#g: ftl: faster than light

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 2

Dead Voxel from Minecraft

vs.

Last Stand from FTL: Faster Than Light

Propaganda under the cut. If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

Dead Voxel:

don't let the ambience at the beginning fool you. listen to it, all the way through. this song is peaceful sorrow and desolation.

[torchship-rpg]

Dev Diary 1 - What is Torchship?

Hello everyone! I’m Erika Chappell, @open-sketchbook​ on tumblr, and I’m the game designer for Torchship, the space exploration tabletop roleplaying game. I’ve been working on this game, in some form or another, since 2016, and it’s incredibly exciting to be approaching a form with it that we can show off to other people.

Showing off is the point of these dev diaries; we’ve done an enormous amount of work behind the scenes over the past year, and while not all of it is ready for primetime and not everything fits together properly yet, there’s a huge amount of game and world and I’m tired of waiting to show it off. These dev diaries will be a way of showing off what we’ve done, share what we’re working on, and get excited about what’s to come.

What is Torchship? 

As this is the first diary, I should probably talk about what the game actually is, right?

Torchship is a tabletop roleplaying game about exploring a vast and complex future galaxy of mysteries and danger. It is a traditional structured game with a GM and multiple players, who take the role of the foremost crew members of a rocket ship in uncharted space. It runs on a custom d6 system, designed around a set of solid core mechanics which expand into in-depth subsystems for whatever part of the game interests you.

It is, in many ways, a very retro sort of RPG. It’s deliberately aiming to be maximalist, not minimalist, with extensive and interlinking systems available for whatever possibilities your stories run into and mechanics everywhere you look to sink your teeth into. Each individual mechanic is simple and the game is designed so that you only deal with small subsets at a time in places where it’s appropriate, metering out the complexity similar to how the Routine in Flying Circus cut down on the number of moves in play at any one time.

You play as members of Star Patrol, a multifaceted agency of the Interstellar Union of Republics, or Star Union for short. The IUR is a very new and relatively small alliance thrust to the status of a superpower by the collapse of the local empire. It is ringed on all sides by potentially or actively hostile states, not to mention the looming threat of godlike powers and ancient civilizations that truly rule local space. 

Star Patrol are equal parts explorers, diplomats, prospectors, spies, and watchmen, tasked with the impossible task of charting millions of unexplored or long-lost stars for resources, allies, and advantages as the borders close in and the power vacuum closes. Funding is tight and resources scarce; you’ll be the only ship for dozens of light years, but if you’re successful, if you can light the way, the future might be bright after all.

FTL Drives & Radiators

While Torchship’s inspiration is obvious, it might be more accurate to say that it is informed by Star Trek. It is not an attempt to make A Trek Game that directly emulates the feel of an episode; it instead aims to explore, reimagine, critique, and deconstruct its inspiration while injecting new ideas from outside. 

One of the main ways it differs is by lingering on logistical concerns which are usually handwaved away and emphasising that you are space explorers, people out in the vast expanse, clinging to fragile bubbles of oxygen and water. Our mission statement for tone is Star Trek with Radiators; shiny space ships with all the retro trappings combined with the enormous glowing heat management systems.

This is deeper than just an aesthetic. Torchship is not hard science fiction, but there is nothing stopping you from putting realistic reaction engines and impossible teleporters side by side, nor from treating that teleporter as a complex machine that still obeys some kind of laws.

Or, in other words, the ship can go faster than the speed of light, but it still needs to do something with the waste heat it generates.

This principle manifests in dangers: Decompression, high-g forces, and radiation are huge threats, heat builds up, vacuum sucks. Instead of the consoles exploding, projectiles zip through the hull and lasers chew through vital parts. But… it’s going to be okay, because you still have impossible energy shields and amazing medicine and tools to repair any damage.

It is also present in the politics and logistics focus of the game. Torchship is a game about scarcity; you have to carry all the resources you need with you, and there are no magic replicators. Somebody, somewhere, labours for everything you use. This system connects to the political aspect; all your choices will be reflected onto the Star Union as a whole, and will shape who they become over time.

Development

Right now, Torchship is in an alpha state. It is still actively being written and rewritten with an eye toward playtesting and public betas. We are filling out the website (which will act as a big setting encyclopedia) and assembling 3d assets for creating artwork.

Torchship is an independent production and it’s being developed by a very small team. Despite that, we’re going to make the best damn space game there ever was.

[archive-of-artprompts]

🌌To Infinity! Send in a number + character to have them drawn/written with that space trope!🌌

(Tropes from tv tropes 📺)

Accidental Astronaut - A character either accidentally launches the spacecraft they are in or they became an unwilling "astronaut" by stowing away on the spacecraft.

Artificial Gravity - Spaceships and space stations with artificial gravity systems.

Asteroid Thicket - An area in space with a lot of dangerous asteroids.

Batman Can Breathe in Space - Characters who can breathe in space.

Born Under the Sail - A whole culture of sailors/skyship drivers/spaceship drivers.

Burial in Space - Someone dies in space and has a funeral ritual.

Came from the Sky - Something huge falls out of the sky and lands on Earth.

Colony Ship - A spaceship with a whole colony on it.

Cool Starship - A cool, unusual spaceship.

Cosmic Motifs - Space used as a motif.

Cult Colony - A religious cult living in a colony in space.

Cyborg Helmsman - Cybernetically-augmented spaceship pilots.

Escape Pod - Like a lifeboat but for a spaceship.

Fishbowl Helmet - The usual accompaniment to a Latex Space Suit.

FTL Travel Sickness - Traveling faster than light can do bad things to people who aren't properly protected.

Flying Saucer - A spaceship shaped like a saucer.

Galactic Conqueror - A villain who wants to conquer or destroy the whole universe.

Genetic Adaptation - Outsiders adapt to a hostile environment (such as that on other planets) by genetically modifying themselves.

Interplanetary Voyage- A story that focuses on the difficulties of a space voyage.

Latex Space Suit - A very tight spacesuit.

Life in Zero G - Lifeforms that have evolved to live in the gravityless void.

Lost Colony - A human colony in space that's lost contact with Earth.

Space Amish - Space travelers who use more primitive technology.

Space Battle - Fighting in space.

Space Cadet Academy - Where you learn to be a space cadet.

Space Clothes - People wear wacky clothes in space.

Space Clouds - Nebulae that seem like clouds.

Space Elves - Elvish, smug, possibly superior aliens.

Space Isolation Horror - Horror derived from the emptiness and loneliness of space.

Space Madness - Being in space makes you insane.

Space Marine - Troops in spaceships that are sort of like marines.

Space Mask - Face or head protection that's somehow a substitute for a full space suit.

Space Master - Characters who have the ability to control the fabric of space and spatial dimensions.

Space Pirates- Pirates in space.

Space Romans - An alien culture that resembles a historical Earth culture.

Space Whale - Creatures in space that resemble whales.

Transhumans in Space - Humans in space who have been augmented.

Wizards from Outer Space - Fantasy stuff happens in space.

Zero-G Spot - Sex in space.

Zodiac Motifs - Constellations that are used as a motif.

[em-dashes]

i don't know why i'm doing so much research into real theories on faster-than-light travel and getting caught up on all the caveats like time dilation and acceleration and how a human body would not be able to handle the G-force blah blah blah when a billion sci-fi works have just casually had FTL travel and nobody questions it. it's SCIENCE. it's FICTION.

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

TLT Theorizing Part 1

In honor of the cover reveal for Nona the Ninth it’s time for me to work through some blue-sky theorizing about the Locked Tomb universe.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BOTH GIDEON THE NINTH AND HARROW THE NINTH FOLLOW. STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED. IN FACT STOP READING TUMBLR AND GO READ THOSE TWO BOOKS INSTEAD. I PROMISE YOU THEY’RE BETTER THAN ANYTHING YOU’LL SEE ON YOUR DASH.

So. Consider the following facts:

Nine Resurrection Beasts were born from the nine murdered thalergenic worlds of our solar system.

Planets create thalergy via the life living on them.

Therefore, nine bodies in the Solar System must have supported enough life to create Resurrection Beasts.

Therefore, humanity had expanded beyond Earth when the Resurrection occurred.

Therefore, even though Earth was undergoing major climate change, this would not have doomed humanity.

==> Question 1: Why was the Resurrection necessary?

If nine planets in the Solar System had enough thalergy to be killed, humans must have already colonized them. That means the colonies now occupied by the Nine Houses were probably built before the Resurrection. Gideon mentions that all the life-support and habitat-maintenance machinery in the Ninth is well beyond the comprehension of anyone there, and in the Sixth House they’re basically still excavating their own facility; loss of memory after the Resurrection would explain both of those. But this means humanity had already spread to other planets. Ecological collapse on Earth would not have meant the end of the human race.

Now postpone Q1 and consider the following additional facts:

Dominicus, the Sun, also draws on John’s power. This is confirmed independently by Augustine.

The Sun is a main-sequence G star only five billion years into its hydrogen supply. It should cook along at its present size and brightness for at least five billion more without any divine intervention; in fact it would take divine intervention to stop it.

Seriously, every single human could die and every solid body in the solar system could explode tomorrow and the Sun wouldn’t notice.

Therefore: the Sun should not have needed reviving at all.

==> Question 2: Why does the Sun depend on John?

Now put both questions aside and consider the following apparently random details that may answer both questions:

Wake said John was responsible both for the deaths of ten billion people and the loss of a colossal amount of culture and history.

Wake specifically accused John of setting a bomb.

John dismisses Blood of Eden by saying, “If you abandon something, you give up the claim to own it.”

Part of the reason John’s conquering his way across the galaxy is because he wants revenge, though he won’t say for what.

Early in HtN John says, “Faster-than-light travel turned out to be a snare--the way it was originally cracked, anyway. The first method destroyed something to do with time and distance, rendering it unusable for any good purpose...”

==> Conclusion 1: What if part of humanity decided to leave Earth using a one-way FTL drive - and John stopped them?

“Unusable for any good purpose.” Why would John use those words? What if humanity’s first attempts at FTL worked, but it was essentially a one-way trip because the effects of doing it destroyed your departure point - in this case, the Sun? Maybe the drive caused ugly gravitational wobbles, or did something disgusting to time, or they needed to collapse the Sun’s core to get the power required. So humanity could leave the solar system - but only once, and it could never return. That doesn’t seem worth it...except now the Earth is dying. What if part of humanity decided that instead of scratching out a tenuous, terraformed existence on the other planets or putting in the immense effort and time to fix Earth itself, they should just leave? No waiting to figure out a repeatable form of FTL, just pack everyone up, aim the convoy at a system with another Earthlike world, and take that one-way trip?

But maybe not everyone got to take that one-way trip. Maybe some disagreed with leaving, or maybe there wasn’t enough room on the last train out. Maybe some people weren’t worthy of being saved. And maybe some of those left behind took that idea very, very badly. Maybe ten billion people loaded up on that convoy, along with all the great cultural and historical knowledge of humanity, and one well-placed bomb - the bomb Wake accused John of setting - took them out.

It would explain why the Sun also needed to be resurrected, since it had been collapsed/destroyed in the FTL process. It would explain why the rest of humanity is out among the stars. It would explain John’s relentless pursuit of them. It would explain his dismissal of Blood of Eden: in his mind that part of humanity abandoned the solar system - a kind of inverted Rapture, leaving the unworthy to suffer the tribulations of ecological collapse - and it’s perfectly fitting that those they left for dead should rise to take revenge.

Okay. We’re halfway there. Shelve all that for a moment and consider this last apparently unrelated set of facts:

John is immortal - not the constant renewal of a Lyctor but actual indestructible immortality. Not even a Resurrection Beast can hurt him.

The inorganic habitat-maintenance machinery in the Ninth House is somehow preserved by the Emperor’s power in perfect working order - it doesn’t rust, it doesn’t break down, it doesn’t wear out.

Harrow notes several times that John’s unique powers feel extremely weird. She calls it a kind of blinding, all-pervasive light and scouring acidic scent, neither of which are associated with necromancy.

John occasionally uses less obvious abilities that have nothing to do with necromancy, such as freezing everything in the moment when The Soup Incident erupts.

Gideon’s body doesn’t decay, even after death. Same for John’s, er, DNA sample; after twelve weeks it’s still fresh as if it had just been removed from his body.

John’s disciples post-Resurrection didn’t age, but only as long as they were physically near him.

When he’s killed, John doesn’t resurrect himself; he reverses his death.

==> Conclusion 2: John Gaius controls time.

The Emperor once told Harrow, “I mastered Death. I should have mastered Time.” He gave away the whole game there: he hasn’t mastered time, but he can manipulate it. John and Gideon’s bodies are preserved not by the constant cellular renewal of a Lyctor, which should stop after death, but by actual temporal stasis. Their physical selves simply don’t suffer the passage of time. Gideon’s body could be harmed by direct injury but not by processes that rely on the accumulation of damage: the poison gas, the hypothermia. Same for the habitat machinery; it’s inorganic, which should render necromancy useless, but John’s power preserves it in the same timeless state. The machines never rust, break down, or wear out because those are all consequences of time and entropy. That’s why his disciples didn’t age as long as they were physically nearby - he could extend his little pocket of timelessness to cover them, but it only went so far. 

When John resurrects himself, Gideon calls it like she sees it: “Time stopped.” And then it goes backwards. He doesn’t snap back into existence or rebuild himself from a fragment the way Harrow builds skeletons from a splinter; he rewinds. All his scattered particles pull themselves back together and reassemble in the opposite order as Mercymorn’s disintegration. It takes Gideon’s straightforward ignorance to get to the truth: in HtN’s big confrontation she says, “Whatever [John did], it was no theorem.” John’s unique necromancy feels weird because it’s not necromancy. It’s time manipulation. 

Now go back to where we started: “Faster than light travel...destroyed something to do with time.”

==> Metaconclusion: John gained his powers in the same accident/intentional explosion that destroyed the human FTL convoy departing our solar system.

Let’s say John, Augustine, and some other small band of those about to be left behind aren’t gonna take this lying down. They prepare a bomb to disable the FTL convoy. It doesn’t have to be a big one; it just has to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe they only meant to disable the convoy or stop the process before it could do permanent harm; maybe they meant to destroy it from the get-go. Either way, John’s the man chosen to plant that bomb. He does it. He triggers it. And everything goes so, so much more wrong than anyone thought it would. Spacetime tears. The entire convoy disintegrates in an obscene burst of energy; quarks themselves unraveling, leaving absolutely nothing behind, no remains or salvage - only handfuls of words passed down as cherished relics. And John, who was standing at the center of it all, is frozen into the hyperspace bubble that was supposed to shift the convoy to its destination. He is, somehow, suspended in time, and over a myriad he’s learned to manipulate it. 

Did the discovery of necromancy come before or after this cataclysm? Did John invent it in order to semi-revive the planets left blasted and sterile, or was their revival - and the creation of the Beasts - part of the disaster? How much life did they support if they generated such powerful beasts, or is it just that those beasts got away and had lots of time to grow in strength? Why pick John? How much does he remember? How much does Blood of Eden? I want to know. give book!!

[collapsedsquid]

The control laws, cockpit/bridge visual display, reference/guide stars, and star maps for navigation and guidance in interstellar space have not been developed for either type of FTL space warp. Navigation and guidance systems will have to be developed separately for warp drives and traversable wormholes because of their different implementations. D. G. Hoag and W. Wrigley69 studied navigation and guidance for relativistic interstellar missions, and G. Vulpetti70 studied relativistic navigation using the 3-dimensional rocket equation. These studies could provide a starting point to begin an equivalent study for FTL interstellar missions. Of further interest is how the forward and aft starfields appear to starship crews

Of further interest is how the forward and aft starfields appear to starship crews who visually monitor their flight progress using electronic visual displays and/or windows during FTL flight or while traversing a wormhole. L. H. Ford and T. A. Roman12 and C. Clark, W. A. Hiscock and S. L. Larson71 show that for a warp drive starship at FTL speed, the angular deflection and redshift of photons propagating through the distortion of the warp bubble is such that stars in the forward and reverse hemispheres will appear closer to the direction of motion than they would to an observer at rest. The stars in the forward direction will be strongly blueshifted and in the aft direction they will be strongly redshifted. The light from stars directly overhead, underneath or to the sides remains unaffected by the aberration. This aberration is qualitatively similar to that caused by SR for the case of relativistic rockets.72-74 This suggests that visual guide/reference stars and typical star maps will be useless for warp drive starship navigation. Real-time electronic visual displays will be required to display accurate virtual starfields and maps, and they must have computer algorithms that perform real-time adjustments to account for the effects of FTL aberration in order to display visually meaningful views and maps.

The view through a traversable wormhole is even worse. The negative energy density threading a wormhole throat produces repulsive gravity, which deflects light rays going through and around the throat.75 The entrance to the (spherically symmetric) wormhole would look like a sphere that contained the mirror image of a whole other universe or remote region within our universe, incredibly shrunken and distorted. This is a topological inversion of images manifested by a spherically symmetric wormhole geometry. The spherical wormhole entrance/exit (a.k.a. the throat) is called a hypersphere because it is the hyperspace surface of (3+1)-dimensional spacetime. If one were to travel through the wormhole and look back at it from the other side, then they would see a sphere (the entry way back home) that seemed to contain their whole original universe or their home region of space near Earth. This would look just like a glass Christmas tree ornament, which is just a spherical mirror that reflects, in principle, the entire universe around it. A flat-face traversable wormhole would not distort the image of the remote space region or other universe seen through it because the negative energy density at the throat is zero as seen and felt by light and matter passing through it.

Eric Davis is already building the design for the starship bridge for his theoretical warp drives in his head but nothing I can really interpret about the logistics of this thing, How much harder is it to move large things, what difference is there between heading to Alpha Centauri and heading to Andromeda.  I need a materialist analysis of faster-than-light travel here.

[thegroovyruby-blog]

Gaming Kill-List (Some ARE done)(as of 09/07/18)

A

-        Assassin’s Creed

-        Assassin’s Creed 2

-        Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

-        Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

-        Assassin’s Creed 3

-        Assassin’s Creed: Liberation

-        Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

-        Assassin’s Creed: Rogue

-        Assassin’s Creed: Unity

-        Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

-        Assassin’s Creed: Origins

-        Amnesia The Dark Descent

B

-        Bioshock // Bioshock Remastered

-        Bioshock 2 // Bioshock 2 Remastered

-        Bioshock Infinite

-        Borderlands

-        Borderlands 2

-        Borderlands: The Pre-sequel

-        Batman Arkham Asylum

-        Batman Arkham City

-        Batman Arkham Origins

-        Batman Arkham Knight

-        Beyond Divinity

-        Bloodborne

-        Bravely Default

-        Bravely Second: End Layer

C

-        Crysis

-        Crysis 2

-        Crysis 3

-        Castle Crashers

D

-        Dark Souls // Dark Souls Remastered

-        Dark Souls 2

-        Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin

-        Dark Souls 3

-        Demons Souls

-        Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen

-        DOOM

-        Dragon Age: Origins

-        Dragon Age 2

-        Dragon Age: Inquisition

-        Dead Space

-        Dead Space 2

-        Darksiders // Darksiders Remastered

-        Darksiders 2 // Darksiders 2 Remastered

-        Divine Divinity

-        Divine Divinity

-        Divinity Original Sin

-        Dishonoured: Definitive Edition

-        Dishonoured 2

-        Dungeon Siege

-        Dungeon Siege 2

-        Dungeon Siege 3

-        Dante’s Inferno

-        Darkwood

-        Dues Ex: Human Evolution

-        Dues Ex: Mankind Revolution

-        Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

E

-        Enslaved: Odyssey to the East

F

-        Fallout 3

-        Fallout 4

-        Fallout: New Vegas

-        Far Cry 3

-        F.E.A.R.

-        F.E.A.R. Extraction Point

-        F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate

-        F.E.A.R. 2

-        F.E.A.R. 3

-        Final Fantasy VI

-        Final Fantasy VII

-        Final Fantasy VIII

-        Final Fantasy IX

-        Final Fantasy X

-        Final Fantasy XII: The Zodaic Age

-        Final Fantasy XIII

-        Final Fantasy XIII-2

-        Final Fantasy XV

-        Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

-        FEZ

-        Fist of Awesome

-        FTL: Faster Than Light

-        Fire Emblem: Awakening

-        Fire Emblem: Birthright // Conquest

-        Fire Emblem: Echoes

G

-        Gears of War Remastered

-        Gears of War 2

-        Gears of War 3

-        Gears of War Judgement Day

-        Gears of War 4

-        God of War

-        God of War 2

-        God of War 3

-        God of War: Ghost of Sparta

-        God of War: Chains of Olympus

-        God of War: Ascension

-        God of War (4)

H

-        Horizon: Zero Dawn

-        Half-Life

-        Half-Life 2

-        Hotline Miami

-        Halo 3

-        Halo 3: ODST

-        Halo 4

-        Halo 5: Guardians

I

-        ICO

-        Injustice: Gods Among Us

-        Injustice: Gods Among Us 2

J

-        Just Cause 2

-        Just Cause 3

-        Jak and Daxter: The Purcusor Legacy

-        Jak 2

-        Jak 3

K

-        Killing Floor

-        Kingdom Hearts Final Mix

-        Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

-        Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

-        Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix

-        Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix

-        Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded

-        Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance

-        Killzone 2

-        Killzone 3

-        Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

-        Kid Icarus: Uprising

L

-        Left 4 Dead

-        Left 4 Dead 2

-        Legendary

-        LEGO Batman 2

-        LEGO Batman 3

-        LEGO MARVEL Superheroes

-        LEGO MARVEL Avengers

-        Limbo

-        Life is Strange

-        Life is Strange: Before the Storm

M

-        Mortal Kombat

-        Mortal Kombat X

-        Metro: Redux (Last Light/2023)

-        Metal Gear Solid

-        Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

-        Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

-        Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

-        Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker

-        Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

-        Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

-        Mirrors Edge

-        Mirrors Edge Catalyst

-        Mount and Blade

-        Mount and Blade: Warband

-        Mount and Blade: Fire and Sword

-        Mass Effect

-        Mass Effect 2

-        Mass Effect 3

-        Mass Effect: Andromeda

-        Medal of Honor

-        Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate

-        Monster Hunter: World

N

-        Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

-        Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

-        Nier

-        Nier: Automata

-        Nioh

O

-        Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey

-        Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus

-        Oddworld: New n’ Tasty

-        Ori and the Blind Forest

-        Outlast

P

-        Payday: The Heist

-        Payday 2

-        Portal

-        Portal 2

-        Post Mortem

-        Persona 5

-        Pokémon Moon / Sun

-        Pokémon Alpha Sapphire / Omega Ruby

-        Pokémon X / Y

Q

-         

R

-        Resident Evil Remastered

-        Resident Evil 2 

-        Resident Evil 3 

-        Resident Evil Zero 

-        Resident Evil 4

-        Resident Evil 5

-        Resident Evil 6

-        Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

-        ReCore

-        Ratchet and Clank

-        Ratchet and Clank 2

-        Ratchet and Clank 3

-        Ratchet Gladiator

-        Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

-        Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty

-        Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

-        Ratchet and Clank Future: Nexus

-        Red Dead Redemption

-        R.A.G.E.

-        Resistance: Fall of Man

S

-        Shadow of Mordor

-        Shadow of War

-        Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

-        Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

-        Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

-        Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast

-        Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

-        Star Wars Republic Commando

-        Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

-        Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

-        Shadow of the Colossus

-        Spiderman: Edge of Time

-        Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions

-        Super Meat Boy

-        Spec Ops: The Line

-        Saints Row 3

-        Saints Row 4

-        Shadowgrounds

-        Shadowgrounds: Survivor

-        Still Life

-        Still Life 2

-        Sniper Elite 3

-        System Shock 2

-        Splinter Cell

-        Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

-        Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

-        Starfox 64 3D

T

-        Tomb Raider

-        Tomb Raider: Legend

-        Tomb Raider: Underworld

-        Tomb Raider: Anniversary

-        Tales from the Borderlands

-        The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

-        The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

-        The Walking Dead

-        The Last Guardian

-        The Last of Us Remastered

-        The Evil Within

-        The Evil Within 2

-        The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

-        The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

-        The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt // Hearts of Stone // Blood and Wine

-        The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD

-        The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

-        The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Tracks

-        The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

-        The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

-        The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask

-        The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

-        The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

-        The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

-        The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

-        The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

-        The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

-        The Legend of Zelda

U

-        Until Dawn

-        Uncharted: Drakes Fortune

-        Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

-        Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

-        Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

V

-        Valkyria Chronicles

-        Vanquish

W

-        Wolfenstein: The New Order

-        Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

X

Y

-        Yakuza 4

-        Yakuza 0

-        Yoshi’s New Island

Z

-        Zombie Army Trilogy

[michaelgogins]

Maybe they're on the way...

Some have noticed, as I have, that there has been in recent years a stream of news reports, videos, and so on purporting to be evidence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The most striking evidence is videos from fighter jets of flying objects with supposedly impossible performance capabilities: accelerating at hundreds of gs, traveling faster than sound without making a sound, and so on.

Today Ezra Klein opined on this in the New York Times and that is what I am responding to here.

Nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi famously asked in the Los Alamos cafeteria, in lunchtime bull sessions in 1950 (the year of my birth), "Where are they?" This encapsulates his estimation that, given the size and age of the observable universe, and even with interstellar travel limited to less than the speed of light, odds are that any technological civilization that originated not too recently elsewhere in our Galaxy would have had ample time to spread through the entire Galaxy and so, of course, would probably have visited, possibly have colonized, or maybe even have conquered Earth.

This famous phrase and the underlying back-of-the-envelope calculation has struck most scientific students of the problem... as a real question, a serious question, a question that demands explanation and that has, no matter what its actual answer is, very important implications for us.

Regarding the "evidence" or whatever it is, here's my take on some of the possible explanations for it, in decreasing order of likelihood:

Somebody in the military or intelligence services has trumped up the evidence for fun, for malice, or to disconcert adversaries.

Fighter pilots and other observers are misinterpreting natural phenomena that are not well understood.

The United States, or another country, has developed the ability to project the illusion of such vehicles with such capabilities but is letting sightings without explanation do all the political work, i.e. to make an implicit very strong threat as a deterrent. Note that, if the illusion is exposed, the lack of attribution reduces any negative political impact.

The United States, or another country, has actually developed vehicles with such capabilities but is letting sightings of them without explanation do all the political work, i.e. to make an implicit very strong threat as a deterrent.

Some private group has developed vehicles with such capabilities but, for whatever reasons, is not coming forward to announce them. Perhaps they don't work quite right yet, they represent research in progress.

The sightings are of actual vehicles that originate outside Earth. They are part of a program to send robotic probes to Earth (and perhaps to many other star systems) from another technological civilization.

The sightings are of actual vehicles that originate outside Earth, and they are crewed.

Supposing (6) or (7) above to be the case, there are further possibilities that require some context. The major possibilities that go into the matrix are:

The vehicles are propelled by warp drives, or they are propelled by reaction engines.

The vehicles are robots, or they are crewed.

The performance of these possible UFOs is such as to suggest they are driven by warp drives. According to current research, warp drives are impossible without exotic matter (which doesn't appear to actually exist), and they are impractical even with exotic matter (they would require waaay too much energy). But our understanding of the physics is based on general relativity theory, which we know is an incomplete theory. So, if a warp drive is possible and practical, then because it works by expanding spacetime faster than light ahead of the vehicle and shrinking spacetime faster than light behind the vehicle, it should be possible to accelerate very rapidly relative to an observer outside the warp bubble, while not at all accelerating the crew inside the vehicle.

The anomalous performance of the UFOs is, then, not only strong evidence of deception or misinterpretation, it is also weak evidence that a warp drive is feasible. Weak evidence, but evidence nonetheless.

Our limited understanding of the physics leaves open at this time the question whether a warp drive could carry a crew faster than the speed of light.

Now as to the nature of the UFO crews. If faster than light travel is practical at the scale where an interstellar voyage takes less than decades, then it would be reasonable for the UFOs to be crewed, but it would also be reasonable for them to be robotic, as the senders of the UFOs might have a very large number of star systems to explore with a much smaller number of live crews.

Indeed, it is conceivable that each interstellar probe is a von Neumann machine that can replicate itself, such that each robotic probe, having explored its target star system, sends a number of child probes out to other star systems while remaining behind to monitor the target system and report back to the home system.

If faster than light (FTL) travel is not feasible, then it is highly unlikely that the UFOs are crewed, and very likely that the robotic UFOs are radioing data back to the home base.

Hence the title of my post, Maybe they're on the way... This encapsulates the hypothesis that the UFOs are real, that they have warp drives, and that they are robots reporting back to their home base. In that case, if FTL travel is feasible, the reports have gone back home in an FTL courier drone, and a crew of scientists and/or diplomats and/or soldiers may be on its way here and could arrive at any moment, most likely not preceded by any announcement. Or may already be here, secretly observing us. But if FTL travel is not feasible, the reports are crawling back home at the speed of light, and any crew of scientists and/or diplomats and/or soldiers will not be arriving here for decades, centuries, or even millennia, and might or might not be preceded by an announcement.

Oh wait, there's another possibility. The UFOs are robots and they are von Neumann machines, but they do not have a home base. They are just mechanical wildlife. But they could still be dangerous, particularly if they perceive human civilization as a threat.

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 1

Main Theme from Don't Starve: Shipwrecked

vs.

Last Stand from FTL: Faster Than Light

No propaganda was submitted for either track.

If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

[entergamingxp]

10 Other Things You Could Get For $1,500 Dollars Instead of the Logitech Embody Gaming Chair

July 22, 2020 4:24 PM EST

Logitech has announced their brand new Embody gaming chair they created in partnership with HermanMiller, but with a price tag of $1,500, really makes you wonder, what else could you get with that sort of cash?

Logitech revealed today their brand new Logitech Embody gaming chair that they partnered with Herman Miller for, and while it is a beauty and no doubt will be comfy, at $1,500, that’s a lot of cash to drop on something you are going to fart constantly on. So let’s take a look at what those $1,500 bucks could get you elsewhere!

Introducing the @LogitechG x @HermanMiller gaming setup. Learn more at https://t.co/iIq3n8bo3T #PlayAdvanced pic.twitter.com/jGXxD0Cg0l

— Logitech G (@LogitechG) July 22, 2020

1) NVIDIA RTX 2080 TI + Nintendo Switch  : $1,199.99 + $299.99 = $1,499.98

One of the beefiest graphics cards on the market today, making for some of that sweet, sweet raytracing goodness, comes in at $1200 bucks! That means you have plenty of money left over to buy a Nintendo Switch to keep you busy with while you download the drivers and all the sick new PC games you will play with your new GPU! You may even be able to play Crysis at Ultra Settings!

2) Sony X800H 75 Inch TV w/ 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR and Alexa Compatibility: $1,398.00

The new generation of consoles is almost here, and for the $1500 you would spend on a Logitech Embody gaming chair, you could take and get a brand new TV that will pair perfectly with the new systems. Hell, if you shrink the size a bit, you could find some TVs in a price range so you could get two! One for both your Series X and your PlayStation 5!

3) 6,250 packets of Maruchan Chicken Ramen Noodles: $1,497.60

So apparently, on Amazon, you can buy a 24 pack for $5.76, and after some expert-level math-ing, you could get by 260 of these packs for under $1,500. Two days later, with that free Amazon Prime shipping, you will be the proud owner of 6,250 bricks of ramen noodles and enough chicken-flavored salt to kill a football team.

4) (Probably) Xbox Series X + PlayStation 5 : $1,500

Now at the time of writing, the prices of the new systems remain a mystery, so this is purely speculation. However, we will assume the worst and that both will come in at a staggering $699.99 (this would indeed be the worst timeline if this happens). At the apocalyptic price, you would still be able to pick up both on launch day.

5) 1/28th of a Beta Black Lotus: $1,500

The current price for the cream-de la-cream magic card sits at $42,000. That means, with your $1500, you could be the proud owner of a fraction of a piece of legendary cardboard! Mind you, at $42,000, it won’t be in the best of shape, definitely not a perfect ten graded Beta Black Lotus, but still, it’s the Black Lotus!

6) Adopt multiple rescue puppies and kittens: Number of fluffs and cost varies

Puppies and kittens are damn cute. Even people with allergies to them think they are adorable. Now the prices for adoptions of rescue animals vary, but as a servant for a rescued doge myself, I paid $275, so we will go with that. Plugging that cost into my Math-o-Matic machine, that means you could save five puppies! Since many times saves come spayed/neutered, you will also be helping Bob Barker! Double win!

7) Polymega + All Addon Modules + Extra Controllers : $1,038

Retro game fans with stacked libraries that may lack a working tube television would be able to snag the upcoming Polymega retro game console and add-ons. The Polymega would allow you to play many of your disk-based console games once again, and with all the add-ons opening up the chance to play your cartridge games too. Forget the next-gen systems; you could play Plok on your 4k TV!

8) 8 Day Caribbean Cruise for 2: $1,459 (before tax)

Global pandemic and recent troubles of the cruise lines aside, an 8-day cruise in the bright blue ocean, hot sun overhead, dolphins swimming in the ship’s wake. You and a friend or partner could enjoy it together! It’s the perfect chance to play a nautical Dungeons and Dragons campaign!

9) Every game from our “The 50 Best Video Games of the Decade” list: roughly $1,400

A chair is excellent, and all, but even this Logitech Embody gaming chair I doubt will last a decade, whereas these games we think have proven themselves as some of the best of the past decade. With Games like Grand Theft Auto 5, FTL: Faster Than Light, and Knack, your backlog of games will get some real gems that may just last you the next decade.

*Edit: I have been made aware that Knack is not one of our best games of the decade…maybe you should get the chair then.

10) 62,998 Gems in Raid: Shadow Legends: $1,499.98

Speaking of gems, a lot of people on YouTube seem to be playing Raid: Shadow Legends, the free-to-play dark fantasy RPG where you will face wave-after-wave of enemies in the game’s exciting campaign mode where – wait, what was I say? Oh, the gems, right, so what better way to spend your $1,500 then on Gems from Raid’s store! I couldn’t tell you exactly what they do, but if you do, I bet the idea of nearly 63k of them sounds pretty good! It’s good, right?

With these suggestions now in your mind, you can figure out the best use of your money. I do not doubt that Logitech Embody gaming chair has a pretty high likelihood of being one of the comfiest objects to set your keester on, and if I have the spare money that I could spend that much on a chair, it would be at the top of my list. If you get one, let me know how it is! If you get any of these, let me know what you think! I would especially love to see pictures of the cute animals and what 6,250 packs of ramen look like!

July 22, 2020 4:24 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/10-other-things-you-could-get-for-1500-dollars-instead-of-the-logitech-embody-gaming-chair/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-other-things-you-could-get-for-1500-dollars-instead-of-the-logitech-embody-gaming-chair

[robstranger1111]

Entry 2 - Hyperspace - Track 2 (24/02/20)

Similar to the previous post, the past two week was spent constructing a new song to catch up with the project planning schedule to improve on management and organisation. The theme of this track was related to Hyperspace travel which is a concept based on the theory of special relativity, allowing faster-than-light (FTL) and interstellar travel (Minami, 2017). Some ideas of hyperspace from both science-fiction and factual scientific viewpoints were researched before the production, helping to build somewhat of a conceptual foundation for this track. They were as follows: 

In reality, existing scientific knowledge and theories based around hyperspace are said to be linked with gravitational waves which possess ‘pulse’ like attributes in the geometry of spacetime (Fontana, 2008; Traperas, Floros & Kanellopoulos, 2017)

Machines in science-fiction films that facilitate hyperspace travel and “fantastic technology” often possess sonic qualities similar to existing technology such as aeroplanes and rockets (Wierzbicki, 2014). Moreover, the sonic emphasis is commonly placed on both the speed of space travel and the sheer power of the means of propulsion (Wierzbicki, 2014). 

The four on the flour “rockers” style drum beat was created to represent the speed of hyperspace travel, due to its fast-paced nature when compared with the other reggae drum rhythms. In addition to this, the ‘pulse’ like attribute possessed in gravitational waves was emphasised through the 4:4 drum pattern, especially when instruments were side-chained to the kick. In particular, a sci-fi influenced synth was designed and side-chained to the kick, further emphasising the pulsing motion which can be heard throughout the majority of the song. Furthermore, the riser in the intro was created to represent the propulsion of the spacecraft as it charged up for hyperspace travel, aiming to imitate the “fantastic technology,” however, this posed a challenge when allowing it to fit in with the roots-reggae aesthetic.

The shepherd's tone illusion was also experimented with to represent the ever-increasing speed, however, this did not sound pleasing within the song.

References:

Fontana, G. (2008). Gravitational Waves in the Hyperspace. In AIP Conference Proceedings. American Institute of Physics. 969(1), pp. 1055-1062

Minami, Y. (2017). Interstellar Travel by Hyper-Space Navigation System. International Journal of Astronautics and Aeronautical Engineering, 2(1).

Traperas, D., Floros, A., & Kanellopoulos, N. (2017). Sonic representations in hyper-spaces: A creative approach. Technoetic Arts, 15(2), 221-228.

Wierzbicki, J. (2014). The Imagined Sounds of Outer Space.

[plusticnews]

2019年12月21日（Sat）

■週刊『74式戦車をつくる』Webにて先行予約受付開始！

■Epic Gamesストアが「TowerFall Ascension」の24時間限定無料配布をスタート、傑作“Celeste”を生んだMatt Thorson氏の代表作

■ボーイングによるISS向け新宇宙船の初打ち上げをライブ配信

■クリエイター必見！ 直感的な創作ができるソフトコントローラー「TourBox」

■新型宇宙船 打ち上げも軌道に入れずドッキング試験は中止

■FAガンダム7号機や高機動型ザクII（黒い三連星仕様）、G-セルフがラインナップ！ガシャポンフィギュア「モビルスーツ アンサンブル」第12弾が登場！

■宇宙船ローグライクSLG『FTL: Faster Than Light』日本語対応！

■風神雷神図のタイル絵が見事……えっこれ全部レゴ！？ プロビルダー入魂のモザイクアートが成田空港に登場

■「DRAGON…

[moonoftriumphs]

Star Questor - Episode 001: Ambush

Inspired by the likes of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Jack Swift, Brick Bradford, Don Dixon, Speed Spaulding, John Carter of Mars, and numerous other space heroes featured in the pages of pulp magazines like Amazing Stories, this post is the start of an ongoing sci-fi adventure. Each episode is just a thousand words or so in length, and the focus is on space thrills and action. Episode One - Ambush The long range sensors were the first systems on the ship Dark Rider to notice the threat, almost too late, but not quite. "Hostiles detected," the ship's computer, an artificial intelligence named Rider, said, and Star Questor Sheen thought he heard an edge of fear in the AI's voice. "What kind of hostiles, Rider?" Sheen asked. "Robots," Rider told him. "From the patterns they're flying, I'd say robots, and they are definitely hostile. They're shooting at us. Two of them." "Can you handle them?" Sheen asked. As if in answer, the bridge rocked and Sheen was thrown sideways against the safety harness holding him in his command chair. "They are fast, well armed, and they got in close before I saw them," Rider told him. "I can't identify the craft type or class. Their capabilities are unknown." "Okay," Sheen growled, teeth chattering as the bridge again juddered to hits from incoming rounds impacting the shields, "but can you handle them?" "I'm trying," Rider said. "I have a good view of them now. I'm putting them on your screen. Have you seen anything like these two units?" "No," Sheen said, squinting at two bronze arrowheads as they maneuvered against a backdrop of stars. "Never seen the like. But they don't look like Buzzers." "No," Rider agreed, sounding distracted. The ship's computer was obviously putting a lot of processing power into calculating spreads of fire that might catch their maneuverable adversaries, leaving little computing power left over for talking. "They sure can dodge," Sheen observed. "Yes," Rider said, still too preoccupied to generate naturalistic responses to what he was saying. "Oof," came involuntarily from Sheen's mouth, as all the air exploded from his lungs. It felt like the Dark Rider had been instantly displaced a few yards to starboard. "Shield breach," Rider informed him. "Enemy fire is impacting the hull." "You don't say," Sheen croaked, between gasps for air. "Have you managed to hit either of the hostiles yet?" "Yes," Rider said. "Their shields are holding. No structural damage has been caused." "And us?" "We have taken structural damage," Rider confirmed. "We're going to lose this one, aren't we?" Sheen asked. "The hostile autonomous fighters outclass us in weapons power, maneuverability, and possibly also shields. Our chances of defeating them are slim." “Okay,” Sheen nodded, “then I guess it's time to run. Let's get out of here, Rider. Full speed, ahead.” “Complying,” Rider said, and Sheen felt himself pressed back into the cushions of his command chair by massive G forces. “Are we losing them?” Sheen asked. But before Rider could answer, again the bridge bucked and shuddered, and the hull made some noises that Sheen did not like at all. It was a sound like metal being torn as easily as if it was paper. “Structural damage is becoming unsustainable,” Rider said. “The hostile units are gaining on us.” “Can we jump to faster than light speed?” Sheen asked. “We just lost an FTL vane,” Rider informed him. “Without it-” “By the powers!” Sheen cursed, interrupting the AI's damage report. “We can't outrun them, we can't outfight them, we can't jump… What can we do?” He slammed his hand into his control console in rage, his eyes glinting as he glowered at the hologram screen projected in front of him. He saw the two bronze arrowheads, now close enough that he could make out the guns mounted in flexible turrets at the noses, and flashes of light that meant those guns were firing at him. The hostiles looked impressive, he had to give them that. They were almost like angular works of art, as if the artist had tried to capture speed and solidity in bronze. Their dull, glossy angles stood out in sharp relief against the dark of space, like the folded wings of moths. “What are these things?” Sheen asked, as his eyes followed their swooping flight paths, and then he saw a nearby moon. “Wait. That moon.” “What about it?” Rider asked. “I have an idea,” Sheen told him. “We go close, use it for cover.” “Hide, you mean?” Rider said. “Hide, yes, exactly,” Sheen said. “Give me the helm.” He grabbed the joystick in front of him, his eyes locked onto the moon. He had done this maneuver once before, and now he was straining to remember exactly how it went. He felt a surge of confidence well up within him. “I can do this,” he told Rider. “The moon is too far away, even at maximum speed,” Rider said. “Shut your mouth,” Sheen growled. “I can make it.” The bridge was slammed so hard that Sheen felt something pop in his chest, a rib most likely, and his hand came off the joystick. “Structural integrity is failing,” Rider told him. “By the powers!” Sheen yelled. “Who are these guys? Why are they attacking us?” “They're not,” Rider said. “They're breaking off the engagement.” “What?” Sheen gasped. “The two hostile autonomous fighters are moving away,” Rider repeated. “They have stopped firing at us.” “What?” Sheen said again, still unable to believe his luck. “That's great. So we're going to get out of this?” “Not necessarily,” Rider said, after a pause. “We are in an unstable orbit around that moon, and our sublight engines just went offline. We're going down.” Sheen slumped in his command chair, noticing now that the constant subliminal hum of the engines was gone. With the FTL engines missing a vane and sublight drive offline, the Dark Rider was dead in space, just waiting for the massive moon to pull it down. “I could repair the engines,” Sheen offered hopefully. “Not in time,” Rider told him. “I would instead recommend enjoying the view.” Sheen gazed at the moon, still oncoming because the last thing the engines had been doing before they died was that they had been pushing the Dark Rider at the giant ball of dirt with all their power. “It is a good looking moon,” Sheen said. “Is that an atmosphere?” “Yes,” Rider told him, “and the bluish green is a biosphere. A lush environment of rain forest and patches of savanna.” “I'm not going to die,” Sheen said. “I'm going to land this tub.” “How?” “Gravitics?” Sheen ventured. “There’s not enough power in our gravitic generators to stop us falling out of orbit,” Rider said. “Maybe not…” Sheen said, before unclipping his safety harness and running from the bridge. “I mean it,” Rider called after him, from speakers on the bride. “You should just relax and enjoy the view. It will likely be the last thing you ever see.” The story continues in the next episode - Episode 002: Skyfall --- Star Questor takes place in the same universe as the sci-fi series called Dark Galaxy, which starts with Galaxy Dog. What starts as an ordinary invasion of an alien planet brings to light an ancient archeological site of huge importance. A young man called Knave makes a life-changing discovery there and rises from a lowly position as an infantry trooper to become a player among the powers of the galaxy. While you wait for the next episode of Star Questor, the entire Dark Galaxy series is available to buy from Amazon. Just click the link to learn more about the world of Star Questor and Dark Galaxy.

[thocerwan]

Top 5 de mes jeux préférés de 2018.

Alors autant pour le top 15 de mes films préférés de 2018 faudra attendre Mardi 1er Janvier parce qu'on sait jamais, je peux toujours voir un film de ouf dans le 28 heures à venir, mais niveau jeux vidéo, j'ai pas prévu d'en commencer un nouveau tellement j'en ai plein sur le feu en ce moment, donc voici mon top 5 des meilleurs jeux de 2018 !

5) Into The Breach

Nouveau jeu des développeurs de FTL Faster Than Light, Into The Breach est dans les grands mots, un peu la même recette que Faster Than Light, mais avec un contexte une histoire différente. On retrouve ce principe de Rogue-Like stratégique, mais avec quelques changements qui font que oui, ça se ressemble beaucoup à FTL, mais c'est pas du tout comme FTL, c'est vraiment un jeu différent, et qui se trouve être incroyable addictif fun, qui va faire chauffer vos méninges à plus d'une reprise. Le tout à nouveau accompagné par la musique de Ben Prunty, on se retrouve face à un jeu au moins aussi bon que son prédécesseur, voir meilleur en ce qui me concerne. 

4) Spider-man

Tout a déjà été dit sur ce, mais je vais quand même le répéter: oui, c'est ultra-fun. Oui, c'est ultra-beau. Oui, c'est un peu comme Batman Arkham niveau gameplay mais c'est assez différent pour réussir à se démarquer de Batman Arkham et hyper raccord avec le personnage de Spidey et ses capacités. Oui, c'est le meilleur jeu Spider-man de l'Histoire des jeux vidéo, même Spider-man 2 paraît franchement naze à côté. Et oui, c'est aussi bien que ce que les gens en disent. 

3) God Of War

Là aussi, tout à déjà été dit sur God Of War. Véritable réinvention de la saga que ce soit dans son gameplay ou dans le ton employé, God Of War est une réussite en tout points: magnifique graphiquement, c'est très clairement le plus beau jeu de la PS4 (bon Red Dead Redemption 2 est techniquement + beau, je sais, mais la direction artistique de God Of War rend le jeu plus beau en termes de ressentit je trouve), une histoire magnifique, entre nouveau départ pour la saga et rétrospective sur les 3 jeux passés et leurs conséquences sur le personnage de Kratos, qui se trouve quand à lui transformé par son passé et par le périple qu'il entreprend aux côtés de son fils Atreus dans ce nouveau jeu, entre quête de rédemption et voyage porté de A à Z par le deuil. God Of War est, sans opposant concret et suffisamment solide, la meilleure exclusivité de la PS4, un jeu incroyable, dont la démesure de par la production et la réussite, nous met face à un jeu qui relève presque du quintuple A que du triple A basique. 

2) Return of The Obra Dinn

Nouveau jeu de Lucas Pope, le monsieur derrière l'incroyable, le mythique et tout bonnement incontournable Papers Please, Return of The Obra Dinn est tout aussi atypique que son grand frère, et tout aussi excellent. Pas forcément à la portée de toutes les mains car très particulier, le jeu consistant en une enquête en vue à la première personne durant laquelle vous allez devoir tout déduire par vous-même uniquement avec les éléments de l'enquête, sans la moindre aide ou astuce donnée un peu le jeu, que dalle, bref, un jeu où les cerveaux vont chauffer plus d'une fois, et ça marche franchement du tonnerre, on se prend très facilement (attention blague) au jeu (haha). Le tout enrobé d'une musique juste g-é-n-i-a-l-e et de graphismes absolument marchant malgré le concept assez saugrenu (je vous invite à aller voir par vous-même), et vous avez un jeu mémorable, déjà un classique, encore plus rapidement que Papers Please, et qui prouve que Lucas Pope a un talent et des ressources assez dingues, donc clairement, vivement le prochain, et en attendant (parce qu'il y a quand même 5 ans qui séparent Papers Please et Return of The Obra Dinn), on se refera ses jeux avec plaisir. 

Et enfin le numéro 1 (attention ça va être long).

1) Tetris Effect

Bah ouais. Et c'est même pas une blague ou même un choix en mode "ouais j'ai des avis hypers différents de vous gnagnagna", vraiment pas, Tetris Effect est, à mon sens, le meilleur jeu de 2018. Et très honnêtement ? Un des meilleurs jeux, tout court. 

Pour comprendre ce choix, posons-nous la question suivante: c'est quoi, dans le jeu vidéo, qui fait que ce média est devenu un véritable art (le premier qui commence à me faire son intello-prout-prout et qui vient me dire que le Jeu Vidéo n'est pas un art, je lui pète ses dents et je les donne à bouffer à mon chien) ? Le scénario ? On est plutôt proche de la Littérature, du Théâtre et du Cinéma pour le coup. La mise en scène ? Pareil, plutôt Cinéma, Théâtre, et Photographie un peu. La direction artistique ? Là c'est carrément l'Architecture, le Dessin, la Sculpture, la Photographie et la Peinture. La musique ? Bah... là c'est la Musique aussi. Les graphismes peut-être ? Non, sinon les jeux de Quantic Dream seraient des œuvres d'art et on sait tous que c'est faux, et c'est plus les Arts Numérique pour le coup. Ce n'est rien de tout ça. Ce qui fait que le Jeu Vidéo est un art, c'est le gameplay. Et qu'est-ce que le gameplay ? D'après Wikipedia, qui tire lui-même sa source de Marc Goetzmann et Thibaud Zuppinger, il s'agit de "l'articulation entre le game, les structures et règles de jeu, et le play, la façon dont le joueur s'approprie les possibilités du jeu en mettant au point ses propres stratégies, pour répondre aux contraintes que les règles "constitutives" du jeu lui imposent". Et le gameplay c'est la sève, la base, d'absolument tout les jeux du monde (sauf ceux que Quantic Dream), et si vous demandez à de nombreux experts du Jeu Vidéo quel est le gameplay parfait, les réponses seront évidemment diverses, mais je suis prêt à parier que la réponse qui reviendra le plus souvent sera "Tetris", parce que Tetris, c'est la simplicité ultime, et malgré tout, le jeu qui peut se révéler être d'une difficulté sans nom, encore plus stressante que n'importe quel Dark Souls. Tetris, c'est aussi la simplicité en termes de but: ici, pas d'histoire, pas de fin à atteindre, le seul but, c'est de faire le plus de point. C'est cette simplicité à l'extrême et sa courbe de progression inchangée et inchangeable qui fait que presque 40 après, Tetris se vend encore comme des petits pains chaque année. 

Mais du coup, Tetris Effect dans tout ça ? Eh bah c'est très simple, Tetris Effect, c'est Tetris mais en plus coloré, plus sensoriel, plus musical, plus beau. Chaque mouvement des tétrominos s'accorde à la musique et aux effets visuels du jeu, et de ce mélange en ressort une magie assez déconcertante, à la foi apaisante, entraînante, énergisante, et qui arrive à vous donner un bête sourire pour des raisons assez inconnues. Certains souriront, d'autres, dont je ne citerais pas le nom, auront une larme, mais quoi qu'il arrive, 10 minutes de Tetris Effect manette en main ne vous laisserons pas indifférent, car il se passe véritablement quelque chose avec ce jeu. 

Je vous invite à cliquer ici pour avoir un petit aperçu du jeu, mais sachez-le: Tetris Effect un jeu parfait. Lettre d'amour à la saga et au jeu d'origine, résultat quasi-ultime de plus de 50 ans de jeux vidéo qui utilise absolument tout les outils possibles pour offrir une expérience inoubliable, Tetris Effect est l'expression pure de ce qu'a pu être, de ce qu'est, et de ce que sera le Jeu Vidéo. Un chef-d'oeuvre, tout autant que l'était le premier Tetris, qu'il surpasse d'ailleurs à 200%.

[arxt1]

Dirac equation in exotic space-times. (arXiv:1811.00385v1 [gr-qc])

We find solutions of the Dirac equation in curved space-time. In particular, we consider 1+1 dimensional sections of several exotic metrics: the Alcubierre metric, which describes a scenario that allows faster-than-light (FTL) velocity; the G\"odel metric, that describes a universe containing closed timelike curves (CTC); and the Kerr metric, which corresponds to the spacetime of a rotating black hole. Moreover, we also show that the techniques that we use in these cases can be extended to non-static metrics.

from gr-qc updates on arXiv.org https://ift.tt/2Di4ga6

[lumaraschronicle]

Alright, so I’ve been thinking about Traveller and Cepheus Engine (CE) (which is really just Traveller ... 2d6 classic SF doesn’t fool anyone who knows what 2d6 sf is, and that is traveller) a lot lately, which you may know. I think that my ideal Traveller would be a merger of CE and Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition (MgT2). However, I’ve discovered that there’s more superscience in standard Traveller than just Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel -- including gravity manipulation. Gravity Manipulation generally crosses a line with me. I brought it up on a facebook group about Science Fiction Role-Playing Games and while most of the commentators controverted my assertion that I favor space opera and alleged that what I want is hard scifi, a few of them suggested a couple settings. One of them is Clement Sector, which I’m going to go into in a later post. The other setting, of course, is the linked Orbital 2100. I read through this review and instantly became entranced. There’s no gravity manipulation, we’re dealing with one solar system, there’s an interesting contest between the colonies of Luna and Earth (novel but very jarring), and options for both what GURPS Ultra-Tech terms Conservative Hard SF and Radical Hard SF. This article gives advice and reviews how Orbital 2100 is the Radical Hard SF is what we desire and deserve and that, if we wanted, we could use it to model the TV/Book series The Expanse. 

What I find amusing about The Expanse is that when I first saw it I thought that it would make a great RPG. A little research later I discovered the fact that the author who’d first come up with it had made the setting for an MMORPG. After the MMORPG miscarried, the author used the wealth of information for a tabletop RPG. That’s where he met the other author and we know the rest.

Now, a tabletop RPG has come out explicitly for The Expanse. I honestly haven’t really researched it. That’s because I’ve been working on my own setting based here in the Sol System in GURPS. While making it, I was constantly thinking about how the Mooners (Or Lunites -- you know, people who’ve been raised on the Moon) would effectively be The Expanse Belters, and that the Martians are only marginally stronger than Mooners, compared to the Terrans who are basically the strongest motherfuckers in the solar neighborhood. While I was trying to adapt this setting to Moment of Truth (MoT), I gave some thought to how you might replicate the Martians, Terrans, and Belters. Once I get the chance, I might share that here. All I remember right now is that Terrans get +1 Strength, and Belters get a number of extra skills, one of them obviously being Vacc Suit. I think I was maybe going to include a Free Fall skill, also, if it wasn’t already included in Moment of Truth. I’ll have to share that here -- there’s not too much setting material for MoT.

For adapting it to CE or MgT2, I would introduce a new skill -- Free Fall. This skill would be for handling acrobatic maneuvers in free fall (null G). For example, there’s been a boarding and a character is racing to get to a certian part of the ship. They want to quickly reach an area, so they launch themselves from one end of the corridor to the other. However, they don’t want to be shot by boarders who might be around the corner at that end of the corridor, so before they exit, they attempt to twist and enable their magnetic boots. That’s a Free Fall throw. Perhaps it could be Athletics from CE. That might be a skill to add to MgT2.

Anyway: There’s GURPS, there’s Mot, and now there’s CE’s Orbital 2100 that we can use to make and model a setting like The Expanse. I’d suggest that folks check out Orbital 2100 -- it’s a pretty intriguing.