly, Brianna had finals or she'd have been there with bells on, she assured us.

Nadine had finals too but she did make it down, which delighted me. She was probably the single most gifted student I've ever had. Her serial "Mermaid's Touch" still gets gasps of awe when the kids go through the old books.

In fact, when Katrina joined my class when she was in middle school, she was so inspired by Nadine's work that she took the same pen name, "KittyBell."

Filed under: Video, Social Software

RandomDorm is a new site that's following in the footsteps of the explosively popular random video chat service Chatroulette, but adding its own twist: it's for college students only. To use RandomDorm, you need a .edu email address or a Facebook account with a .edu address as the primary email. RandomDorm is also limited to the US right now (it's "geotarded," as Lee is fond of saying).

Despite the word "Random" in the name, RandomDorm definitely offers a much smaller variety of characters than Chatroulette. Half the fun of Chatroulette is meeting pranksters and talking to folks in other countries. Randomdorm is definitely about as heavily male as Chatroulette, but so far I've noticed much less full frontal male nudity. I consider this a plus, but tastes may vary.

What might really help RandomDorm take off is the dating angle. Chatroulette has gained unexpected traction as a matchmaking site, with people even posting Chatroulette missed connections all over the web. Well, take that and narrow the pool to college students ... it's bound to be a dating goldmine. No surprise, then, that RandomDorm was developed by the creators of GoodCrush, a matchmaking site.

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RandomDorm: Chatroulette goes to college originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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L'ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement/Accord Commercial Anti-Contrefaçon) est un accord international en cours de négociation depuis 2008 dans l'obscurité la plus totale et qui pourrait avoir des conséquences dramatiques. Des alliances larges se constituent contre ACTA.

Ainsi cette semaine Act Up, April et La Quadrature du Net ont diffusé deux communiqués de presse commun. Le premier, diffusé le 18 mars 2010, demandant au gouvernement français la position de la France et une publication des documents en cours de négociation. Ce communiqué a été diffusé juste avant la « réunion d'information » organisée par la DGTPE (direction générale du trésor et de la politique économique) à laquelle les organisations étaient invitées (ainsi que d'autres comme Oxfam France notamment).

On pourrait peut-être s'étonner d'un tel communiqué commun entre organisations aux problématiques assez diverses. Mais justement, ACTA touche à la fois à la question des médicaments, à la responsabilités des intermédiaires techniques de l'internet, aux DRM, au droit d'auteur... Ce n'est pas la première fois que l'April discute avec Act Up, ainsi dans le passé nous avons échangé sur la problématique des brevets (sur les logiciels et médicaments). Par exemple, on peut relire le communiqué de presse de l'April de 2001 «100 000 séropositifs brésiliens menacés de mort par les brevets».

Je crois que ces organisations partagent une vision commune dans laquelle l'accès à la connaissance, les libertés fondamentales et tout simplement la vie humaine doivent primer face à certains enjeux commerciaux.

La « réunion d'information » à la DGTPE ayant été un peu du foutage de gueule les organisateurs ont diffusé un nouveau communiqué de presse à la sortie de la réunion dans lequel elles expliquent que les responsables du dossier ACTA en France ont renforcé leurs inquiétudes.

Deux articles de presse suite à la réunion :

• «Le silence de la France ravive les inquiétudes autour d'ACTA» (PC INpact) :

Dénonçant « une vision unilatérale, orientée copyright et brevet » Alix Cazenave a constaté que de bonnes intentions, mais des paroles suivies d’aucune garantie : « personne ne veut empêcher l’accès aux médicaments, porter atteinte au logiciel libre, mais dans les faits sont incapables d’apporter les garanties de nature à nous rassurer. » Et Jeremie Zimmermann de souligner « C’est pour cela qu’on a demandé les lignes de négociations infranchissables sur lesquelles la France allait se baser sur les discussions. »

Autre surprise, le nom de Marie François Marais fut cité hier par les représentants de DGTPE comme faisant partie des magistrats experts de la France sur le volet sanction d’ACTA (un sujet entrant dans le ressort des États membres).

Cette magistrate de la Cour de cassation est effectivement une « experte » : actuellement présidente de la HADOPI, elle fut également en charge de l’arrêt Mulholland Drive de la haute juridiction, qui interdit depuis la copie privée en matière de DVD. Ou de l'arrêt Tiscali, qui a estimé qu'un FAI qui héberge des données sur une partie de son site, tout en y affichant de la publicité automatiquement, doit être reconnu comme éditeur et responsable du contenu.

• «ACTA : le gouvernement français reste muet, l’Europe se rebelle» (Écrans) :

Joint par téléphone ce matin, Frédéric Couchet, délégué général de l’April, ne cache pas déception. « On a vraiment eu l’impression d’être pris pour des charlots, des bizuts incapables de lire des textes de loi. Alors qu’au contraire, on ne demande qu’à pouvoir contribuer au débat ». Or, sans grande surprise, la demande légitime de pouvoir accéder au texte de l’ACTA n’a pour l’instant pas été acceptée, d’où l’impression assez ubuesque d’un serpent qui se mord la queue : aux critiques des associations sur le potentiel contenu de l’Accord, leurs interlocuteurs de la DGTPE ont continuellement botté en touche en signalant que les inquiétudes sont basées sur des fuites de documents de travail, potentiellement obsolètes voire faux. D’où l’impossibilité d’avoir une discussion constructive alors que les prochaines négociations de l’ACTA se dérouleront en avril, en Nouvelle Zélande.

Pour en savoir plus :

• Le dossier ACTA sur le site de La Quadrature du Net

• Le dossier ACTA sur le site de l'April

• Page Wikipédia en anglais

Avec ses gros coups de tatanes dans la gueule, ses tatouages expression d’une insolente virilité et sa consommation encouragée d’alcools forts aux propriétés roboratives (© Kendy), Yakuza 3 s’adresse aux gamers présentant une forte concentration de testostérone. Qu’on se le dise : à désormais quarante ans, le dragon de Dojima, désormais retiré du monde, a toujours de beaux restes… et sait encore montrer les crocs.

Yakuza fait partie de ces séries bénéficiant d’une curieuse aura de sympathie, bien que, sous nos contrées, peu de personnes, finalement, y ont vraiment joué. La faute a une plate-forme exclusive, la PlayStation (2 puis 3) et, surtout, un univers et une accessibilité un peu à part. Difficile, en effet, d’apprécier les Yakuza sans s’y plonger corps et âme, et prendre le temps de lire les tonnes de dialogues qui emmaillent chaque opus. À cet égard, le fait que Yakuza 2 n’ait pas été traduit en français — tout comme ce troisième épisode, qui ne propose que des sous-titres anglais — n’a évidemment pas arrangé les choses… Quoi qu’il en soit, on appréciera particulièrement, ici, la possibilité de regarder les résumés vidéo des deux premiers volets, véritables petits films de 15-20 minutes commentés par la voix chaude de Takaya Kuroda (Kiryu dans le jeu). Une manière pour certains de se rafraîchir la mémoire, et pour les autres de découvrir des scénarios (tordus) suintant l’énergie et la passion, entre trahisons, combats à mort et improbables coups de théâtre. Notons qu’à l’écrivain Hase Seishu, scénariste des deux premiers opus — et de l’épisode Kenzan — succède Masayoshi Yokoyama, un illustre inconnu qui a su heureusement respecter à la lettre l’esprit Ryû ga Gotoku, à quelques mièvreries près. L’indéboulonnable Toshihiro Nagoshi (qui a oeuvré notamment sur les Super Monkey Ball… et Shenmue !) reste le maître d’oeuvre, et partage avec Hideo Kojima, un vieux compagnon de troquet (véridique), un amour certain pour les cinématiques à rallonge, ici plus que jamais présentes.

Okinawa way

Difficile, pour un fan de la première heure, de ne pas être immédiatement emballé par Yakuza 3. Enfin, la qualité de réalisation —certes imparfaite sur certains points — permet de faire honneur au sens du détail qui caractérise la série. Quant aux cinématiques, elles transcendent un character design d’une qualité et d’une variété étonnante, soutenu par des visages désormais presque photoréalistes. Le bonheur. À l’image d’un Kazuma Kiryu désormais retiré du monde et cherchant avant tout la paix, le début du jeu vous invite à découvrir l’île d’Okinawa, son temps superbe, ses touristes en chemises à fleurs… Une atmosphère idyllique entachée par une conspiration politico-mafieuse dont on conçoit peu à peu l’ampleur, tandis que l’on devine, évidemment, que la retraite de l’ex 4ème chef du clan Tôjô, qui administre désormais un orphelinat, ne peut être que de courte durée. Une parenthèse d’une dizaine d’heures avant l’inévitable retour à Kamurocho qui, toutefois, permet de se faire la main, et découvrir à peu près tous les aspects du titre entre mini-jeux (on va y revenir), intérieurs de magasins modélisés avec un soin maniaque, ambiance de foule plus vraie que nature (on regrette juste une atmosphère sonore un peu en deçà) et, il faut bien le dire, missions diverses pas toujours follement intéressantes. Entre livraisons de nouilles, recherche de gamine égarée, cache-cache et transport de glaces à six boules, on n’a en effet pas toujours franchement l’impression d’incarner le yakuza le plus classe du monde. Les petites frappes que vous croisez sans cesse et qui ne manquent jamais de vous provoquer — les inconscients — sont heureusement là pour arranger ça…

Mawashi-geri dans ta face

Coeur du gameplay, les combats dans Yakuza 3 se révèlent, sans surprise, d’une richesse ahurissante. Comme dans les précédents opus, c’est en gagnant des points d’expérience que vous pourrez améliorer certains de vos talents, et étendre votre palette de coups. Projections, esquives, contres, rétablissement sur chute, garde… Les possibilités offertes permettent de développer son propre art du combat, tandis que l’on privilégiera plutôt telle ou telle capacité (résistance, vitesse…), le tout en ayant la possibilité, évidemment, d’utiliser diverses armes blanches ou de poing, ces dernières étant de surcroît customisables. Surtout, le dynamisme des combats et la possibilité sans cesse renouvelée de découvrir de nouveaux finishing moves — différents en fonction de l’environnement immédiat, du type d’armes ou d’objets utilisés, de la partie du corps que vous attrapez, etc. — font qu’au final, chaque nouvelle échauffourée peut se révéler différente de la précédente. Évidemment, pour cela, il faut creuser au maximum le “fighting system”, comme dirait Van Damme, mais tous ceux qui se donneront cette peine prendront un pied monstrueux, vraiment, à démonter yak’ et wesh-wesh à tous les coins de rue. Cadeau Bonux : désormais, avec son téléphone portable, Kazuma peut “saisir” une scène qui l’interpelle dans la rue (première “révélation” : une petite vieille qui percute une voiture en scooter et fait un soleil…), et s’en inspirer pour mettre au point un coup spécial, le tout étant ensuite relaté, de façon assez drôle, sur un blog imaginaire ! Un principe complètement con… et absolument réjouissant.

Serial gamer

On trouve de tout dans Yakuza 3 : des bars et des restaurants à écumer, des salles clandestines proposant des jeux de cartes ou de dès exotiques (chô-han, koi-koi, oicho-kabu…), des tournois d’Ultimate Fighting underground, des courses-poursuites, des clés de consignes disséminées ici et là qui permettent de récupérer différents objets, du bowling, du golf, des jeux de fléchettes, des sessions de pêche à la ligne… Pas mal de choses déjà visibles dans les précédents épisodes, mais que l’on retrouve avec toujours autant de plaisir et qui bénéficient évidemment ici d’un soin particulier. Il faudra notamment gérer particulièrement bien les sticks analogiques pour certaines épreuves, comme le billard ou les fléchettes, qui réclament de la concentration et une vraie précision (ce qui en énervera plus d’un). On ne soulignera évidemment jamais assez à quel point Yakuza 3, à l’image là encore de ses illustres prédécesseurs, ne se prend pas au sérieux et s’autorise une constante autodérision. Tout est dans le détail : ennemi qui vous attaque avec un énorme thon congelé, finishing moves à la violence totalement démesurée, séances de karaoké durant lesquelles Kiryu aligne les paroles niaises et chante comme une casserole, salary man qui vous défie à un concours de biture et roule sous la table… L’ambiance légère du jeu, qui contraste sainement avec l’atmosphère plus sérieuse des cinématiques, fait que l’on parcourt le jeu avec un plaisir toujours renouvelé.

No woman, no cry

Sujet (évident) de discorde, “l’ablation” avérée des versions américaine et européenne du jeu, qui se voient amputées de la séquence des bars à hôtesses, notamment, a donné à certains gamers l’envie de couper la dernière phalange du petit doigt des responsables de cette décision a priori aberrante. Et fait naître des velléités de boycott. Bien que je n’excuse en aucun cas ce genre de procédés, il convient toutefois de ranger les canifs. Ne plus avoir l’occasion de draguer à loisir quantité de jeunes femmes aux coiffures improbables, trop heureuses de faire suer votre carte bleue, n’a finalement rien de dramatique. Surtout qu’il est toujours possible d’en rencontrer quelques-unes au hasard, dans la rue (et de profiter d’elles pour commander en une fois toute la carte d’un resto histoire d’accumuler les points d’expérience !). De plus, dans un effort louable, la version “premium” du jeu proposée en Europe contient différents bonus, entre B.O. d’une trentaine de titres, tableau “interactif” détaillé des relations entre personnages (dont on retrouve l’équivalent dans les menus du jeu) et DLC gratuitement téléchargeables (malheureusement très axés baston, et pas forcément inoubliables). Bref, un titre d’une richesse absolue, quoi qu’il en soit, et à la durée de vie impressionnante, de toute façon incontournable pour tous les amoureux de la série. Ceux-là pardonneront aisément les quelques dérives d’un titre ancré dans des mécanismes certes un peu old school, et apprécieront pleinement ce que Yakuza 3 sait proposer de mieux : une fantastique aventure humaine.

On peut reprocher à Yakuza 3 certaines choses : une maniabilité parfois un peu raide, une difficulté évidente à innover d’un épisode à l’autre, une durée de vie artificiellement augmentée par des missions pas toujours passionnantes, une atmosphère curieusement gnangnan sur toute la partie qui se déroule à Okinawa… Et pourtant, la magie, cette fois encore, fonctionne. Bénéficiant d’heures de cinématiques superbes, impressionnant de possibilités, et proposant un système de combat riche et soigné, ce nouvel opus ne peut être qu’accueilli à bras ouverts par les amoureux du Japon en général, et les habitués de la série en particulier. Quant aux quelques éléments malheureusement absents de cette version occidentale — le résultat de coûts de localisation trop élevés, dit-on officiellement chez Sega — il serait dommage qu’ils fassent oublier à certains la qualité globale du jeu, qui n’a, dans le fond, rien perdu de sa superbe.

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Chouette, des surprises !

Ca fait longtemps qu'on en parle mais les anglais de Bizarre Creations bossent bien sur d'autres jeux en plus de leur jeu de bagnole festif qu'est Blur. Ayant fait un petit tour dans leur studio de Liverpool, un journaleux de chez CVG a pu apprendre de la bouche de Ged Talbot, co-lead designer, que...

The latest episode of PlayStation Network's Pulse revealed the top ten downloaded PSP games for 2010 so far. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Square Enix's classic PSone RPGs have topped the list in the first quarter of the year. Only one mini makes it into the top 10: Tetris, whose steep $10 price tag apparently hasn't scared everyone away.

1. Final Fantasy VII (PSP/PS3)
2. Final Fantasy VIII (PSP/PS3)
3. Tetris
4. God of War: Chains of Olympus
5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
6. LittleBigPlanet
7. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
8. Madden NFL 10
9. Gran Turismo
10. Resident Evil 2 (PSP/PS3)

Final Fantasy and Tetris top PSP's sales charts for 2010 (so far) originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The latest episode of PlayStation Network's Pulse revealed the top ten downloaded PSP games for 2010 so far. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Square Enix's classic PSone RPGs have topped the list in the first quarter of the year. Only one mini makes it into the top 10: Tetris, whose steep $10 price tag apparently hasn't scared everyone away.

1. Final Fantasy VII (PSP/PS3)
2. Final Fantasy VIII (PSP/PS3)
3. Tetris
4. God of War: Chains of Olympus
5. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
6. LittleBigPlanet
7. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
8. Madden NFL 10
9. Gran Turismo
10. Resident Evil 2 (PSP/PS3)

Final Fantasy and Tetris top PSP's sales charts for 2010 (so far) originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments