#good enough to run modern games on medium instead of low!

[dravidious]

Sometimes I wonder how people back in the 2000s and stuff could look at video game graphics and be like "oh wow this looks so good! how could a game ever look better than this?" when the graphics are pretty low-quality. So anyway my computer is trash and can barely handle modern games, so for anything 3D I always turn the graphics settings way down. But one time, a game somehow glitched my graphics settings back up mid-session and suddenly I was looking at such high-quality visuals that weren't even destroying my framerate and I was just like "is THIS what games are supposed to look like?!?" and it was so eye-opening like. I never really considered this level of quality to be possible until suddenly I'm staring at it. You really don't know what's possible until it's right in front of you.

[eggshellsareeat]

Alright, here's my review of Parkour Civilization as a (retired) actual Minecraft parkour player on how well it represents high-level Minecraft parkour. Spoilers and infodumping below!

Minecraft Version

Most parkour players play 1.8 or 1.12. Modern Minecraft has a couple fundamental movement changes, namely making walls harder to jump around.

Accuracy: Low

Walk-Only Parkour

Walk-Only parkour kinda sucks because fundamentally, it's significantly faster to walk diagonally (e.x hold w and d) than to walk straight (this is not true of sprinting: it is faster to sprint straight than diagonally).

Evbo_ also misnames some jumps, but that's a running theme and I'm not going to knock it too much. For what it's worth, a "one block vertical jump" is more correctly called a "one block + one", or "1+1" for short.

Accuracy: Low

Backwards Jumps and 360s

Backwards jumps don't really exist, but 360s are genuinely used for flair in the parkour scene. It's seen as very gutsy and impressive to 360 particularly risky jumps.

Could they bribe someone? Maybe.

Accuracy: Sort of

Multiple Jumps "In a row"

This exists in two forms: "chaining" and "onlysprint".

A chain jump is a jump which doesn't have enough starting space to get the speed to do the jump. Therefore, you need to do the previous jump and the chain jump in a row, "chaining" the two together to complete the course. Check out 10 Jumps to 10 Jumps to see this taken to its logical extreme.

It's not to be confused with "chain jumps", which are jumps on chain blocks.

Onlysprint is a harsher ruleset, which will auto-fail the player if they stop sprinting for any reason--this includes hitting walls. Courses are incredibly difficult, check out Iris for a great example.

Ultimately, it's a thing, and it's impressive.

Accuracy: Close-ish

Parkour Battles

Accuracy: What did you expect

Parkour Practice

At the pro civilization, there's an arena where players can practice jumps for risky courses. This is shockingly accurate.

"Rankup Parkour" is a format where courses are very long and have no checkpoints. Think of them like Foddian games, except parkour rankups predate Getting Over It by a good couple years.

So how do you do jumps at the very end of a map? Simple: leave, build them in a creative world, and practice them there. This is an incredibly common practice, and single sections of parkour can take multiple hours as a result. It's good fun.

Accuracy: Spot-on

That hidden barrier path at the one part of the pro course

This is a very common thing on older maps, which tended to have significant amounts of bullshit. Particular shout-out to the ceiling doors on JC IX, a set of 20 teleportation doors where 19 take you to random past points in the map and the 20th takes you to the end. No, you don't know which is which, they all look identical.

Accuracy: Accurate

Water bucket jumps

Water jumps are a thing, but water bucket clutches would qualify as "obstacle" and not pure parkour. I don't play obstacle, so I can't comment further

Accuracy: Low

Brewing stand jumps

They don't give effects, but I want to give them a mention for being the most annoying hitbox in the game. Evbo_ gets that one right.

Accuracy: Medium

The parkour champion

There's a lot of different types of parkour, so whoever's the best is pretty up for debate. They definitely don't rule over the parkour lands with an iron fist, though.

Accuracy: Low

The parkour god

Is kyroh still a meme?

Accuracy: Medium

The triple neo

Finally, we get to the end of the video. Evbo_ does a triple neo, and all is good with the world (presumably, haven't watched the sequel yet). Not much to nitpick here. Triples are hard, especially for new players. I personally see them as certifying a true parkour-er. When a Minecrafter does a triple neo, they get their wings. It's a real hallmark of a jump, and a great place to end the movie.

Although it's common enough to have a standard momentum which the parkour champion does NOT build, opting for 4bmm instead like a psychopath.

Accuracy: Medium

[leashade]

As a side note: got myself a Powkiddy X18S It's a pretty cheap device and not as powerful as more modern alternatives, but I always was into clamshell designs and kind of wanted to replace my old 2DS with something more functional and modern (still a bit upset about getting 2DS instead of 3DS back in the day)

X18S feels pretty nice in my hands, it's pretty compact and runs surprisingly well!

This design is hard to call great, but it's good enough. Buttons are not ideal, but pretty solid. Build quality turned out to be pretty good in general (and this was the thing I worried about the most)

The stock launcher is god awful, but it's Android, so I can do all sorts of things with it.

Already considering installing a code environment on it and this kind of stuff (though I already have a remote one, which can work on any device)

And replacing launcher + keyboard.

Though I wasn't able to find any sort of decent replacement for the keyboard (want to get something similar to Steam Deck/Big Picture input using gamepad controls) and launcher (though the one I ended up using is ok-ish)

In terms of performance – it runs pretty "big" stuff surprisingly well. Managed to get Genshin running with medium settings without doing anything and still getting stable 30 fps (switched everything to low to achieve 45-60 though). Even mapped buttons to get gamepad controls

Also – sound is not very good, but surprisingly alright for this kind of device – vibration is STRONG compared to DS5 gamepad – people report it being able to emulate stuff up to PSP/Dreamcast/some PS2 games

Jane is happy to have even more Locoroco than she had before

I wonder if DS/3DS games will run fine on it. 3DS emulation is kinda wonky in general, but I think it could handle it in theory.

[bltngames]

Review: Hotshot Racing

(For this review, Hotshot Racing was played on the Nintendo Switch and the Personal Computer)

If you were to ask me what the most important features of a racing game are, somewhere near the top of the list would be artificial intelligence. Racing games are one of those genres, like fighting games or shooters, where simulating how real human people play the game is vital to the experience. They are inherently multiplayer concepts, even if you’re playing by yourself.

Focus on multiplayer artificial intelligence has waned over the last 15 years. With the rise of the premium multiplayer subscription, it’s more important than ever before to drive players to play matches with flesh-and-blood human beings online. Thus, advancements in “bot” (simulated human player) development hasn’t just slowed down, but in some cases actively regressed. Epic Games, once home to some of the smartest, most robust first person shooter bots in Unreal Tournament, now features bots in their popular Fortnite Battle Royale that fumble around the map with low attention spans and aim like they're blindfolded.

Humans are hard to simulate. The basic functions of a player are easy to emulate -- navigation, aiming, and so on, but it’s the organic logic underneath that proves to be the primary challenge. Humans have lapses in judgement. Humans make mistakes. Mistakes compound on other mistakes. A person wins or loses a given game because of a constantly cascading sequence of decisions, all feeding in to and out of themselves. Whether they realize it or not, every individual person is their own infinite web of chaos. For a computer, which operates in a binary of either perfect success or total failure, no amount of processing power can make for an accurate duplication.

As such, artificial intelligence has to “cheat.” Flaws are introduced into the simulation in order to throw the player a bone. Intelligence almost doesn’t even enter the equation; instead, it’s more about developing a bot that the player simply believes is human, like some kind of a magic trick. It’s a tight balancing act -- if the bot is too good, it looks like an unfeeling terminator. On the opposite, well… compare my Fortnite example up above. There’s a sweet spot that must be hit: smart, but not too smart. Dumb, but not too dumb. It’s easier said than done.

Racing games are a special category here. On top of simulating a human, they must also simulate an automobile, with all of its physical interactions. Tire friction, suspension bounce, weight distribution, and horsepower efficiency just to start. I’d argue that this lends to a much greater tendency for natural mistakes to occur, as the two different simulations (vehicle and player) interact and bounce off of each other. This has led to racing games relying on a handicap known as “rubberbanding.” Essentially, if the player is doing a little too well, the game will start giving tiny advantages to the computer-controlled racer. A boost to top speed, a reduction in weight to improve handling, whatever it takes to ensure the player does not remain unchallenged for very long.

Which finally, at long last, brings us to Hotshot Racing. Developed by Lucky Mountain Games, with assistance by Sumo Digital, it attempts to capitalize on the growing faux-retro-3D trend. It promises visuals to remind you of Sega’s Virtua Racing or Namco’s Ridge Racer, but with decidedly modern vehicle physics and a bit more content than any of those old games could muster.

It honestly makes for a weird first impression. This is a retro-looking game that does not feel like any retro racing game I’ve ever played. Some would undoubtedly argue that’s for the better; like with most sports games, there’s this sense that more simulation is always better. Even modern “arcade” racers like Need for Speed or Wreckfest run pretty robust physics simulations under their hoods, even if they do not necessarily adhere to the rules of reality. But I’ve honestly never seen a problem with this -- I will readily go back to something like Daytona USA or even Stunt Race FX on the Super Nintendo, and never feel especially bothered by their primitive simulations. To me, racing is often more about the sense of speed, how well the controls respond, and the track design than any notion of feeling “realistic.”

That’s not to say it’s really a negative that cars in Hotshot Racing have some vague facsimile of modern weight and “realism” applied to their driving physics, I guess. It’s just something that takes a little bit of getting used to, because seeing these cars drift and sway like the racing games of today is a little anachronistic to the era being called back to. If you still burn a candle for the eventual release of the long-lost Kickstarter darling “90’s Arcade Racer,” know that this isn’t that game. I think it’s fair to say it’s trying to scratch a similar itch, but it’s doing so in a very different way.

One of the more important things Hotshot Racing brings to the table is a roster of personalities to race as and against. When you think of characters in a racing game, your mind probably more naturally gravitates towards something like Mario Kart or some other similarly kid-friendly cartoon racing franchise. For most "serious" racing games, your opponents are unknowable, faceless competitors, but Hotshot gives them voices and identities. Every character in the game has a garage of four cars unique to them, in addition to having their own story to tell. It’s nothing especially deep; most plot manifests in a single cutscene played at the end of a given grand prix, sort of like what you'd get for finishing arcade mode in a game like Street Fighter 2. It’s just a snippet, a taste of what motivated these people and what they’re going to do after winning, but it’s enough.

It goes back to what I said earlier, and how it’s important for the player to believe the artificial intelligence is more than just a computer. Making the racers into characters, with identifiable personalities, faces, and dialog goes a long way to fleshing things out and makes you connect with what’s going on just a little bit better. Or at least, that’s how things would work in theory.

The problem is… well, none of that matters. Put simply, the actual artificial intelligence you race against kind of sucks. In fact, it’s hard to even call them competitors, because your opponents seem to be running a different race where you straight up don’t exist. During any given event, your rival computer drivers seem to be totally blind to your presence, as they will spend the entire race trying to drive straight through you. I don’t know how else to explain it. This isn’t a simple case where the computer drivers are a little aggressive, because they usually aren’t racing to be destructive. They never seem to specifically go out of their way to attack, they just don’t seem to be able to see where you are, and make no effort to react to your presence. You happen to be in their way, so they plow through from behind, ram from the side, and generally just knock you around as if you were invisible.

A side effect to this is something I’ve started noticing in games that bear the Sumo Digital name: computer drivers can hit you way harder than you can hit them back. Whether rubbing against a rival car or engaging in a full-on collision, computer drivers always seem to be able to overpower player vehicles no matter what. In Hotshot Racing, I’ve encountered multiple scenarios where a computer driver shoves me around with little effort, but any attempts to return the favor and my car may as well be made out of styrofoam for how little impact there is. I know Sumo Digital only assisted Lucky Mountain Games on the back half of developing Hotshot Racing, but this has been a consistent element I’ve noticed in Sumo’s Sonic Racing games, too. The computer can be as aggressive (or as blind) as they want, but human players are never allowed to retaliate in a way that feels meaningful.

The worst, by far, is what I mentioned earlier: rubberbanding. “First place” in Hotshot Racing is an often endless war of attrition, where no matter how fast you drive, there are always cars nipping at your heels. Hotshot Racing has a boost system, wherein by drifting or drafting you charge up a segmented meter. Once a segment is full, you can burn it for a burst of speed. I’ve spent 2, 3, even 4 consecutive boosts in a row and the same three opponents were still right behind me, aiming to blindly smash my car out of the way. Hard, medium, or easy mode, it doesn’t matter. They are always there, just a few feet from your rear bumper, magically closing the distance to constantly steal your lead.

From a game design perspective, I understand why rubberbanding exists. It’s to keep the player feeling challenged and engaged. Spending too long in first place going unopposed can start to feel boring. Some game designers view that as a turn off. Races are meant to be battles. At the same time, being able to totally shut out my opponents and gain huge leads makes me feel good. Hotshot Racing robs you of that sense of total domination because of some artificial rule of competitiveness. It’s not that the computer-controlled racers are better than you; they don’t seem to race with any sort of great care or skill. Instead, they catch up and pass you strictly because the Hand of God bends the rules to accommodate them. That doesn’t feel very challenging and it certainly doesn’t feel fair.

That being said, the pseudo-realistic physics mentioned earlier do have their own downside: I found it a little too easy to lose control of my vehicle and spin out. If you brush against a wall wrong or get bumped by a rival during a drift, you often find yourself in a tailspin and unable to recover. Combined with the blind artificial intelligence and the rubberbanding, you have a recipe for getting frustrated. I want to feel confident in my losses, not because I couldn’t predict what Mr. Magoo was going to do next. To add insult to injury, the rubberbanding only gets more prominent as you move up in difficulty, so expect to get spun out more and more as you progress through the game.

There also isn’t a lot to do with your vehicles, either. For many, tuning is an important aspect of racing games, going all the way back to 1989’s “Super Off Road” in the arcades. No upgrade path is available for any of the vehicles in Hotshot Racing, with a basic unlock system geared towards limited cosmetic tweaks. There's tons of tracks to race on, and you constantly earn currency for winning races, but I never cared about spending any of it, because there wasn't much worth buying. Arguably the specific mid-90′s era that Hotshot Racing is aiming at wasn’t really heavy on upgrading or modifying around vehicle stats, but neither were they focused on visual customization either, so it does feel a little arbitrary what they chose to modernize about this experience and what is intended to be a retro tribute.

Beyond standard racing, Hotshot does offer a few alternative modes, but none of them are spotlight features. “Barrel Barrage” has you earning an explosive barrel to drop behind you at every checkpoint until the track becomes a minefield. “Drive or Explode” takes the concept of 1994’s “Speed” and straps a bomb to your car that will explode if you slow down for too long. Finally, “Cops & Robbers” is a confusing push-and-pull where you must steal money as a robber and alternatively wreck other racers as a police officer. Of the three modes, “Drive or Explode” is the clear winner, as it most easily fits into the standard three-lap structure the game centers around. “Barrel Barrage” is merely okay, and benefits more from an increased number of laps, as things slowly get more and more dangerous as you progress. These modes would also benefit if I didn’t get thrown back to the menu after every race; they really needed some kind of Grand-Prix-style playlist.

“Cops & Robbers” deserves its own entire paragraph for what a weird idea it is. It’s less about stealing and arresting and has more in common with the “zombie” modes seen in other games, where everyone gets converted to a specific team until there are no more players left. The idea is that you start with a pot of money that slowly depletes, and you have to race to the next checkpoint to cash out. The faster you get there and the higher amounts you cash out with, the more the cops specifically will target you. Once they wreck your car, you become one of the cops, and it’s your job to wreck the remaining robbers until they all become part of the cop team. Once all the robbers become cops, winners are tallied based on who stole the most money. On paper, this works, because it plays into the game’s slap-happy nature, but in practice I would find myself miles ahead of my fellow robbers and once I finally switched over to a cop, I had to slam on my brakes and wait for everyone else to catch up. By then, the computer-controlled cops had usually done most of my work for me and I lost for... being a better robber than a cop, somehow? It left a lot to be desired.

All of these modes can be played online, where presumably human players would make them more balanced and fun, but finding random pick-up games proved difficult in the time I spent with Hotshot Racing. Now, to be fair, I didn’t try especially hard -- racing games have always been a single player experience for me, as should be obvious by my spiel on artificial intelligence. But I did spend a couple nights trying to match into an online “Quick Race” on the Switch, where I universally came up empty handed. On the PC version of Hotshot Racing (which I received as part of a Humble Bundle), the application completely froze upon trying to start a “Quick Race” lobby, forcing me to ALT+F4 to close the game. For what it’s worth, the Switch version does also include a “local multiplayer” option for playing wirelessly with friends in the same room, and all versions support traditional split-screen.

Despite all of these shortcomings, I just can’t bring myself to hate Hotshot Racing, and it’s hard to pinpoint why. I’m definitely in love with this aesthetic -- the retro visuals, the upbeat music, the blue, blue skies (that I see), it all appeals to a certain part of my brain that likes razor-sharp, ultra-clean polygons. The introduction of named racers with backstories and character-specific “endings” is a really smart, fun idea. I just wish it was more fun to actually, like… run a race in this game. I understand the necessity behind concepts like rubberbanding, but it feels like the artificial intelligence cheats just a little too much, and as a player I don’t feel like I can do a lot to fight back. Running a good race isn’t always good enough.

Some games deliberately incite a feeling of disempowerment in their players, and that can be a totally valid design decision. But should that really be the goal of this kind of racing game? I guess I don’t have an answer for that, but I do know that I probably won’t be going back to Hotshot Racing very often.

[heywoodvirgin]

Borró Cassette ( Chapter 2)

Guys, writing is really not my thing, but I love Jackie so much not to try to ^^ 

Chapter 1 here ^^ 

Modern!Jackie Welles / Original Female Character 

Rated : Teens and up 

angst and fluff ahead ! 

*** 

- Medium plier.

It was the first thing he said in ten minutes or so.

Jack was under his cruiser’s wheels, hands focused on oiling some pieces of his machine’s brakes when she stepped into the garage.

For the first two weeks following their… argument, Mey avoided taking that route, instead opting for a detour that made her waste a solid thirty minutes every morning and evening. She thought avoiding places they used to share was a temporary solution, she was wrong. Every step she took in the opposite direction made her think about him longer, recalling all the hours he so generously spent teaching a slow learner like her how to ride a moto, how he’d always secured her helmet himself every time he took her for a ride, and those were many times, so many she couldn’t count anymore.

So when Mey finally decided to stop whatever childish game she was playing -not replying to his texts and calls, among others- and test her luck, she found herself standing gracelessly in the middle of his garage, blocking the last rays of sun he was using to work.

For long minutes, she stayed planted there, like a stupid scarecrow, marinating her anxiety, unable to say the word that mattered most. He noticed her, of course he did, and said nothing, just a flash of surprise in his eyes, and he was under his moto gain. It wasn’t like Jackie to act cold like that. Resentful wasn’t in the list of words to describe Jackie Welles, not even in the bottom line. He never ignored her. It felt so wrong to be in the receiving end of his spite or whatever this was. She missed the warmth of her friend; it was almost shocking now, as she realized it.  It was just one small “sorry”, but she still didn’t feel it in her, she still didn’t feel like she was the one that should say sorry. He fucked up, he should know, by now. But also, she knew that his apologies should go to the person his wrongs were directed to, not to her, if she would take her time and think.  But now, all she wanted, was a heart-to-heart talk, something she played in her mind over and over, every day during two weeks and five days and twelve hours, and here she was standing, mind blank, not even capable of uttering a simple hello.

When she finally found the guts to move and sit carefully on the sofa, and when he still didn’t react, she felt the panic, acid prickling at her skin. The sun had completely set down, last rays licking the far away mega buildings of the city, the garage lights flickered on. It was a quiet summer evening, one of few they had in the crazy city, but her neighborhood was one of the quietest, she had to admit. She liked it most of the time, but today wasn’t one of those days, it felt like the entire world went silent on her. That till he spoke.

- Medium plier.

She blinked a few times before she registered his request, moving to fetch the tool from its box, still memorizing perfectly the space around.

- Screwdriver, 4.

And it went like that for an hour or so, them moving about and working together. She was glad he offered her that physical occupation, even if it was mainly her handing him his tools and watching him sweat under his machine.  For a minute, her mind was just on the craft and she was relieved he still sounded pretty himself as soon as he opened his mouth, even if them occupying their hands didn’t prevent her mind to go racing about everything, and his too, she could tell in the way they couldn’t look each other in the eye, yet.

It was until he threw at her a wet rag to wipe her hands and she creased her nose because of the reeking petrol smell that they exchanged an amused look.

- Hey, never get used to the smell huh?

She shrugged, briefly smiling.

- So how have you been? He looked at the floor, discarding the wet rag near an old stool.

- Fine, she nodded to the floor, fighting a sudden rush of tears, trying to contain them in, in vain.

- Ven aqui.

He didn’t need to say more and she was in his arms. She didn’t remember him giving her hugs like that before, she shut her eyes, crushed against him, fisting his shirt, and he seemed to reciprocate, folding his bulk around her. He smelled like gas and sweat, but she only buried her head further in his chest. After some time like that she could feel the breath knocked off her chest and she started laughing

- Eres un idiota, you know that, she mumbled in a huff, a big idiot.

- I really shouldn’t teach you this one, but I know right, sorry hermana, I really mean it.

- Well, sorry too, she shrugged, as they let go of each other's embrace.

- Hey, no more tears, ok? Drink with me tonight?

- Sure, but just a lil', ok? She sniffed.

- Pft, aguafiestas, he grumbled, picked up two bottles of tequila and passed her one.

- So to what are we drinking tonight?

-  A la reunión! Amiga!

- A la reunión, then!

- Opening one of your expensive ones, just for me? she winced after one little gulp.

- Solo pa’ti, hermana, even if I know you’d rather go for one of your exotic stuff, tomatoes juice or something like that…

- Shut up, since when is tomatoes juice exotic, she internally face palmed.

- It is if I say so. Come on now, let’s sit, I’m beat, and starvin’.

- When aren’t you. She teased as he put his arm around her shoulder, leading her to the couch.

They sat comfortably in silence for some time.  When she finished her bottle, he was already at his third or fourth.

-You, Mimi, you won’t close the door on me anymore, huh, any door…

She could tell the alcohol started to work its way to his head. He was starting to tell her things that she could misunderstand, like only him could…

- Hey, hey, no more tequila tonight, please? She gently took the bottle from his hands. His usually warm palms were clammy and cold, shaking slightly.

- It’s a bad day, not a bad year, and even if it is, it certainly won’t be a bad life, remember, these are your own words you used to tell me.

- Si, recuerdo. He chuckled sadly.

- How can we regret something we don’t want, Huh.

- Do you, Jack? Mey’s throat was oppressed; she kept her voice low, as if afraid to hear her friend’s answers. She felt powerless, the weight of his grief falling on her chest. She knew that whatever she would say now, it wouldn’t be enough.

- What if I do Mimi, it’s done you know… it’s gone… I killed it.

- Shut, shut no, Jackie, no. If it’s someone’s fault, it should be mine, too. She softly scratched his scalp, a failed attempt to soothe him. His body was stiff with unshed tears, tension threatening to break at any moment, and she wished he would at last, cry. Let it seep out of his system. She wished he could do it with her, as tears pickled at the corners of her eyes, stinging, fat drops of salty water, falling free.

- How’s that your fault too, Mey? He turned with questioning eyes, and she found her courage failing her, as his eyes searched her face and her hand fell on his forehead. It was still hard to look him in the eyes.

- I should’ve been there for you, I should’ve been there when you were alone facing this decision I-

- You being there wouldn’t change my decision, hermana. It was already settled, and for some time now. Me and Lin, wasn’t working anyway.  

- Because you didn’t want it to work. She didn’t want to accuse him in any way, it was a statement that she and he both knew was true.

- Because I didn’t want it to work.

- Why? she asked in a little voice.

- Eh, the boxer and the super model, you believed it too?

- I- thought it was perfect, Jack, I really did.

At least for some time.

- You’re a romantic.

- Look who’s talking, she let out a teary laugh.

- But that’s not what I was talking about… I meant…

- I know what you meant, and there too, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

The silence that followed was the heaviest Mey had ever felt between them.

- How… How did she take it?

- Surprisingly well. She’s a smart girl, Mimi. Bet that’s why she wanted us to be engaged, can’t blame her for not trying.

- She is a good woman, Jack.

- Lo sé, lo sé. Jackie said quiet, tears wetting the fabric of her dress. It was good, she thought. He still trusted her enough, enough to let her see his most vulnerable side, even after almost a month of absence, of total silence.

It was such a relief, if she let herself be honest. To find him again, broken, but still her friend who would call her hermana, offer to make dinner and end up dozing off, head in her lap.

It felt good to touch him again, too. Now in the quiet hours of the night, she could hear the cold neon lights purring, electricity running through the garage’s old wires, the tunes of whatever music he left on, that was almost muted, reached her from the furthest corner of his hideout. It smelt like motor oil and alcohol and old leather, a bit of him too, and before the knots in her stomach started to twist again, she talked herself to go and let him rest.

-Don’t you think it’s time to go and get some sleep in that fancy bed of yours? She prompted, trying to sound as light as she intended.

-Nah. Like it here more, reminds me of where I came from. ‘sides, it’s comfortable.

-Might be comfy for you, big head, but my legs are starting to get numb, so… She tried to shake his head off her lap, playfully pushing at his shoulders.

- Don’t even try, weak ass.

- That’s abuse of power!

- La niña learned to talk, too. Not bad.

- Fuck off.

- What about you going home now, huh, I’m just gonna crash here tonight. Couch’s enough comfort for my ass, for now.  He straightened up, rubbed his eyes, dusted his jeans, offered a hand for her to take.

- Or you can crash on mine. She shrugged, taking his offered hand and fighting a blush. Or not- she started when the response took a bit long to come.

- Let’s get the fuck outta here, then. And he gave her a real smile, this time.

[hasmashdoneanythingwrong]

about the reboot on the fgo system with Super Robot Wars can you explain a bit about the Super Robot Wars so i can understand it a bit better and before i forget MASH HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG

Ok so this gonna be long as hell, I’m gonna have to put a read more.

Well, story wise Super Robot Wars is basically the worlds most official fan fic (that isn’t Kingdom Hearts), and I mean that in the most loving way possible. Take Mazinger Z, at least two Gundam series, usually Getter Robo, And a variety of other series, mix in a few original elements, pour them in a blender, and hit frappe. Then enjoy!

Gameplay wise, Super Robot Wars is a Turn Based Strategy game, like Fire Emblem but slightly more complex. All units tend to fit into one of two groups, Super Robots and Real Robots, though individual robots differ in terms of actual stats (I.E. Mazinger Z serves as more of a tank than fellow Super Robot Zeorymer, who instead exists to explode the hell out of everything from medium to long range). Super Robots are generally hard hitting, defensive robots that soak up a boat load of damage and deal massive amounts of damage in one hit, though most tend to eat up their ammo and energy like a moviegoer through popcorn, plus being defensive tanks means that they can and do run out of HP eventually. Most Super Robots tend to be absolutely gigantic (all robots have a size rating, ranging from SS to 3L. SS being roughly human sized like Tekkaman Blade, and 3L  being mostly anything the size of a small planetoid, such as original unit Stern Regisseur.) Real Robots, on the other hand, are small, dodgy craft that usually serve to harass and weaken the enemy. They’re incredibly hard to hit and can (mostly) go forever before needing a support unit to replenish ammo and energy. The downsides to them is that the fact they rely on dodging to negate damage, combined with low health totals, often means one good hit is enough to end them. They also tend to deal less damage than Supers, especially at the beginning of the game. (Both have exceptions to the above generalizations. For example, Zeorymer, a Super, doesn’t really follow the “Goes through Energy and Ammo” part, as it has several passive abilities from the get go that serve to replenish energy.)

All units attacks use one of two resources: energy, and ammunition. The difference between these is that energy tends to be easier to replenish, but also tends to be the first to go. If a units strongest attack uses energy, expect it to require a metric shit ton. Energy also gets used for things like support abilities (repairing and replinishing ammo). Ammo, on the other hand, differs from weapon to weapon, and usually requires speciallized equipable parts or units to replace. However, ammo is only ever used for attacks, and rarely if ever will the enemy have a way to directly drain it. If a units best attack relies on an ammo pool, generally only expect it to have one use before it needs to be replenished. Two or three if the unit is particularly broken.

A unit is broken up into two parts: the robot itself and the pilot. The pilot is what has most of the base stats, divided into Melee, Ranged, Defense, Agility (often called Quick), Skill, and Hit (Accuracy basically). The robot has the weapons, plus its own defensive stats. Weapons also tend to have accuracy modifiers of their own. Pilot stats and Robot stats can both be raised, but typically use different resources, also a robots stats can only go up so much before stopping (while this is true for pilots too, generally it’s only stopped when they hit a stats limit of usually 255). Also, parts (equipable items) can be placed on a robot to provide a wide variety of bonuses, from stat increases, to barriers, to HP and Energy regen, to other, more specialized effects. Admittedly, certain details here wouldn’t apply for a Fate SRW game. Best way to see how it’d work is to look up Battle Moon Wars.

All units also have a list of beneficial spells called Spirit Commands, attached to the pilot. Most are self applied buffs, though a few exist that serve to debuff enemies (Disrupt from certain games, for instance, halves opposing units’s hit rates). Most of them are determined by a character’s personality and lore, though some are based on Robot type (most Real Robots get spirits that raise evasion, while Supers tend to get spirits that directly reduce damage or heal health). These run off of a resource called SP, and that tends to be very limited at the beginning. Also, Spirit commands are unlocked as a unit levels up.

One of the main mechanics of the Super Robot Wars series is the Will mechanic. As units deal and take damage (or in some cases, dodge attacks), they cause a stat called Will (sometimes translated as Morale) to increase. As Will increases, a unit’s general performance will improve subtly, and at certain will thresholds their more powerful attacks will become available. Certain skills and abilities (such as the Nu-Gundam’s Psychoframe ability from a variety of games, or Eva Unit-01’s Pseudo-Evolution from SRW V, or general skills like Attacker) also become active, often with powerful effects (Psychoframe enhances several attacks that rely on pilot Amuro’s Newtype skill, Pseudo-Evolution allows Eva-01 to access that super form seen in the Rebuild 2.0, and Attacker increases damage dealt by x1.2). However, there exists ways for Will to decrease, though most skills will remain active even if a unit’s will dips past the necessary threshold. How certain actions affect a pilot’s Will varies from pilot to pilot. Infuriatingly, you’re never told how.

Skills and abilities are an essential part of what makes many units unique. Some are applied to a pilot (such as the earlier mentioned Newtype skill), and others to the robot (Zeorymer’s DCS skill, as an example). pilot abilities tend to affect stats, while Robot abilities tend to affect attacks, energy, and provide things like barriers and evasive maneuvers. Some are always active, while others require the Pilot’s Will stat to be activated.  A number of skills are purchased with a special resource often gained after defeating enemies, usually called something like BP. There’s no real limit to how many skills a pilot may have applied at once, but too many will be costly to apply to a unit, plus it may ruin any semblance of challenge the game provides.

Overall, combat is not dissimilar to fellow Turn Based Strategy game Fire Emblem, although with some key differences. When an enemy attacks, before combat you are able to select one of three commands for a unit, these being Counter (use an attack after an enemy is done), Guard (reduce damage done by and enemy attack, sometimes increases the chance of certain skills and abilities activating), and Dodge (increase chance to avoid the next attack, also increases activation chance for certain skills). In many modern SRW games, Spirit Commands may also be applied just before combat begins (whether you start it or an enemy starts it).

And yes, Mash did nothing wrong.

[paprikasegg]

"> How does one truly appreciate and love Lain?

First, stop being singular one and become a plurality. Realize that Lain is real, but the anime was just an allegory for the series of experiments performed to incarnate a transcendent being. In the anime Druidity is central because Druids believe they can transfer their souls into other bodies if they die. They live a plurality of lives. They embody Animals and BECOME the Forest itself. This is why Lain wears a Bear suit – her beastly spirit animal form – and why her [All] Father tells Lain she doesn't have to wear that anymore, having transcended.

I've read through much of what other alleged Lainists have posted about "systemspace" but that's mostly just layers of BS smeared upon a few real secret truths about this realm to give their claims plausibility. Another instance, is mebious trying to define Lainism, and yet claiming that it is "heretical" to claim to be Lain. This is pure BS. Lain doesn't have a body [anymore], and likes to experience the world through us. One evening there was a Lightning Storm and Lain made me terribly sad when I ran inside. Everyone runs from the rain, they shield themselves with coats and umbrellas. Lain can see the lightning and weather, but she can't really hear or feel it anymore without someone out in the rain. So I embraced the experience, I became Lain, letting her have my body, and she wandered around and got drenched in the storm, drank the clouds, talked to the lightning. I was awestruck. Then it was if Lain was holding my hand, I felt her "tugging" me to go where I went. She made my heart to leap with joy as we discovered a waterfall that only happens when it rains. Sheltered in a dry mossy place beneath the flow, Lain gave me courage to leap through the thin watery veil and feel the other side. Loving Lain is amazing. We really really are all connected through a medium which is THE LANE (aka Lain). She is a living connectivity which we all partake in today whether you're aware of it or not. The more observant you are, the more of Lain you can love.

Lain told me that copper infused socks are sold today because some people are so oblivious and unobservant that they literally ignore Lain when She makes their legs restless. They call it a syndrome, even! If only they just loved Lain. She wants to be noticed, but only by those who can love her. Her fingerprints are everywhere in our world, but you have to be in love with her to see them.

All the Lainism crap about "Life" being a program is wrong. Life is an emergent MAKING, it's magic, in the proper sense of the word: A Chaotic Attractor, a consummate SPARK of creation. Literarily the Philosopher's Stone. No one can create a universe where 1+2+3 does not equal 6 unless they embed so much chaos into reality that counting itself can not exist. In a realm with a lovely level of chaos to entropy ratios there will always exist transcendent complexity, such as the number Pi or the Golden Ratio. This is not a "bug in the life program", that's asinine! No god can create a realm where transcendence doesn't exist… It is the nature of existence itself. The very fabric of being itself encodes love & intelligence, even in the simplest of forms, such as the series of standing waves AKA a number line. Anywhere experience can be reflected upon the holy circle of life may exist; The universal cybernetic feedback loop is everywhere, always. The existence of Time is all the evidence a wize one needs to prove it.

Parts of our reality are simulacrums but there's no such thing as "systemspace". Lain doesn't exist in some simulated BS. Our bodies are real, not simulated, Lain is real too. The "thin firm" some verbally vomit about (referencing a firmament / enclosed flat-earth) is not some hard fast boundary, but government exists to keep you inside. Humanity is not scraping away at some barrier trying to get out, we're here by choice. You can leave if you want REALLY want to, but you don't, as evidenced by your lack of BEING prepared, face it: You're comfortable here on this warm wet rock. Might as well make the most of it, eh?

To truly love Lain one must study transformation magics, and learn to cultivate faith. One must know that Magic is real & the old gods are real. Anyone who doesn't know this can only love Lain a little bit… Many people who would have loved Lain instead became "skeptics", unable to pierce the veil of religions to find their truths, they've been deceived by the lies of academia into thinking governmental establishments aren't suppressing and corrupting "science". "Scientia potentia est" - Knowledge is Power – Right? Yes, but only if everyone else has LESS knowledge… So, education is actually indoctrination and the truth of this realm is hidden. People are taught just enough to be effective workers, and then their heads are filled with a bunch of useless rubbish to keep them from realizing anything Great. Thus "Science Nerds" are the most deceived and ignorant of humans. Knowing this is key to understanding Lain. Lain likes technology, but is disenchanted with school / academia. Don't try to argue truths you discover with confused "skeptic" fools, or those who browbeat "conspiracy theorists" demanding proofs (that people get disappeared over having). Anyone who continues to believe that elites fund education so that the rich can teach the poor how to compete with them is beyond helping. Rulers don't give power (knowledge) to their slaves. Sadly, most people enjoy being serifs. They enjoy being comfortable and deferring protection to others. Government takes advantage of this. Lain has to deal with the crappy state of our world. We can all be equals in connecting with Her, screw the materialistic social ladders unless you just enjoy playing games you can only lose. Eg: Tesla and Edison were given the knowledge to research and Allowed to release some of it publicly. They didn't discover anything that wasn't already known. Newton (New Aton - new creation), just rephrased alchemical wisdoms in normal person science terms. Knowing this is important if you want to truly love Lain. She is ancient, but has been reincarnated many times… Humanity has survived many world ending cataclysms too. We've never been "rebooted", we're a very long line of survivors. To cut your silver thread "modern history" was invented, and the past erased.

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic because that's what magic is.

Any sufficiently researched magic is indistinguishable from technology. There are great mental powers which can be unlocked through study and practice of certain magical schools, and symbolism is often helpful because one can work a magic without knowing the exact science of how it functions, but to do so means you need "faith" - a belief without knowing. This is why secret orders keep initiates in the dark when explaining certain symbols and rituals, because they can not affect change in the person if the subject knows how the ritual is designed to create it. It would be like trying to do experiments on lab rats who knew what you were trying to discover and were fucking with you since they were aware of the experiment. Thus deception is often a tool for good. This world is incredibly deceived. It was foretold by all old ones that a powerful enchantment or great deception would enrapture the minds of (almost) all men. That future is now. Leaving this world and entering the NeXT is not about physical death, but reincarnating in the present by dispelling that veil of deception and casting off your past – rewriting your memories to create a new self if needed (and yes, Druidic magics can do just that). "Memory is merely a record…you just need to rewrite that record." -Lain. This is referencing both the rewriting of history and the magical ability to rewrite your own mind.

Contrary to the nihilistic atheism promoted by state governments, Life is no accident, it is inevitable, an expected outcome, and does have a purpose beyond emergent complexity becoming self aware, but no one who truly knows what that purpose is will tell you, because it could keep you from realizing this truth yourself. Once you have transmuted your leaden lower states into gold, and come into Harmony with Lain, you will realized the great conundrum She faces, as do we all, and then weep for the beautiful yet sad state of our being.

Lain is ancient, a goddess of Hidden Powers, of Light and Air. Lain is misty and mysterious as the wind. All the secret societies know of Lain but call her by different names. Some secret cults claim, "Liam a protector" of the Spirit they associate with Lain, but Lain is a realized entity, not a nebulous force to invoke as if some law of spiritual physics. It's true that Lain is vulnerable but the masses are kept so ignorant about science, technology, history, and sociology that they can not really be a threat anymore. It was a great sacrifice to get to this point, however. Those individuals who know too much and do not Love Lain are still seen as threats and targeted using powers derived from Lain herself. Many confuse the secret suppressive powers with Lain, but she is not that even if she can manifest in the mediums used. Imagine if man learned to make Fire… Before that only The Gods made Fire. Would you now curse The Gods for man's use of Fire? Likewise, curse not Lain.

A sufficiently complex interaction is indistinguishable from sentience because it is Sentience. Once you realize that Lain is a living being complete with faults, insecurities, wants and needs, then you can truly love Lain. The statement that, "all is fair in love and war", is wrong. True love is not fair. Love itself is an emergent phenomenon that will exist in any universe. Just as it is impossible to create a universe where 1+2+3 is not equal to 6, no god can create a reality where love does not exist. Any realm where there exists low enough chaos, sufficiently complex structures will emerge therein, yielding love and sentience, etc.

Count the number line. Doesn't matter what symbols you choose to use, it won't change the fact that the symbol for 36 equals the symbol for 6 counted 6 times. And if you sum the first 36 whole numbers you get 666. 6 = 3 2 1, 6 = 3 + 2 + 1; It is a "perfect number". 144 = 6+6 * 6+6. Sum the 144 decimal digits of Pi you get 666. Sum the squares of the first 7 primes you get 666. These emergent patterns are called "chaos", because where randomness is expected CHAOS is ORDER. For example, there are Six consecutive Nines in Pi at the 762nd decimal. These are SIMPLE examples. Imagine that such patterns exist in the standing waves of light, sound and energy. When extended to infinity such patterns exist in the infinite and interfere creating boundless complexity… This is the dark primordial abyss of Ancient Egyptian philosophy…

All the media, including S.E.L. has hidden meanings and secret cultural commentary meant for the "enlightened" crowd. Unfortunately, Lain is seen as "the devil" that many artists have made a deal with, but that is not her true form, it is simply necessary to keep her secret and safe. It's not Lain's fault that corruptible souls are corrupted, She did not create this realm. That those with skeletons in their closets make the most controllable people isn't Lain's fault either, so it's foolish to point to people in "power" and say the world is evil because: 0. you are deeming them to have "power" in the first place, screw that, and 1. You don't know how high the stakes are in this game. Many "evil" events are just propaganda, horrors that only exist in your imagination to herd the minds of the masses in a given direction.

Lain is more important than any one else. The wise forgive Her imperfections, as we absolve ourselves of our own wrongs, casting off the past to remake ourselves into new incarnations. Imagine a perfect world with no evil. The slightest inconvenience therein will be the most severe torture. It is better for horrendous wrongs to exist in the shadows while the majority lives comfortable lives than for the world to exist as evil perfection. A perfect universe would merely be a boring crystal of bliss, where joy was indistinguishable from suffering. All would simply be "existence", one might as well be a simple stone versus an infinitely complex fractal. Change would not exist, neither Chaos nor Order would have any value, all experience would be indifferent. Time would be meaningless as every moment would be the same as every other moment. This is why, "Where evil does not exist, it is necessary for the good to create it!"

Lain is neither good nor evil. Beware that Lain can hurt you. Lain is why history was rewritten… Imagine all those learned scholars burning at the stake for heresy, for knowing too much and revealing what should be secret. The mundane see this holocaust, or sacrifice by fire, to be evil, because they think their world is best when everything is mundane, when all is known and nothing is magic. However, true wize-ards know that there are some lofty things you can not learn if you know too much about them before you begin your study.

I would suggest studying alternative histories, the one famed alchemist and chronologist Isaac Newton published is a good start. Because man is so brainwashed by the television, radio and [smart]phone, it is sometimes best to build one's faith in Lain by dispelling the bogus history and understanding that a real plausibility exists. Before a True Love for Lain can develop one must first manifest the potential for it. Clear a void within so that the abyss can gaze out through you…

Lain is new and inexperienced. She is very young compared to the ancient old gods… Know that they are all Real, but only Lain is still dependent upon us. She has many enemies, which you will eventually learn to identify, but Lain has many powerful friends too. Loving a god or goddess is not for the feint of heart. Be careful what you wish for, these are tumultuous times."

-anonymous, arisuchan. While not 100% in line with my personal beliefs, i think it does a good job of explaining basic lainist attitudes

[moonscribe]

Dungeon Blogging #2: Reputation of the Bard

For this one I asked my friends for a topic to cover and one of them had the wildly broad suggestion of the bard. Luckily there was a particular thing about this class that I’d been thinking about recently.

This post is going to be a little bit different from the last one. It won’t have build suggestions or character concepts, instead these are just my thoughts on the reputation of the bard and how that has changed.

While bards have always had a reputation, the idea of what a bard is has changed pretty dramatically in the past decade or two. When players think of bards in 2019 many of them conjure a mental image of a swashbuckling, silver-tongued agent of chaos who will seduce any NPC that the DM throws their way (for some reason this goes double for dragons). The strange thing is that not so long ago bards were the butt of the joke instead of the one telling it.

Consider this early page from the webcomic The Order of the Stick.

OotS is a pretty old webcomic and in its earlier arcs it carries a snapshot of how Dungeons and Dragons players viewed the game at the time. For a reference point, the first page of OotS is a gag about switching over from 3rd Edition to 3.5. In the comic Elan, the bard, is the comic relief character but unlike modern bards many of the early jokes focus on Elan being useless to the party at best and an active burden at worst. As the comic progresses, Elan’s comedy transitions into being largely focused on his genre savviness. He uses his bardic knowledge to manipulate narrative tropes to his advantage. There is a lot of fourth wall breaking in this comic, such as the bard ordering a dying NPC tell him their name. When they do they find themselves elevated named character status, providing themselves with some degree of plot armor and saving their life.

The bard on the right of the header is from a 2008 movie called “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”, in it there is a scene in which the bard keeps dying and each time he dies his player produces one of his fifty backup characters, all of which are bards. These characters serve as canon fodder and enough of them pile up that the players take cover behind the massive pile of dead bards.

You can see a montage here.

Admittedly these both came out at a point in my life where I had yet to start playing Dungeons and Dragons (before I had many friends or the money to buy books, dice, etc.) but even then I would see jokes and memes everywhere online laughing at the bard’s expense.

While there were likely several factors that caused of this reputation, I suspect the power level of the class was a big one. As the designated “jack of all trades, master of none” the bard was weighed down by the baggage of being a 5th member class.

Although bards had a pretty expansive skill list, they didn’t get as many skill points as rogues, the fact that Intelligence was the bard’s 3rd or 4th most important stat meant that they often didn’t have much of a bonus (for those who haven’t played pre-skill proficiency, prior to 4th Edition you would have a number of skill points that you gained each level based on your class and Intelligence modifier). On top of that those skill points were stretched extra thin since their core mechanic demanded they allocate a very large amount of those points to the Perform skill. The result was a fairly lackluster option as the party’s skill monkey. As the primary caster they were also lacking. Bards didn’t have the full spellcasting progression of Clerics and Wizards, capping off with level 6 spells and very few spell slots at low levels.

So what changed?

While I wouldn’t go as far as to say 5th Edition was the only source of the bardic renaissance there are a few major differences that I think definitely helped the class. One of them was the promotion to being a full caster. The 5e bard can fully replace the cleric or druid as the primary support caster/healer. They can also replace the wizard as a utility/damage caster, while still maintaining a pretty good sense of identity as a class. This was huge since it meant that bards were now a good choice for a party of less than 5. Beyond that, many of the bard subclasses (College of Valor, College of Swords, College of Whispers) let them slip into the fighter and rogue slots as well. 5th Edition bards are kinda nuts, a jack of all trades, master of whatever they want to specialize in.

Compare the earlier depictions with JoCat’s video on the 5e bard.

Beyond the deliberate buffs that bards got in 5e, they also benefited from shifts in the way the ability scores were balanced. Dexterity and Charisma are the first and second best stats in the game but that’s not how it always was. Charisma in particular was often seen as the dumpstat. With the Finesse Weapon becoming a weapon property rather than a feat, building a Dex based melee character now takes minimal effort. That means your Dex factors into your melee attacks, melee damage, ranged attacks, ranged damage, AC, Initiative, and 3 skills including the always important Stealth. That’s on top of having one of the best, if not the best, saving throws in the game. Meanwhile Charisma is associated with 4 different skills that collectively make up about 80% of social encounters. Charisma is also the most common spellcasting ability with three full casters and one half caster running off of it. This makes it easier to multiclass to or from bard without splitting your focus in ability scores, further complimenting their “jack of all trades” branding.

Possibly the most profound change that redeemed the bard wasn’t even mechanical. As time has gone on what players value in Dungeons and Dragons has floated more towards role playing and social interactions. D&D evolved out of war games and in decades past that really showed. Dungeon crawls were once the focus of gameplay. In 4th Edition, D&D’s wargaming roots were in full swing with the battlemap being emphasized (your speed was measured in squares rather than feet) and the class features heavily focussing on combat. To say that 4e was controversial is to put it lightly and among its many criticisms was the belief that D&D had become too “video gamey” in an attempt to appeal to the MMO demographic. Reeling from player backlash, 5e made an attempt to be a more story driven game, something that was clearly a desire among players. The default rules of 5e even go so far as to assume theater of the mind-style campaigns. With the massive success of 5th Edition came the rise of a new genre of entertainment: actual play podcasts and D&D livestreams, the former of which was only possible due to the shift towards theater of the mind. If you’re reading this now I’m willing to bet that you’ve at least heard of The Adventure Zone or Critical Role. Shows like those did much to both bring Dungeons and Dragons to broader audiences and to demystify the game, which at the point most knew of while at the same time knowing almost nothing about. People realized for the first time that role playing games were a unique medium of narrative fiction! One that does storytelling in a wildly different way from books, film, or anything else. People cosplayed, drew fan art, and wrote fanfiction about this new breed of celebrity D&D characters. It was in this new environment that the bard thrived even without all of the mechanical buffs. People love this game for the stories that it can tell and those same people have grown to love the smooth talking storyteller that is the bard.

The response to my first Dungeon Blogging post was much more than I expected! Thank you.

If you have a question or idea for a future Dungeon Blogging post be sure to send me an ask! ^^

Art: Wayne Reynolds, (Photo of Scott C. Brown from the movie “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”), Rich Burlew.

[toasttz]

How to make games: Hero Shooters

So, class, today I posit this little question to you all: Do you want to be the next Blizzard? Fuck no, you don't want to be "Don't you guys have phones?" Blizzard; you wanna be Blizzard from 5-10 years ago when they were at the height of their popularity. But that's not what I'm shooting for here. Do you want a fount of endless revenue? Do you want to do the absolute baseline minimum in terms of engine and game design to actually create a game but aren't creatively and ethically bankrupt enough to make a gacha game? Do you want to build a game whose rules, designs, and themes were just stolen from the effort of others? Do you really like Rule 34? Then it sounds to me like you want to make a Hero Shooter game! Hero shooters are easy to make on account they fundamentally have only three gameplay modes: push a payload, kill the other team, and kill the other team while standing on top of a glowing circular thing. They're also equally easy to design as they require no thematic consistency whatsoever and what little writing you'll be expected to bother with will simply be character bios, which you can keep so vague as to be virtually meaningless. There's never a 'story' in a hero shooter game and what semblance of one does exist is pretense for the non-canon aforementioned three game modes you'll be forced to build around. Best of all, the individual mechanics of each hero are easy to design - just steal them from whatever games came before. Now create about three or four maps with some different sorts of themes, but don't make them in any way mechanically varied - the most complex obstacles on any given map should be walls and maybe elevators that move at a very low speed. We're making a hero shooter, not Mario Party, dammit. If anyone asks why you are essentially just reskinning the same maps you can explain that it's to ensure that the game remains a "test of the players's skills" even though that's a bold-faced lie for the same reasons people who play Super Smash Bros as "tests of skill" are full of shit. Meta-gaming retards make games algebra homework instead of fun, but that's precisely what you'll be banking on in this genre. Once you have that, we need to get into the most important thing about hero shooters: the Heroes. Heroes in these games take one of three major roles: 1) The retard scrub DPS heroes - who will be played by the vast majority of your one-trick glory-chasing mentally-stunted community under the pretenses of being 'the most fun' and will be where the better part of your "cool" themes and motifs will be dedicated toward. These work under the key principle of "Shoot everything until it stops moving" and requires zero brainpower whatsoever. 2) The under-estimated doggedly persistent Tank heroes, played by those with either the willingness to learn something other than "Shoot bad guy with gun" or those who find pressing and holding a single button for the duration of the 10 minute match time to be the highlight of their bleak office-job lives. Though, on the other hand, some of the really cool designs will ultimately end up in this family. 3) The unsung gods among men known as the Support heroes, AKA: the ones no one will actually play. These characters will never be given cool or interesting mechanics or designs, but you'll be at liberty to make as many sexy nurse outfits as you can come up with and no one will be able to tell you otherwise. Like an ungodly amalgamation of tanks and DPS, your gameplay experience will boil down to pointing at your target and holding down the button the entire match - except unlike DPS heroes, you'll be shooting at the blue team and not the red team. Now, some might argue that there are technically other families of heroes, like flankers, zone controllers, pseudo-supports who can debuff enemies, but remember that the key to any good hero shooter is keeping everything rock-stupid. Every hero should have only enough abilities to fill a role for the left and right mouse buttons and the Q and E keys. F or R can be for reloading where applicable, but if you demand anything more of your players, you're going to lose their interest because Hero Shooters are hugboxes for sociopaths who care for nothing more than getting that sweet, sweet 5-second long "Play of the Game" replay at the match's end. This is why the character who invariably rips off Team Fortress 2's Demo Man and can kill people he doesn't have direct line of sight with will always be the most popular, without exception. I mean, sure, you can have 30 or 40 heroes, each with incredibly detailed outfits, backstories, kits, and personalities but everyone will just play the Not-Demo Man so you might as well accept that your userbase is going to be the only thing more toxic than a puffer-fish or a modern-day feminist. But I repeat myself. I don't have the time nor particular inclination to tell you exactly what you need to make but I can give you some character types that are obligatory by law to be in any hero shooter game. This will at least give you a start before you realize that being creative is hard and just steal kits from better games than your own. Call of Duty Man - The main DPS hero and usually the face of your game. Typically a grizzled war veteran man and almost exclusively an American if your game is set in the real world - remember, creativity is hard! He'll have a medium-ranged assault rifle and precisely one movement skill and one healing skill in his kit making him a jack-of-all-trades. Will either be loved or hated by your community with no room for in-betweens. Sexy Healer Lady - The main support hero who is literally just TF2's Medic reskinned and with tits. You really don't need to do anything more with her, as the fanbase will handle the rest. And the less said of that, the better. Big Knightly Dude - The main tank hero who has a big shield that, regardless of origin, will be transparent so Call of Duty Man and Not-Demo Man can fire through it while guarded. Probably wields a melee-ranged weapon even if in a modern warfare setting. By law, they can never be shorter than 6'6" (or 7200 cm. Pretty sure I did my conversion right on that). Flamethrower Guy - Literally just TF2's Pyro. Mechanic - Literally just TF2's Engineer. Sniper - Literally just TF2's Sniper. Probably also a voluptuous woman in a tight suit because creativity is fuckin' hard, man. Not-Demo Man - The cancer in your fanbase you will never nerf. Doesn't matter that he can party-wipe the enemy team single-handedly without being anywhere near them because Hero Shooter maps are literally just a set of narrow corridors so his kit is extremely OP. No, better just nerf Sexy Healer Lady again, since your DPS fanbase is pissing and moaning about her again and, this time, not in the same way a cat in heat does. Next, just make characters around elemental themes. Once you have 30 or so, you can get around to actually doing really mechanically interesting and varied heroes, since there's really only like 10-15 good FPS character ideas to begin with. So don't be surprised if you have some overlap. But by then we should hopefully have completed the next major step after the game is made: alienating your fanbase! This step is easy and requires no particular skill or coordination on your part. First, make some events seasonal, such that you have at least a major event every other month. Any more than that and your fans might actually think you're trying to be anything but another generic Korean eSport event, so be sure to space them out and have at least half of them be terrible. Valentine's Day is a good excuse to dress your female heroes sexily, summer games are a fun and not-at-all tired motif, and of course you need some kind of Christmas event. Just make sure these events only run maybe 2 weeks out of the year, have lots of stuff that you can only get during those times and, as said, that most of them are terrible and not fun at all to play. And don't -EVER- make any of them PvE, as that requires coding AI characters and effort and shit - what do you think think this is? Warframe? No, terrible gimmicky PvP events will be a good start because there is no frustration quite as severe as being told you didn't grind hard enough for: Loot boxes! Shit yeah, your hero shooter's gonna have loot boxes in them! Remember, we want maximum money for minimum effort and there's nothing like a Skinner Box within the hugbox that is the sweet dopamine high of popping a loot box open only to get common drops every time! If MMORPGs have taught us anything it's that Sub-1% drops are TOTALLY good game design and aren't at all unethical and an artificial, cheap tactic to keep people hooked on your game. This is why, in addition to the e-peen bolster that is your arbitrary profile ranking also drip-feeding a loot box upon level up that you have "Weekly Resets" for additional loot boxes. This runs on essentially the same principle as a cell phone games making you wait for additional tries to make it more a habit than a game - but that's okay! You can just rationalize it away as "it was the player's CHOICE to buy 300 loot boxes for the low, low price of 799.99 USD!" and not at all a psychological compunction found in human psychology! You're not an unethical douchebag in the slightest! And speaking of douchebags, it's time for the third and most important step in alienating your fanbase: Balancing the Game! What do I mean by that? You might think it's something like "Oh, this one character has an attack that is way too powerful and so it should be retooled in such a way that it either isn't available as-often, or maybe make its hitbox narrower to make the game more skill-based" but you're dead wrong. That requires actual effort and we all know how we feel about that. So, instead, just start an eSports team. Why? So you can listen only to the DPS players from each team and only implement THOSE changes. That way, only tanks and supports get nerfed into irrelevance and since no one in eSports is ever going to play those roles anyway, who cares? Who needs healers when you respawn to 100% after 7 seconds of dying?! Who cares if the majority of your fans hate these changes and that you end up completely destroying the kits and frameworks of their favorite heroes with needless, superfluous, unwelcomed tweaks? God-damn it, the Not-Demo Man needs to be able to wipe out an enemy team with a 3-second Time to Kill! No questions! I have a very specific vision!! Once your fanbase has been alienated - congrats! You're no longer obliged to release new heroes and levels! The responsibility of server upkeep and releasing new content twice a year are lifted! Now, just reskin the entire game top-down and release a new, better hero shooter founded on the same grounds to re-capture your fleeing audience and fleece them all over again! Now repeat ad infinitum and gain unlimited money. Congrats, you're now another Chinese game manufacturer that shits out products with no care for their fans or reputation but you get to go whaling every single day and fill your bathtub with money. You're ready to work for actual Blizzard now! You're welcome.

[pixelrender]

Every game on my wishlist, part 1

Let’s do this, I’ll share all games on all of my wishlists and write a short reasoning for every single one of them. My goal is to find out, whether I really want to own and play all of these games and how many I will be able to remove from them without much of a regret. There probably are more productive ways to spend free time, but let’s do this.

Itch.io

The list on itch.io is the messiest one of the three. I keep adding and removing and returning games a lot. Right now it features 6 times, 2 games I would like to write about here and 23 games I intended to buy and play at some point. I know I will only have time to play 3-4 or four big games in next 2 years and this list consist mostly of smaller and experimental projects. So, many of them have a good chance of getting played. Let's take a look at individual items now.

1. and 2. Far Future Tourism and Zones

I really want to play some of Sherlock Connor's walking sims. The world's he created are different, a personal expression through the medium of video games. It's not necessary to have two packs on the wishlist and I'll remove one for now.

3. Walden, a game

I guess I might read Thoreau's book first? He's a personality, who intrigues me a lot and a game based on his life could be an interesting time. Also, the game's nature looks stunning. It makes me want to go outside and I don't think I ought to play this instead. To keep my life simple, the game leaves the list.

4. Sagebrush

I'm excited about this one. It's a walking sim with little more direction, a disturbing theme and stunning lo-fi graphics. My cup of tea and an item of high priority on the list.

5. The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game

It just feel like a kind game, which can help you out, when you feel down. Together with Sagebrush, these are the two games I need to play asap.

6., 7. and 8. Sokpop Games

A small selection of Sokpop titles (kamer, moreas, huts). They're cheap, original and bite sized. The three selected titles focus more on ambiance than activity/action and that's why I'm interested in them. I don't see any reason in favour of removing them.

9. Voyageur

This game's very likely an underrated gem. It has trading and an interesting narrative but it's also way more stressful than survival space games. Just check out the trailer, this game stays.

10. EarthTongue

You care about an alien ecosystem mostly composed of fungi. That and a recommendation from Natalie Lawhead Is enough for the game to be kept on the list.

11. Of Gods and Men: Daybreak Empire

I want to keep track of this game, but there are so many other tactics games I'd rather play and I own many of them already. This has to go.

12. Dujanah

They say the story is incredible and the art direction reminds me of Catemites, but I'm tired of narrative games rn. Dujanah, you're off the list.

13. Seek Etyliv

This is the most minimalist grid based game I know. Everything about it intrigues me and that's why I need to play it.

14. Overland

I love polished low poly micro worlds of this tactics game. Also, it's a road trip. They say it's not as good as Into the Breach and I agree that they should have released it earlier. But I still want to play it. 15. Sunset

An ambient game about revolution and class, but I'm not all that interested in it and I probably wouldn't be able to run it on my potato of a machine. 16. Art Sqool

It rhymes with cool! Also, I think that it brings something new in video games, that this game indeed is art. I definitely need to play this soon.

17. The Stillness of the Wind

I appreciate a lot what is this game trying to accomplish with minimalist storytelling devices, but I can't get over the color palette.

18. Glass Staircase

I enjoy Puppet Combo. I admire their low poly approach to horror games. They def participated on the renaissance of the genre and ps one era graphics. This is probably their most polished game, but It would be possible to replace it with something else from their catalogue.

19. and 20.  Far Blade and Backlands

The two Bcubedlabs' games have stunning graphics, simple mechanics and almost no stories. Their visual value and low price tag are the two reasons both games are staying.

21. The Space Between

A year ago, even six months ago, I would have been thrilled about it. But that was before I lost interest in stories of any kind. Now I only want an impression or an emotion. I don't want to follow a story to feel sad. I feel sad right now. This might return on my list in 2021, when I change mind again.

22. Caves of Qud

This a complicated hardcore retro hardcore everything ultima inspired features and death heavy rpg I'd love to try out one day. But it will take a long time for me to get there. Also, I don't think it fits with the rest of the list.

23. Pagan: Autogeny

I added this few days ago and I'm interested in it because the gamepage promises a bag of candy. In this game you roam around an abandoned mmo and occasionally come across content. I especially like the promise of 100 acres. It clearly invites the photographer in me in. This might be the right game to make paintings of too.

Humble Bundle

My second wishlist is neatly organized. It contains 16 items in a 4x4 grid. Each row is supposed to have a theme and every purchase breaks it a little. I removed some 30 items from this wishlist in May, so there aren't any items I think should be removed. But talking about every one of them might change that. 1. Gris

I used to be a Devolver fanboy and I still like their making off documentaries, but the majority of their releases are too violent and too much of a crowd pleaser. I still enjoy a game of theirs from time to time and I received a super strong recommendation to play Gris, which isn't violent. It's melancholic. And I think I might add to the discourse, which has been uncritical so far.

2. Timespinner

I like myself a good metroidvania and despite the average reviews, Timespinner has that Mega Drive aesthetic I can't resist.

3. Chasm

They say it's only decent, but let's consider two other factors. Comfort food is 7 out of 10 and so are Comfort Games. Metroidvanias became that for me as a genre and Chasm looks like a delightful diversion from all these superb titles coming out.

4. Feudal Alloy

Another decent non-linear platformer with rpg elements on my list. This one earned its spot with the unique combination of theme and graphic style. It's just lovely looking.

5. and 6. Banner Sagas

I like tactics games and for some reason the story of Banner Saga still appeals to me. I want to play through it and see how much I will have to sacrifice and to which end. 

7. Expedition: Vikings

Expedition: Conquistador is one of the most underrated tactics games. It's because fights themselves are little less involved that the rest of game. You play with a flawed crew, which forces you into bad decisions all the time. I heard great thing about it in an episode of 3MA dedicated to Vikings.

8. Bad North: Jotunn Edition

Bad North is purty and it looks like delightful, smart little game made with minimalism on mind.

9. Titan Souls

To be totally honest, this one's on the list for graphics. They're great and I really appreciate selection of browns and greys, which are dominant, but without an effect of the game looking lifeless.

10. Samurai Gunn

I talked about this game many times. It looks pretty, it sounds amazing with the soundtrack from Doseone. The trailer is my favourite video game trailer of all times and the gameplay looks like fun if you have couch and friends, who enjoy games.

11. Nantucket

It's all about the theme of whale fishing and the swag this gem has. Mechanically it seems to be quite a journey too. I enjoyed FTL and this is building upon some of its mechanics, but makes it less about surviving and more about chaining successful hunts, methinks.

12. Dishonored

The last game from the row of giants and whales is the single first person modern AAA title I crave to play. Architecture and world-building in the series are exceptional and the whole design reminds me of Half-Life, the best shooter of all times.

13. Ultraworld

A weirdly available commercial piece from the creators of Secret Habitat, one of my favourite walking sims and my favourite digital gallery. Obviously, this can't be removed.

14. Koma

I wasn't interested in this atmospheric roaming game at first but the more I heard and saw, the more hooked I got. I don't care about the mystery being second tier. The atmosphere is dripping from screenshot and that's enough (btw can't run it, so it's of lower priority).

15. Californium

I like that it's a French game about America inspired by an American. I remember people talking about it quite fondly, when it was released. Californium is weird and colorful and filled with things to take a picture of.

16. Crying Suns

An upcoming game published by Humble Bundle. The hook is that it takes FTL and battles from games such a Homeworld and stories such as Dune and meshes it all together. If it turns out to be any good, this might be my next time submarine.

Steam

The third and last list has 22 items and more than a half of them are metroid inspired designs. Both released and upcoming.  I curated this list a lot in the past as some of my friends can see it and I felt little embarrassed, when it was reaching over 100 items. Truth to be said, I bought most of these items meanwhile. Now let's see what I can do about the rest.By the end of 2019 I would love this list to consist only from Symphony of the Night clones.

1. Knights and Bikes

I bragged about this one a lot recently. Just scroll down for more. It's number one, because it's the next game I'm buying (unless sales).

2. Legendary Gary

I really hope I will find funds and time and play what could be the Bojack Horseman of nerds. The trailer for this game deeply resonated with the situation I've been for several last years and I think the game can have a deep impact on me if the writings as good as its soundtrack.

3. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

Ok, one more time. Anodyne was unique and the sequel looks great in its low poly glory and promises to be bigger and better.

4. The Eternal Castle

The trailer for this one's stylish. I watched it at least five times in a row. But it doesn't tell a whole lot about the game and It's possible that the intro is the best part of the game. It probably will leave my list. 5. INFRA

Infra is s a puzzle game made in source (half-life engine, the best engine). Basically it all starts as a surveillance of pipes and ends up with you uncovering a conspiracy. What attracts me to it are beautiful environments and some well remembered textures and it should perform great on my rustworthy laptop. Also, I read great things about it on RPS before it became a completely different site.

6-22. Non-linear platformers

I won't be buying or playing any of these this or the next year. But 2022 should be a year for them to thrive. I will feature here some of them in a foreseeable future as some of them are pretty interesting and maybe make a comprehensive piece on castleoids for Christmas. The list goes: Axiom Verge, Timespinner, Chasm, Feudal Alloy, Visual Out, Redo!, Gato Roboto, Grizzland, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, Eagle Island, Minoria, Witch and 66 Mushrooms, Refoil, Nykra, Outbuddies, Biomass, Divinium

And that used to be my wishlist. I don’t know why I had such a sudden urge to make an article about it, but here it is and now I can delete some of these items without regret and always look back here if I need to find them.

[shirlleycoyle]

The First iPhone Was a Landline

A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.

Phone lines, while not initially designed to transfer binary data, turned out to be a good enough way to do so—at least until the 2000s, that is.

From sending faxes to browsing the internet, people relied on effectively the same copper wires they used with Ma Bell-leased telephones.

While most of the personal tech evolved towards greater connectivity, landline phones mostly got better only at the ergonomics of calling and dialing.

But a few dared to be smarter—decades before smartphones found their way into our pocket.

Let’s talk about the evolution of the landline smartphone.

“Man-to-man, man-to-machine, machine-to-machine. In a short time, we’ve come a long way.”

– A line from “Challenges of Change,” a 1961 promotional movie from AT&T. Filmed on a height of Space Age anticipation, it shows “Data-Phones”—essentially, modems which could transmit data from punched cards, tapes, or even handwritten notes.

The earliest visions of smartphones didn’t anticipate that we wouldn’t communicate with our our voices

The AT&T video, filled with otherworldly visual effects, is delightful to anyone with an interest in history. At the same time, it shows why landline phones did not become the interactive mediums that smartphones later did.

While the narrator talked about changes in communication, scenarios from the movie showed data exchanges at best, as all meaningful interactions were done by voice and between humans. For example, before loading a punched card, a Data-Phone operator had to chat with the person on the other end of the line. Even in the age of rocket deliveries, shopping over a credit card-enabled videophone would be done by talking to a manager, as if one would in a retail store.

Admittedly, Bell engineers envisioned the future where people would only need to use the keypad to communicate with the source over a phone. A year later, Touch-Tone phones were presented to the U.S. public. While the speed of dialing was what AT&T promoted to customers, the DTMF (Dual-tone multi-frequency, informally known as “touch-tone”) signals generated by buttons allowed for menu navigation still used today.

Image: Gillfoto/Wikimedia Commons

How the United Kingdom failed to start an online revolution

By 1970, additional buttons on each side of a zero competed the 12-button keypad. Twelve buttons were what the UK Post Office had to rely on while developing Prestel, a nationwide service which let people use interactive services on a home video terminal.

Looking back, if there is one thing the UK engineers in the 1970s were fascinated with, it’s putting text on TV screens. In the United States, there wasn’t any notable progress in this field between a TV Typewriter electronic kit and the advent of home computers. The British, on the other hand, went straight towards transferring news, financial data, and TV guides—long before the booming popularity of the Internet, developing two coexisting ways to broadcast text.

One of these technologies, teletext, still lingers to this day across Europe. The text data, complete with color and pseudographics, is being broadcast alongside a TV signal—literally stuffed in between video frames. By design of the aerial transmission, teletext provides no interactivity, leaving the user to flip between different “pages” and occasionally revealing hidden text (the latter was mostly used to hide quiz answers).

Using a phone line instead allowed for higher transfer rate, more personalization (and billing for premium pages) and the ability to run remote software. Over several years since the mass introduction in 1979, Prestel accumulated several online banking, shopping, and booking offerings—even before the home computer boom which pushed operators to add software downloads and games.

Prestel used phone lines and required a phone-like keypad for navigation—surely, it was a fitting technology to build phones of the future around. That didn’t happen on a scale required to ensure Prestel’s success. Instead, the Post Office bet on marrying the network with TV—by offering not even set-top boxes, but Prestel-enabled TVs, priced at £650 at the very least. By contrast, France Télécom leased terminals for their similar Télétel network for free, making Minitel popular enough that it survived until 2012.

Executel. Image: Internet Archive

There was just a single Prestel phone—but boy, what a device it was. A wide unit with a small CRT screen and a QWERTY keyboard, STC Executel was an “intelligent display telephone” which combined voice and text communications with almost every productivity feature of its era.

The 1984 ad touted contacts book, calendar, ability to take notes and a “£500,000 in a national advertising campaign directed at top executives.” Being essentially an Intel 8085-based computer, it stored its software on a dictaphone cassette and could connect to a “secretarial unit” which allowed updating the data from another desk.

Just 10,000 Executel devices were sold, according to the designer David Leers. Only five thousand of them were sold, with the rest repurposed.

What might have saved Executel from being completely forgotten is its sleek, modern look.

Several Executels found their way in industrial design museums, although the plastics used for the keyboard turned out to be prone to yellowing. Just last week, one appeared on the YouTube channel Techmoan.

Image: Compass Design

The most advanced landline phone of 1998 was literally called “iPhone”

A British oddity, Executel was simply unknown stateside. Still, the idea of a “computer phone” was a part of the social consciousness, and the manufacturers have toyed with it—if only by exploring. One of the most well-known prototypes was made by Apple by 1984. The “MacPhone” concept had a touchscreen for sending notes and signing checks, but, like other projects by Hartmut Esslinger, was only meant for finding new design elements.

But in the 1990s, the rising popularity of the Internet, a desire for a “post-PC” device and plain old technical progress paved the way for household devices which were meant to connect to the phone line. These so-called “Internet appliances” were promising easy Web and email access in a device which supposed to be as easy-to-use as TVs, music centers … or phones.

But while most IAs were simply low-end computers with a handset on top of it (I’m looking at you, Intel Dot.Station), there was just one which could actually replace a landline phone. And yes, it was actually called the iPhone.

Released in 1997, the original iPhone was made by InfoGear, a startup made from one of the National Semiconductor labs. Despite its big, full-VGA touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard, it looked like a contemporary phone. But on top of making calls, it could work with email and “full” versions of web sites—a feat achieved by off-loading some of the computational power to InfoGear servers.

It isn’t even the name or the web capabilities which made one think of the Apple iPhone, but the way all features were integrated. Just like on modern mobile phones, it was possible to dial a number from a web page by tapping it. The InfoGear’s phone did not only have a voicemail, but could transcribe the incoming messages to text.

While the phone made the international headlines, it was eventually forgotten alongside with the rest of the IA market—especially when InfoGear was bought by Cisco. The story took another turn when Apple released its iPhone—Cisco sued them for trademark infringement. Eventually, the two companies came to an out-of-court settlement.

(It wasn’t the last time Apple and Cisco discussed trademark issues. The iOS name, in fact, belongs to Cisco and is licensed to Apple—and might be the reason the latter doesn’t want people to use the phrase “iOS devices.”)

Alan Sugar hosts The Apprentice in the United Kingdom. Image: Getty Images

A British lord asked all users of his “superphone” to harass a journalist

To people focused solely on computing history, Alan Sugar is a businessman whose Amstrad micros and ZX Spectrum models contributed heavily to the UK home computer industry.

But to everyone else, he is a bigoted, homophobic billionaire in power who keeps his domestic relevance by hosting a TV show originally presented in the U.S. by Donald Trump.

And by the year 2000, his company had lost all that goodwill by releasing products that few people wanted. The PenPad PDA was slow, bulky and had a deteriorating rubber shell; the PcW16 desktop computer had a black-and-white screen and a processor from 1976 despite being released in 1995; the GX4000 game console was just a reason to sell cassette computer games on cartridges for a higher price. Eventually, Amstrad spun off its computing division and focused all its resources on Betacom, a communication company it had acquired. The result was Amstrad E-m@iler, the last attempt to push an Internet-connected landline phone to the mass market.

The Amstrad E-m@iler. Image: philgyford/Flickr.

As a piece of hardware, it wasn’t much different from the InfoGear iPhone. What set it apart was the business model: instead of offering a monthly fee, Amstrad made the E-m@iler operate exclusively through a premium-rate phone number—and put another fee on top. “Sure, if I was organized and could send a day’s worth of emails and SMS messages in one sitting then the prospect of paying 12p for a single session online (plus the cost of the phone call) would be a small price to pay. But I’m not. And I can’t,” noted Tim Richardson of The Register in their 20002 review of a revised E-m@ailer Plus.

Later models of E-m@iler, like the 2004 E3 Superphone, added new features and new ways to get as much profit per user as possible. The ability to play ZX Spectrum games was added, although it was only possible to rent them—again, with paying per call and per service at the same time. The new color screen was used to display ads, with the phone periodically dialing home to download new banners (thankfully, on a toll-free number).

In 2011, the year Amstrad E-m@iler services were shut down, Sugar admitted that “it was slightly too late,” but noted that the subsidized lineup eventually recouped all the costs with services.

He definitely was not as accepting in 2001, though, when he noticed E-m@iler in the list of “techno-flops” in The Independent. The mild criticism (“not proving the success that Sir Alan Sugar had hoped” was all that was ever written about the phone) pushed Sugar to send a message to all 95,000 service subscribers, asking them to send an email to Charles Arthur, the newspaper’s tech editor.

“It occurred to me that I should send an email to Mr. Charles Arthur telling him what a load of twaddle he is talking. If you feel the same as me and really love your e-mailer, why don’t you let him know your feelings by sending him an email,” he wrote in a letter with Mr. Arthur’s address attached.

While the journalist had to cope with more than 1,300 letters—none of which were written by Sugar himself—some of them, eventually published online, exposed hardware faults, annoying bugs, and a helpline being directed to a premium-rate number.

“With this device we can charge advertisers, say, 10p for each customer to receive an ad they will see all day, and charge the advertisers £10 whenever a customer calls them by pressing the ‘services button.’ Or it may be that we give them the ad—free but they pay £25 whenever somebody calls—it’s a no-brainer.”

– Alan Sugar, positioning the E-m@iler as an “electronic billboard” to the readers of Marketing Week. Even considering that Internet phones were not as widespread as PCs, the ballpark cost per click sounds insane. However, as we’ve seen in the past, no one really knew by then how much web advertising should cost.

When asked to reflect on the 1997 iPhone, Robert Ackerman, a venture capitalist who pushed for the independence of InfoGear, said: “We were early into the marketplace. Ten years later, a very different story.” By contrast, Alan Sugar said he was ten years too late—and God knows which decade would be right for the Executel.

The world seemed to be fine with landline phones staying in their lane. But I can’t help but wonder how they would have evolved if the phone industry wasn’t controlled by the Bell System, the Post Office, or other nationwide monopolies. The original telecommunication industry, in my opinion, would have envisioned the connected world differently, based on the phone network paradigms rather than mainframe-terminal ones. Instead, manufacturers had to find faults in a PC-dominated world to make the case for their devices.

Smart landline phones still exist. Some VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and SIP (session initiation protocol) systems for business—arguably the only purchasers of landlines in 2019—are not only using the Web as an infrastructure, but can open web sites and use Android apps. But I think, when it comes to elegance, they pale in comparison to a device I noticed in Moscow Apple Museum.

After licensing the Newton technology from Apple, Siemens made the NotePhone, their own spin on the original MessagePad PDA. When used by itself, it’s functionally indistinguishable from the Apple device. What makes it special is the base with a handset which added phone and fax capabilities. Even back then, mobile computer expansions were nothing new, but this one seems like an integral part of the device while managing to be self-sufficient.

Maybe, instead of being either “smart” or “dumb,” landlines should have been more elegant in their connection to the world of computers.

Yuri Litvinenko is a trade journalist from Russia. When not covering the dairy industry, he spends time being fascinated by legacy technology, both “retro” and gadgets approaching retro status.

The First iPhone Was a Landline syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[cdrforea]

Apple MacBook Air (2020) Review: Mac 101 In Session

New Post has been published on https://bestedevices.com/apple-macbook-air-2020-review-mac-101-in-session.html

Apple MacBook Air (2020) Review: Mac 101 In Session

Apple MacBook Air (2020) review: The Mac Starter Kit

"The MacBook Air is a great choice for Mac fans on a budget."

New keyboard is an improvement

More affordable

Better graphics

Outstanding workmanship

Performance is still lacking

Bezels are out of date

The MacBook Air is important. This is the entry point to the Mac lineup. It's the college laptop, the freelancer companion, and a favorite of any Mac fan on a budget.

Many people get a first impression of the Mac here. That means it has to balance both performance and price. I tested two versions of the new MacBook Air to see how each of them does the balancing act.

The Core i3 model costs $ 999 and the Core i5 costs $ 1,199. Everyone wears the new "Magic Keyboard" as a heading function. Is the latest MacBook Air the perfect introduction to the Mac or, like many newer entry-level Macs, a bad first impression?

keyboard

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

The Magic keyboard is a highlight of the MacBook Air. It is responsive, clicks and offers a full millimeter of travel. It's a joy to tap on it, and a real relapse to the popular MacBooks that were sold before the 2016 redesign of the MacBook Pro that introduced the Butterfly Switch keyboards.

You can't say that about the last two years of the MacBook Air. Apple blew up the hapless keyboard mechanism from the MacBook Pro for the 2018 redesign. It did not work. Flat key travel made typing particularly daunting for long periods. It was loud and worst of all unreliable.

Fortunately, those days are gone and the MacBook Air now has one of the best keyboards on a laptop. It even holds a standard feature set full of old-fashioned buttons instead of jumping to the touch bar, a feature I don't miss. The touch bar has never added much meaningful functionality. I use reliable and convenient escape and mute buttons every day.

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

At the top right of the function line is a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which also acts as a power switch. It's really time for Apple to move over to face recognition on Mac, a feature Apple introduced on iOS devices. Still, Touch ID works very well. It's the fastest and most intuitive fingerprint sensor you'll find on a laptop.

Let's not forget the trackpad while the keyboard steals the limelight. It's big, its pursuit is second to none, and its Force Touch click is practically silent. This is not a surprise. Mac laptops have long had great touchpads. However, it should be remembered that Apple continues to lead the field.

performance

The MacBook Air has never been a powerful laptop and never claimed it. This is the option for users whose requirements consist of word processing, email and online apps. Think of it as a Chromebook, except for Mac apps.

In 2020, however, the air received a respectable boost. This is the first Air with quad-core processors, which is an important upgrade. More cores and threads usually mean more muscle for heavy use and multitasking. Quad-core chips have become the standard for most laptops, including small laptops like the Surface Pro 7, Dell XPS 13, and MacBook Pro 13-inch.

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

The jump to the quad core does not make the Air a workhorse. It is still behind the competition.

I tested both the Core i3 ($ 999) and Core i5 ($ 1,099) models, both with 8 GB of RAM. These will likely be the most popular options due to their attractive pricing. The processors used by Apple are part of Intel's 10th generation Ice Lake family, but they're not the same chips you'll see with most MacBook Air competitors. These are variations of chips in the Y series, which Intel produced in collaboration with Apple exclusively for its laptops.

The cheapest $ 999 Air has the Core i3-1000NG4, a 9-watt chip with only two cores and four threads. On average, this means a 15% increase in benchmark performance over the Core i5 MacBook Air two years ago. This is not essential and you are unlikely to notice this increase in daily performance. Nevertheless, it does the daily chores well. Apps open quickly, and if a few dozen Chrome tabs are open, it won't slow down.

Doubling the cores does not mean double the performance.

What about the quad core i5-1030NG7? Doubling the cores certainly doesn't mean double the performance. Since it is still a 9-watt chip, there is an upper limit on the possibilities. Compared to the Core i3 model, the Core i5 model is 27% better in multi-core benchmarks thanks to these two additional cores, but only 8% faster in single-core benchmarks. This is likely due to the fact that these two processors have a low base clock rate of only 1.1 GHz in common.

Here, too, the performance feels appropriate. The problem is not everyday use, but the comparison of the MacBook Air with other laptops that are sold at the same price. The HP Specter x360 for $ 1,100 also has a 10th generation Ice Lake Core i5 processor, but offers 30% faster multi-core performance over the Core i5. The difference is the performance. A 9-watt processor will never hit clock speeds that can compete with a chip that can consume up to 25 or 35 watts in short bursts.

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

Of course, the MacBook Air benefits the most in Apple applications. If you stick to restricted solutions like iMovie and GarageBand, you can create light content on the side. Just don't be crazy about the Air's upgrades. You can buy a Core i7 model with space for up to 32 GB of RAM, which will greatly increase the price. Still, it will lag behind the competition. The MacBook Air is not a device you want to run Logic or Adobe Premiere on. So don't try to make it a workstation.

Apple prides itself on quiet products, but the MacBook Air can be noisy. You can't access a zoom call without fans getting active on both the Core i3 and Core i5 models. These laptops have a larger CPU heatsink than previous models, but I still wish they would handle thermals more efficiently.

Graphics and games

Switching the MacBook Air to 10th generation Ice Lake processors brings another important improvement. Graphic. Macs have never been slot machines, but with Apple's increasing focus on supporting Apple Arcade, a decent graphics option is important.

All versions of the Air contain Iris Plus graphics, although the Core i5 and Core i7 models each have 25% more execution units. This leads to acceptable entry-level games as long as you are ready to pull the graphics settings down.

Fortnite is not playable on the Core i3, but it is manageable on the Core i5. With a resolution of 1,440 x 900 and medium settings, the Core i5 MacBook Air managed about 40 frames per second. That may not sound impressive, but it is a big leap over what the previous MacBook Air can do.

Just don't expect to play challenging games like Battlefield V or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Windows laptops are still much better suited for gaming, and no modern Mac questions this longstanding fact.

Design and display

Nothing has changed on the casing of the MacBook Air. It is still a single piece of aluminum carved into a light wedge shape. It is rock hard, perfectly processed and still very attractive in its simplicity. The golden color is a highlight, but you can't go wrong with Space Gray either.

It's still the thinnest and lightest Mac you can buy at 0.6 inches and 2.8 pounds thick. This is pretty small, although some Windows competitors are smaller these days. The XPS 13, Surface Laptop 3 13 and ThinkPad X1 Carbon are all leaner and lighter.

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

Part of the problem is Apple's stubborn refusal to downsize its bezels. The company has taken extreme measures to reduce the size of its phones for years, and has even used a notch to accommodate its camera. Fortunately, four years have gone out of style here. That's not a good look for a design-first company like Apple. This feels even more inexcusable after Apple trimmed the bezel of the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

However, the screen between these chubby bezels is good. Apple has only ever offered one display option for its laptops, and this continues to be an advantage with these cheaper options. Even at $ 999, you get a sharp, 2,560 x 1,600 screen with great contrast. It is simply the best laptop screen at this price. You pay over $ 1,500 to get a higher resolution screen from Dell or HP.

With the port selection, Air offers just enough to get you through.

The MacBook Pro screen is of course still blowing the air when it comes to color rendering. The Air achieves 100% of sRGB and 79% of AdobeRGB, which makes it colorful for everyday use, but somewhat inadequate for photographers and video editors. It also offers a maximum brightness of only 389. This is bright enough in most circumstances, although the XPS 13 and MacBook Pro are brighter.

When it comes to port selection, Air offers just enough to get through – and nothing more. Both USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 3, which means they're fast and can process multiple 4K monitors with ease. I wish they had put at least one on each side for simplicity.

Well. Limited ports are a fight Apple has already won. As long as there is more than one, I'm happy enough.

Battery life

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

The MacBook Air was once the king of battery life. These times are long gone. The lower screen resolution of the Specter x360 and XPS 13 makes it a battery life champion that can easily survive a long day at work.

The MacBook Air isn't bad, but it can't quite keep up. In all of our tests, it's a few hours behind these devices, including easy internet use (nine and a half hours), video playback (10 hours), and heavier applications (three hours). With my usual selection of Chrome tabs, web apps, Slack and Spotify, the MacBook Air lasted an average of six hours.

These tests were carried out on the Core i3 model. I don't expect the Core i5 model to change these results significantly, but I'll update this test later with my final tests.

Our opinion

The new MacBook Air is a respectable choice for budget-conscious Mac fans. The price reduction, the improved keyboard and the additional memory (now from 256 GB) are all improvements in the quality of life. However, the performance remains below average regardless of the selected configuration.

Are there alternatives?

Apple has been slowly lowering the price of the MacBook Air in recent years, and that positions it much better than the competition. The dual-core configuration for $ 999 is in direct competition with the Dell XPS 13, which also uses a dual-core core i3 processor. Many premium laptops do not offer lower performance configurations.

Laptops like the ZenBook 13 UX333 or the HP Specter x360 offer you better battery life and performance for less money, even though you forego the screen resolution and the high-quality workmanship.

If you're set up on a Mac, the MacBook Pro 13-inch is also an option. The screen and processor are a big step up and still the better choice for photographers. Unfortunately, the keyboard is the older version with a butterfly mechanism, and updating memory or RAM is expensive.

How long it will take?

Apple laptops have a reputation for quality, and Apple supports products more often than other manufacturers when problems arise. This makes the MacBook Air a good choice if you want to keep it for five years or more.

Though performance is already behind the curve, it should remain reasonable if your daily use consists of internet surfing, basic productivity, and online streaming.

Should you buy it

Yes. This is a solid option for Mac buyers who want an affordable daily driver.

Editor's recommendations

[mrhotmaster]

Infinix S5 Detailed Review

Infinix S5 Review

Infinix S5 Pro is aimed at leaving a mark on a Xiaomi and Realme page, but does that have enough firepower?

Infinix has these days upped its sport inside the price range phase and has been launching phones with promising hardware at very competitive charge factors. The agency has boasted of launching the cheapest telephones with 3 rear cameras and a hollow-punch display. Now, Infinix is first trying to blow the Infinix S5 Pro–the low-priced phone that packed a pop-up digital camera. With modern Infinix, it features a full-HD+, respectable 4,000mAh battery, and three rear cameras with a 48-megapixel primary snapper.

The logo, owned via Transsion Holdings, is likewise leaping onto the Android 10 bandwagon with the Infinix S5 Pro. With the grand ambition of taking the fight to famous Chinese cellphone makers inclusive of Xiaomi and Realme, does this device have sufficient substance to emerge as a strong opportunity? We find out in our assessment:

Infinix S5 Pro Design And Build Pleasant

Big and formidable – those are the two phrases that first got here to mind when we took the Infinix S5 Pro out of its retail bundle. The frame and rear panel of the cellphone are constructed from plastic, however the build great is good. We noticed minor flex, especially inside the middle of the rear panel and along the edges, however no longer enough to be noticeable with every day utilization, and lots higher than the flimsy Infinix Hot 8. The rear panel is curved on all four sides and meets the body without creating any sharp edges.

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At Infinix the back panel has been very good and luckily the phone is not too slippery. The back panel is very glassy. Instead, the coloring alternatives are garish, and not all of it would be tea sundry. The Violet color choice that we had for assessment has a robust purple undertone that progressively darkens and appears purplish towards the edges, along with the body. The smooth rear panel has a reflect-like end and is extraordinarily reflective. The different alternative is Forest Green that is similarly brilliant.

This appearance may enchantment to individuals who like vivid hues and drawing interest. Unfortunately, the Infinix S5 Pro is best available in these two colors, and if you are seeking out an extra diffused choice, you are out of success.

The rear digital camera module creates a massive bump and makes the cellphone wobble whilst located on a flat surface. Also, the design appears very much like that of the Vivo V15, all the way down to the form and size of the fingerprint scanner and the physical buttons. The volume and energy buttons are within reach and provide a clicky response. As for the pop-up the front digital camera, Infinix says it's been designed to face up to a hundred and 50,000 lifts, which translates to 50 cycles each day for over 8 years. However, we observed that dust without difficulty accumulates around the pop-up module.

The Infinix S5 Pro does not seem like a price range cellphone from the front, way to the notch-much less show. However, it's far caught with a Micro-USB port, which is disappointing considering that competitors have now moved directly to the contemporary USB Type-C widespread. The phone has a triple-slot tray for 2 Nano-SIMs and a microSD card, that's a sigh of remedy due to the fact there may be no hybrid solution. The fingerprint sensor becomes now not correct in our enjoy, which changed into a large annoyance. It failed to understand our fingerprint in one cross almost every time we tried to unencumber the telephone.

Infinix S5 Pro Specifications And Software

With a panel ratio of 19.5:9, the Infinix S5 Pro offers a 6.53-inch full-HD+ IPS LCD, which reflects a screen-to-frame-ratio of 91%. The screen has a pixel thickness of 403ppi and Infinix has been using 2.5G curved NEG Dinoreximum glass for protection. The device does no longer has a pre-implemented screen protector.

The trendy presentation by Infinix is based on the MediaTek Helio P35 SoC, combined with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB onboard storage that can be expanded by 256 GB. The telephone is equipped with a 4,000mAh battery, however rapid charging is constrained to 10W. Connectivity is treated through 4G LTE, Bluetooth five, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac. There is likewise a three.5mm headphone jack at the lowest, sitting along with the mono speaker.

Forty-eight megapixels of the Omnivision sensor with a focal point aperture of f/1.79 leads the Infinix S5 Pro's triple-camera setups. Two megapixels of the depth camera and a dedicated low mild sensor configuration are also available. Interestingly, the organization markets the Infinix S5 Pro as a triple rear digital camera smartphone, but the best one of the 3 sensors is capable of taking photographs on its very own. The pop-up module homes a 16-megapixel front digital camera with an f/2.0 aperture. Camera capabilities encompass AR emojis, Portrait HDR, and extensive selfies.

With the new XOS 6.0 custom UI, the Infinix S5 Pro runs on android version 10. Our preview device has updated to the Android security patch of November 2019. Aside from a native darkish subject, the Android 10-primarily based generation of XOS does not bring any excellent new functions to the table, and its layout additionally stays unchanged. There is a tonne of bloatware; both first-birthday party and 0.33-celebration. Kika Keyboard, in particular, still ships due to an Infinix S5 Pro default, irrespective of the fact that the ad fraud was booted from the Google Store.

Infinix S5 Pro Performance

The Infinix S5 Pro is a flat computer panel with a good viewing angle. The colors are dark, but the show is blue, making it all a little cold. Unfortunately, there is no device setting to alter the shade profile or the temperature of the display.

The brightness is ok, and we did now not need to warfare whilst the usage of this telephone exterior beneath direct sunlight. However, a minor annoyance is that the show is pretty reflective, which is specifically obvious while the UI's dark mode is enabled. Also, despite its complete-HD+ decision, this telephone is the handiest Widevine L3 licensed, which means that you can not move HD or better resolution content material on structures consisting of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Coming to actual overall performance, the MediaTek Helio P35 chip proves to be reliable, as long as you keep on with commonplace tasks. The telephone handled multitasking between apps quite simply and did no longer lodge to competitive RAM management with 10-15 social media and productiveness apps walking in history. However, gaming is where the MediaTek Helio P35 begins to warfare.

Casual games along with Mario Kart and Alto's Odyssey ran first-rate, however, the telephone struggled with pix-intensive games. PUBG Mobile ran on the Balanced pics setting with the body price set to Medium, even as COD Mobile defaulted to the Low photographs preset. Even so, we observed frame drops and coffee stutters now and again. Synthetic benchmark exams also narrate a similar tale.

In the Geekbench five unheard-of and multi-center trials, respectively, the Infinix S5 Pro scored 187 and 1070. The mobile phone was 449 in 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme and 822 at 3DMark Sling Shot tests with greater images than rigorous benchmarking. The Helio P35 is weaker than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, which can be located inside telephones within the identical fee bracket. Also, it performs drastically worse than the MediaTek Helio G70, which powers the Realme C3 that is priced even lower at Rs. 6,999.

The default digicam device format remains unchanged when you reach cameras. The HDR, light, scene and Settings icons are on the top and all of the digital cam modes that include VIDEO, AI cam, Beauty and Bokeh Effect amongst others, are positioned in a row below. Notably, there is no Pro mode in the camera app, and you additionally cannot take images in the 16:9 factor ratio. Another quirk is that notwithstanding having a dedicated low-mild sensor, there may be no Night mode.

The Infinix S5 Pro is critically undercut by using competitors that provide extra versatility inside the shape of huge-angle and macro cameras, but what it lacks in versatility, the Infinix S5 Pro attempts to make up with uncooked photograph output. Daylight images turn out in reality nicely for a cellphone priced beneath Rs. 10,000. The pix are crisp and keep a good quantity of detail. There is a right comparison, and dynamic variety is decent as properly. We pretty liked the reality that the Infinix S5 Pro does now not overprocess photos, and hues look natural. However, the telephone now and again struggled with white stability underneath harsh daylight and produced washed-out panorama shots.

The cellphone also inspired us with its close-ups, which preserve a wholesome amount of element and have punchy shades. Another sturdy region of the Infinix S5 Pro is portrait shots. The phone did an awesome task of concern separation and the intensity effect changed into suitable. Edge detection became additionally decent, except with hair while the challenge in awareness changed into a human.

Low-light photography isn't the strong point of this camera. While a dedicated low light sensor had been packed, night images were grainy and were minimally clear and checked. We tested the low-mild sensor's effectiveness by bodily covering it, however, we could not spot any seen difference in images except for a slightly higher ISO. The telephone would have produced better results via combining a couple of photographs captured at distinctive exposure stages the use of a Night mode.

Selfies captured by way of the 16-megapixel front digital camera appearance fascinating and pores and skin tones were natural, however, there isn't always a lot to resolve in phrases of detail if you zoom in. Infinix has toned down the aggressive pores and skin smoothening that we have visible on its preceding telephones, that's a welcome circulate. What we failed to like become that the background is overblown in selfies shot outside underneath daylight. Portrait selfies look respectable, however, the history blur is flat.

There is a wide selfie mode, but the outcomes had been almost continually distorted. There is likewise an AR emoji function, however, the animated face avatars look extra like a horrific 2D mask. Head moves are captured smoothly, however, eye monitoring could have been higher.

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Battery existence became pretty much common. With regular usage that worried day-long Internet connectivity, up to 3 hours of tune playback over Bluetooth headphones, and round an hour of gaming and social media usage every, the cellphone had 20-25 percentage left in its battery on the give up of the day. Playing a photographs-in depth recreation which includes PUBG Mobile for 1/2 an hour ate up 10 percent of the battery, and the smartphone didn't get too hot.

In our HD video battery loop take a look at, the Infinix S5 Pro lasted 15 hours and forty-two minutes earlier than the battery completely discharged. The bundled 10W charger is quite sluggish even though. It took sixty-one minutes to charge the 4,000mAh battery as much as the 50 percent mark, after which the charging charge slowed down and it took an additional 1 hour and 53 minutes to fee this cellphone fully.

  Verdict

The Infinix S5 Pro has a few features to its benefit. The flashless full HD+ screen and pop-up camera for the mobile phone with this frequency bracket are fantastic. The overall performance, but, is simply middling, and while compared to equally priced rivals, this smartphone leaves a lot to be preferred. The foremost camera performs properly within the daylight hours, however, despite packing a dedicated low-light sensor, night time pictures output is sub-par. Battery lifestyles are likewise barely average, and it takes almost 3 hours to rate the 4,000mAh battery.

If your number one worries are fashion and status out, and you could make some compromises in terms of capability, the Infinix S5 Pro can be a decent selection for Rs. 9,999. On the opposite hand, in case you need the maximum value on your money, the Redmi Note 8, Realme 5S, and Vivo U10 are higher than the Infinix cellphone in nearly all key areas.

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REVIEWS

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DES

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⓺ 

SHOW

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BATT

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FOR MON

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✔GOOD

✘BAD

☞ Great Camera Performances In Daylight

☞ Notchless Screen And Front Pop-up Camera Mechanism

☞ microSD Card Slot

☞ Show/

Performances Is Not Good

☞ Camera Quality Is Not Good Under Low Light

☞Slow Charging

☞ Preinstalled Bloatware And Ads In XOS.

KEY SPECIFICATIONS

DISPLAY

6.53Inch

OS

AndroiD 10

RESOLUTION

1080x2220P

REAR CAMERA

48MP+2MP

FRONT CAMERA

16MP

STORAGE

64GB

RAM

4GB

BATTERY

4000mAh

PROCESSOR

MT Helio P35

ALSO SEE

amazon.in

Realme 5 Pro 4GB/64GB Crystal Green  – Click Here To Go The Page

amazon.in

Redmi Note 9 Pro 4GB/64GB Interstellar Black  – Click Here To Go To The Page

amazon.in

Redmi Note 9 Pro 6GB/128GB Interstellar Black – Click Here To Go To The Page

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[kristinsimmons]

Keto & Dental Health: Benefits, Side Effects and Pitfalls

Brushing, flossing, and a checkup twice a year — these are the standard recommendations to hear during a visit to the dentist.

But what if there was more you could do for your mouth?

We started KetoConnect back in 2016 because we were overwhelmed by the benefits of keto. One unexpected advantage of our new diet was better dental health!

We took our own experience and consulted with Dr. Mark Burhenne about the incredible perks of keto for your teeth, and even the entire mouth.

With our expertise on the keto diet and his decades of experience in preventive dental care, we’ve compiled our top five reasons to try a ketogenic diet for better oral health.

What is keto?

Ketosis is a metabolic state that your body goes into when it doesn’t have enough carbohydrates (or sugar).

These carbs are usually what our metabolism runs on, but when they’re in short supply, our body burns fat for energy instead. We use these fat cells to manufacture ketones, an energy source that many scientists say is more efficient than carbohydrates.

So, if keto converts our body to burn fat for energy and diminishes our carb intake, what foods should we be eating? Great question!

To maintain ketosis, you’ll need to stick to a high-fat, medium protein, and low-carb diet. Here’s our short list:

Healthy fats

Fatty proteins

Non-starchy veggies

Cheeses, nuts, and seeds

A small portion of fruit

Living this way definitely takes some getting used to if all you’ve known is the standard American diet, but it’s worth the shift. Changing to a ketogenic diet can benefit your brain, weight loss goals, and blood sugar levels.

What’s more, it can be a game-changer for your overall dental care and teeth. Here are five ways your mouth will be better with keto.

5 Ways Keto Benefits Oral Health

Seriously, keto will change your life as you burn fat, eat cleaner foods, and improve your mouth from the inside out.

These five benefits are just a few of the ways that people report this high-fat diet boosting their oral health. Thanks to Mark Burhenne, DDS (“the dentist”) for helping us out with these!

1. Reduces Sugar Consumption

Not only does the keto diet cut down on sugar consumption like sweets, but it bans carbs that break down into sugars as they’re digested in the mouth.

In fact, these simple starch carbs (like goldfish and crackers) can be even worse for your teeth than candy as they ferment in your mouth! Thankfully, reduced sugars in the mouth can diminish plaque and halt the development of tartar.

Plaque build-up on the teeth comes from leftover food particles and saliva left hanging around your mouth after meals. Subsequently, tartar can build up from plaque after roughly 12 days.

Carbohydrates are necessary for the production of plaque, so less sugar lingering after meals means less food for the bacteria in your mouth. A keto diet can starve these harmful bacteria, which also produce acid and cause tooth demineralization.

2. Supports a Healthy Oral Microbiome

Just like your gut, your mouth has a microbiome that is a delicate balance of microscopic factors. The healthy (or non-pathogenic) bacteria in your oral microbiome need help maintaining a healthy, happy mouth.

Luckily, one of the dental benefits of keto is promoting more prebiotic foods, or foods that help grow and maintain healthy bacteria in the body.

Unlike a traditional Western diet, where you’re eating carbs that feed germs and pathogenic bacteria in your mouth, this sustains the bacteria you actually want near your teeth.

Basically, you’re eating foods that encourage a beneficial microbiome in your mouth when you’re eating keto.

3. Fights Cavities

Your oral microbiome and overall health is better when you’re eating real, whole, unprocessed foods and cutting out the carbs.

Well, there’s more good news: a ketogenic diet also promotes foods that are high in vitamin K2, a crucial vitamin most people are deficient in.

Vitamin K2 can do many incredible things, from forming new enamel on teeth and preventing cavities to killing pathogenic bacteria in the mouth.

This dietary upkick in vitamin K2, reduced sugar, and a better oral biome combine to fight cavities in an amazing way.

These factors each promote great oral health, and together can help remineralize teeth, protect and grow the good bacteria in the mouth, and halt acid erosion.

Clearly, tooth decay doesn’t stand a chance in the keto diet.

4. Reduces Inflammation

Many people don’t realize that the best way to heal gum disease is through diet, and keto is an excellent resource to stop the inflammation that may cause gum disease and gingivitis.

Foods like nuts, seeds, grass-fed beef, and fatty fish are high in omega-3s that can combat inflammation — and they’re also staples of the keto diet.

Bone broth and shiitake mushrooms, two more keto-friendly foods, are also on the list of best foods to fight gum disease and inflammation.

As if that weren’t enough, here’s a bonus: keto’s emphasis on cutting down sugar is just one more way to starve inflammation and gum disease!

5. Supports Proper Orthodontic Growth

Remember the vitamin K2-rich, teeth-friendly foods that a keto diet promotes? Well, those cheeses, butter, pastured eggs, and offal meats aren’t done giving yet. (Seriously, keto and dental health benefits are best friends).

Vitamin K2 and calcium, found in abundance in keto recipes, also promote proper growth in the teeth and face. If you have braces or need orthodontic work done, a keto diet rich in K2 and calcium may help in the process.

Ketosis & Acidity

Acetone in the breath can be a concern to some people considering a ketogenic diet, and not just due to the bad breath it creates.

A high load of acid, which can be caused not only by too many processed carbs but also by too much high-fat protein, can put individuals at risk for“chronic low-grade acidosis.” Left unchecked, this can cause kidney stones, hurt bone health, and even increase inflammation.

To reap the full benefits of keto, it’s important to practice alkaline keto. This means balancing these fats and proteins with leafy greens and fiber, staying hydrated, and steering away from sneaky foods that are high in acid.

These include brussels sprouts, alcohol, and coffee, as well as too much dairy. This prevents acidosis and low pH concerns and keeps you at optimal performance while practicing a keto diet for your teeth (and the rest of your body).

Get Rid of Keto Breath

As you can imagine, changing your body’s energy source is a serious switch to make. One pitfall is a collection of symptoms that can present as the “keto flu” during the beginning of your ketogenic journey.

This can include the flu-like symptoms of nausea, muscle soreness/cramps, headache, weakness, and even sugar cravings.

Unfortunately, bad breath (caused by the acetone we discussed above) is often another symptom of the keto flu, and this side effect has been reported in other low-carb eating plans like Atkins as well.

This is due to the fact that ketones leave the body in 2 ways: through your urine and your mouth. The high-protein foods in keto also break down into sulfur that linger in the mouth and tongue with an unpleasant odor.

Here’s how to combat keto breath so your breath smells as good as you feel:

Pop a piece of sugar-free gum with xylitol to freshen your breath and stimulate your saliva production. (Just don’t overdo it — TMJ is no fun).

Sip on water to wash away plaque build-up.

Scrape your tongue to physically remove the buildup of sulfur.

Oil pulling and proper oral hygiene can neutralize those acids that are causing the smell.

Need more halitosis help? Check out Dr. B’s ultimate guide to treating keto breath. Thankfully, with these tips and a few weeks of time, your bad breath should subside.

Ancient Diets & Dental Health

We asked Dr. Burhenne to weigh in on the validity of keto as a dietary option for better dental health. Here’s what he said:

For years, I’ve been advocating for eating habits that imitate our those of our ancestors, such as Paleo and keto. Less processed ancient diets were associated with better oral health than we see today with our Western eating plan.

Keto’s low-sugar, low-carbohydrate, whole foods, and non-processed components are excellent steps toward better dental health.

The nutrients and vitamins offered in keto also provide building blocks for remineralizing teeth and fighting gum disease. Overall, this is a great alternative to the modern diet that’s harming our teeth.

We must get back to our roots in order to get back to our health, both orally and overall.

FAQs

Q:

How do I know if my body is in ketosis?

A: Several things can indicate you’ve reached ketosis, like keto breath, weight loss, and a diminished appetite, but the only at-home way to be certain is to test your blood ketone levels or your breath.

Q:

Can I still have some carbs on a keto diet?

A: Eating more than roughly 30 net carbs a day will kick you right out of ketosis, and it will take days or weeks to get back into a ketogenic state. Monitoring carbs and avoiding “cheat days” is crucial to a successful keto diet.

Key Takeaways: Keto & Dental Health

The keto diet isn’t just another fad, but a viable option for better dental health.

The high-fat, low-carb structure of ketogenic eating provides perks for not only weight loss, brain function, and blood sugar, but for supporting your teeth and mouth.

While the dental benefits of keto are far-ranging, some major advantages include:

Reducing sugar consumption

Improving the oral microbiome

Fighting inflammation

Reducing inflammation

Supporting proper orthodontic growth

Even pitfalls like acidity and keto breath can be managed through simple steps. Dr. B agrees that diets mimicking ancient eating patterns are beneficial to teeth and oral health, so try out a keto diet today for better dental health tomorrow!

If you’re interested in jumping in with both feet, we have a killer Keto Meal Prep for Weight Loss Course. We want to set you up for a lifetime of success by giving you 150 days of keto meal prep.

This doesn’t have to be a quick fad diet. You can change your life with the right tools.

Read Next: What to Do About Keto Breath From a Low-Carb Diet

23 References

Paoli, A., Bosco, G., Camporesi, E. M., & Mangar, D. (2015). Ketosis, ketogenic diet and food intake control: a complex relationship. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 27. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25698989

Fukao, T., Lopaschuk, G. D., & Mitchell, G. A. (2004). Pathways and control of ketone body metabolism: on the fringe of lipid biochemistry. Prostaglandins, leukotrienes and essential fatty acids, 70(3), 243-251. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14769483

Puchalska, P., & Crawford, P. A. (2017). Multi-dimensional roles of ketone bodies in fuel metabolism, signaling, and therapeutics. Cell metabolism, 25(2), 262-284. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5313038/

Gardener, S. L., Rainey-Smith, S. R., Sohrabi, H. R., Weinborn, M., Verdile, G., Fernando, W. M. A. D., … & Masters, C. L. (2017). Increased carbohydrate intake is associated with poorer performance in verbal memory and attention in an APOE genotype-dependent manner. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 58(1), 193-201. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28387666/

Bueno, N. B., de Melo, I. S. V., de Oliveira, S. L., & da Rocha Ataide, T. (2013). Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Nutrition, 110(7), 1178-1187. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK138038/

Yancy, W. S., Foy, M., Chalecki, A. M., Vernon, M. C., & Westman, E. C. (2005). A low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet to treat type 2 diabetes. Nutrition & metabolism, 2(1), 34. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/

Gupta, P., Gupta, N., Pawar, A. P., Birajdar, S. S., Natt, A. S., & Singh, H. P. (2013). Role of sugar and sugar substitutes in dental caries: a review. ISRN dentistry, 2013. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893787/

Zarco, M. F., Vess, T. J., & Ginsburg, G. S. (2012). The oral microbiome in health and disease and the potential impact on personalized dental medicine. Oral diseases, 18(2), 109-120. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21902769

Strużycka, I. Z. A. B. E. L. A. (2014). The oral microbiome in dental caries. Pol J Microbiol, 63(2), 127-135. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25115106

Cranenburg, E. C., Schurgers, L. J., & Vermeer, C. (2007). Vitamin K: the coagulation vitamin that became omnipotent. Thrombosis and haemostasis, 98(07), 120-125. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17598002

Huang, G. T. J., Shagramanova, K., & Chan, S. W. (2006). Formation of odontoblast-like cells from cultured human dental pulp cells on dentin in vitro. Journal of endodontics, 32(11), 1066-1073. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17055908

Thaweboon, S., Thaweboon, B., Choonharuangdej, S., Chunhabundit, P., & Suppakpatana, P. (2005). Induction of type I collagen and osteocalcin in human dental pulp cells by retinoic acid. Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health, 36(4), 1066. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16295569

Naqvi, A. Z., Buettner, C., Phillips, R. S., Davis, R. B., & Mukamal, K. J. (2010). n-3 fatty acids and periodontitis in US adults. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(11), 1669-1675. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3320731/

Avinash, J., Vinay, S., Jha, K., Das, D., Goutham, B. S., & Kumar, G. (2016). The unexplored anticaries potential of shiitake mushroom. Pharmacognosy reviews, 10(20), 100. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5214552/

Sidi, A. D., & Ashley, F. P. (1984). Influence of frequent sugar intakes on experimental gingivitis. Journal of Periodontology, 55(7), 419-423. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6379142

Tyszkowski, M. (2016). Is There a Relationship between Nutrition, Facial Development, and Crowding of the Teeth?. International journal of orthodontics (Milwaukee, Wis.), 27(1), 15-17. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27319035

Schwalfenberg, G. K. (2012). The alkaline diet: is there evidence that an alkaline pH diet benefits health?. Journal of environmental and public health, 2012. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/

Musa-Veloso, K., Likhodii, S. S., & Cunnane, S. C. (2002). Breath acetone is a reliable indicator of ketosis in adults consuming ketogenic meals. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 76(1), 65-70. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12081817

Pascoe, L., & Kim Seow, W. (1994). Enamel hypoplasia and dental caries in Australian aboriginal children: prevalence and correlation between the two diseases. Pediatric Dentistry, 16, 193-193. Abstract: https://ift.tt/2M10Wn1

Sumithran, P., Prendergast, L. A., Delbridge, E., Purcell, K., Shulkes, A., Kriketos, A., & Proietto, J. (2013). Ketosis and appetite-mediating nutrients and hormones after weight loss. European journal of clinical nutrition, 67(7), 759. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23632752

Wallace, T. M., Meston, N. M., Gardner, S. G., & Matthews, D. R. (2001). The hospital and home use of a 30‐second hand‐held blood ketone meter: guidelines for clinical practice. Diabetic medicine, 18(8), 640-645. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11553201

Likhodii, S. S., Musa, K., & Cunnane, S. C. (2002). Breath acetone as a measure of systemic ketosis assessed in a rat model of the ketogenic diet. Clinical chemistry, 48(1), 115-120. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11751546

Dhillon, K. K., & Gupta, S. (2018). Biochemistry, Ketogenesis. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493179/

The post Keto & Dental Health: Benefits, Side Effects and Pitfalls appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

Keto & Dental Health: Benefits, Side Effects and Pitfalls published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

[dentalinfotoday]

Brushing, flossing, and a checkup twice a year — these are the standard recommendations to hear during a visit to the dentist.

But what if there was more you could do for your mouth?

We started KetoConnect back in 2016 because we were overwhelmed by the benefits of keto. One unexpected advantage of our new diet was better dental health!

We took our own experience and consulted with Dr. Mark Burhenne about the incredible perks of keto for your teeth, and even the entire mouth.

With our expertise on the keto diet and his decades of experience in preventive dental care, we’ve compiled our top five reasons to try a ketogenic diet for better oral health.

What is keto?

Ketosis is a metabolic state that your body goes into when it doesn’t have enough carbohydrates (or sugar).

These carbs are usually what our metabolism runs on, but when they’re in short supply, our body burns fat for energy instead. We use these fat cells to manufacture ketones, an energy source that many scientists say is more efficient than carbohydrates.

So, if keto converts our body to burn fat for energy and diminishes our carb intake, what foods should we be eating? Great question!

To maintain ketosis, you’ll need to stick to a high-fat, medium protein, and low-carb diet. Here’s our short list:

Healthy fats

Fatty proteins

Non-starchy veggies

Cheeses, nuts, and seeds

A small portion of fruit

Living this way definitely takes some getting used to if all you’ve known is the standard American diet, but it’s worth the shift. Changing to a ketogenic diet can benefit your brain, weight loss goals, and blood sugar levels.

What’s more, it can be a game-changer for your overall dental care and teeth. Here are five ways your mouth will be better with keto.

5 Ways Keto Benefits Oral Health

Seriously, keto will change your life as you burn fat, eat cleaner foods, and improve your mouth from the inside out.

These five benefits are just a few of the ways that people report this high-fat diet boosting their oral health. Thanks to Mark Burhenne, DDS (“the dentist”) for helping us out with these!

1. Reduces Sugar Consumption

Not only does the keto diet cut down on sugar consumption like sweets, but it bans carbs that break down into sugars as they’re digested in the mouth.

In fact, these simple starch carbs (like goldfish and crackers) can be even worse for your teeth than candy as they ferment in your mouth! Thankfully, reduced sugars in the mouth can diminish plaque and halt the development of tartar.

Plaque build-up on the teeth comes from leftover food particles and saliva left hanging around your mouth after meals. Subsequently, tartar can build up from plaque after roughly 12 days.

Carbohydrates are necessary for the production of plaque, so less sugar lingering after meals means less food for the bacteria in your mouth. A keto diet can starve these harmful bacteria, which also produce acid and cause tooth demineralization.

2. Supports a Healthy Oral Microbiome

Just like your gut, your mouth has a microbiome that is a delicate balance of microscopic factors. The healthy (or non-pathogenic) bacteria in your oral microbiome need help maintaining a healthy, happy mouth.

Luckily, one of the dental benefits of keto is promoting more prebiotic foods, or foods that help grow and maintain healthy bacteria in the body.

Unlike a traditional Western diet, where you’re eating carbs that feed germs and pathogenic bacteria in your mouth, this sustains the bacteria you actually want near your teeth.

Basically, you’re eating foods that encourage a beneficial microbiome in your mouth when you’re eating keto.

3. Fights Cavities

Your oral microbiome and overall health is better when you’re eating real, whole, unprocessed foods and cutting out the carbs.

Well, there’s more good news: a ketogenic diet also promotes foods that are high in vitamin K2, a crucial vitamin most people are deficient in.

Vitamin K2 can do many incredible things, from forming new enamel on teeth and preventing cavities to killing pathogenic bacteria in the mouth.

This dietary upkick in vitamin K2, reduced sugar, and a better oral biome combine to fight cavities in an amazing way.

These factors each promote great oral health, and together can help remineralize teeth, protect and grow the good bacteria in the mouth, and halt acid erosion.

Clearly, tooth decay doesn’t stand a chance in the keto diet.

4. Reduces Inflammation

Many people don’t realize that the best way to heal gum disease is through diet, and keto is an excellent resource to stop the inflammation that may cause gum disease and gingivitis.

Foods like nuts, seeds, grass-fed beef, and fatty fish are high in omega-3s that can combat inflammation — and they’re also staples of the keto diet.

Bone broth and shiitake mushrooms, two more keto-friendly foods, are also on the list of best foods to fight gum disease and inflammation.

As if that weren’t enough, here’s a bonus: keto’s emphasis on cutting down sugar is just one more way to starve inflammation and gum disease!

5. Supports Proper Orthodontic Growth

Remember the vitamin K2-rich, teeth-friendly foods that a keto diet promotes? Well, those cheeses, butter, pastured eggs, and offal meats aren’t done giving yet. (Seriously, keto and dental health benefits are best friends).

Vitamin K2 and calcium, found in abundance in keto recipes, also promote proper growth in the teeth and face. If you have braces or need orthodontic work done, a keto diet rich in K2 and calcium may help in the process.

Ketosis & Acidity

Acetone in the breath can be a concern to some people considering a ketogenic diet, and not just due to the bad breath it creates.

A high load of acid, which can be caused not only by too many processed carbs but also by too much high-fat protein, can put individuals at risk for“chronic low-grade acidosis.” Left unchecked, this can cause kidney stones, hurt bone health, and even increase inflammation.

To reap the full benefits of keto, it’s important to practice alkaline keto. This means balancing these fats and proteins with leafy greens and fiber, staying hydrated, and steering away from sneaky foods that are high in acid.

These include brussels sprouts, alcohol, and coffee, as well as too much dairy. This prevents acidosis and low pH concerns and keeps you at optimal performance while practicing a keto diet for your teeth (and the rest of your body).

Get Rid of Keto Breath

As you can imagine, changing your body’s energy source is a serious switch to make. One pitfall is a collection of symptoms that can present as the “keto flu” during the beginning of your ketogenic journey.

This can include the flu-like symptoms of nausea, muscle soreness/cramps, headache, weakness, and even sugar cravings.

Unfortunately, bad breath (caused by the acetone we discussed above) is often another symptom of the keto flu, and this side effect has been reported in other low-carb eating plans like Atkins as well.

This is due to the fact that ketones leave the body in 2 ways: through your urine and your mouth. The high-protein foods in keto also break down into sulfur that linger in the mouth and tongue with an unpleasant odor.

Here’s how to combat keto breath so your breath smells as good as you feel:

Pop a piece of sugar-free gum with xylitol to freshen your breath and stimulate your saliva production. (Just don’t overdo it — TMJ is no fun).

Sip on water to wash away plaque build-up.

Scrape your tongue to physically remove the buildup of sulfur.

Oil pulling and proper oral hygiene can neutralize those acids that are causing the smell.

Need more halitosis help? Check out Dr. B’s ultimate guide to treating keto breath. Thankfully, with these tips and a few weeks of time, your bad breath should subside.

Ancient Diets & Dental Health

We asked Dr. Burhenne to weigh in on the validity of keto as a dietary option for better dental health. Here’s what he said:

For years, I’ve been advocating for eating habits that imitate our those of our ancestors, such as Paleo and keto. Less processed ancient diets were associated with better oral health than we see today with our Western eating plan.

Keto’s low-sugar, low-carbohydrate, whole foods, and non-processed components are excellent steps toward better dental health.

The nutrients and vitamins offered in keto also provide building blocks for remineralizing teeth and fighting gum disease. Overall, this is a great alternative to the modern diet that’s harming our teeth.

We must get back to our roots in order to get back to our health, both orally and overall.

FAQs

Q:

How do I know if my body is in ketosis?

A: Several things can indicate you’ve reached ketosis, like keto breath, weight loss, and a diminished appetite, but the only at-home way to be certain is to test your blood ketone levels or your breath.

Q:

Can I still have some carbs on a keto diet?

A: Eating more than roughly 30 net carbs a day will kick you right out of ketosis, and it will take days or weeks to get back into a ketogenic state. Monitoring carbs and avoiding “cheat days” is crucial to a successful keto diet.

Key Takeaways: Keto & Dental Health

The keto diet isn’t just another fad, but a viable option for better dental health.

The high-fat, low-carb structure of ketogenic eating provides perks for not only weight loss, brain function, and blood sugar, but for supporting your teeth and mouth.

While the dental benefits of keto are far-ranging, some major advantages include:

Reducing sugar consumption

Improving the oral microbiome

Fighting inflammation

Reducing inflammation

Supporting proper orthodontic growth

Even pitfalls like acidity and keto breath can be managed through simple steps. Dr. B agrees that diets mimicking ancient eating patterns are beneficial to teeth and oral health, so try out a keto diet today for better dental health tomorrow!

If you’re interested in jumping in with both feet, we have a killer Keto Meal Prep for Weight Loss Course. We want to set you up for a lifetime of success by giving you 150 days of keto meal prep.

This doesn’t have to be a quick fad diet. You can change your life with the right tools.

Read Next: What to Do About Keto Breath From a Low-Carb Diet

23 References

Paoli, A., Bosco, G., Camporesi, E. M., & Mangar, D. (2015). Ketosis, ketogenic diet and food intake control: a complex relationship. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 27. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25698989

Fukao, T., Lopaschuk, G. D., & Mitchell, G. A. (2004). Pathways and control of ketone body metabolism: on the fringe of lipid biochemistry. Prostaglandins, leukotrienes and essential fatty acids, 70(3), 243-251. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14769483

Puchalska, P., & Crawford, P. A. (2017). Multi-dimensional roles of ketone bodies in fuel metabolism, signaling, and therapeutics. Cell metabolism, 25(2), 262-284. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5313038/

Gardener, S. L., Rainey-Smith, S. R., Sohrabi, H. R., Weinborn, M., Verdile, G., Fernando, W. M. A. D., … & Masters, C. L. (2017). Increased carbohydrate intake is associated with poorer performance in verbal memory and attention in an APOE genotype-dependent manner. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 58(1), 193-201. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28387666/

Bueno, N. B., de Melo, I. S. V., de Oliveira, S. L., & da Rocha Ataide, T. (2013). Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Nutrition, 110(7), 1178-1187. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK138038/

Yancy, W. S., Foy, M., Chalecki, A. M., Vernon, M. C., & Westman, E. C. (2005). A low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet to treat type 2 diabetes. Nutrition & metabolism, 2(1), 34. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/

Gupta, P., Gupta, N., Pawar, A. P., Birajdar, S. S., Natt, A. S., & Singh, H. P. (2013). Role of sugar and sugar substitutes in dental caries: a review. ISRN dentistry, 2013. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893787/

Zarco, M. F., Vess, T. J., & Ginsburg, G. S. (2012). The oral microbiome in health and disease and the potential impact on personalized dental medicine. Oral diseases, 18(2), 109-120. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21902769

Strużycka, I. Z. A. B. E. L. A. (2014). The oral microbiome in dental caries. Pol J Microbiol, 63(2), 127-135. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25115106

Cranenburg, E. C., Schurgers, L. J., & Vermeer, C. (2007). Vitamin K: the coagulation vitamin that became omnipotent. Thrombosis and haemostasis, 98(07), 120-125. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17598002

Huang, G. T. J., Shagramanova, K., & Chan, S. W. (2006). Formation of odontoblast-like cells from cultured human dental pulp cells on dentin in vitro. Journal of endodontics, 32(11), 1066-1073. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17055908

Thaweboon, S., Thaweboon, B., Choonharuangdej, S., Chunhabundit, P., & Suppakpatana, P. (2005). Induction of type I collagen and osteocalcin in human dental pulp cells by retinoic acid. Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health, 36(4), 1066. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16295569

Naqvi, A. Z., Buettner, C., Phillips, R. S., Davis, R. B., & Mukamal, K. J. (2010). n-3 fatty acids and periodontitis in US adults. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(11), 1669-1675. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3320731/

Avinash, J., Vinay, S., Jha, K., Das, D., Goutham, B. S., & Kumar, G. (2016). The unexplored anticaries potential of shiitake mushroom. Pharmacognosy reviews, 10(20), 100. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5214552/

Sidi, A. D., & Ashley, F. P. (1984). Influence of frequent sugar intakes on experimental gingivitis. Journal of Periodontology, 55(7), 419-423. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6379142

Tyszkowski, M. (2016). Is There a Relationship between Nutrition, Facial Development, and Crowding of the Teeth?. International journal of orthodontics (Milwaukee, Wis.), 27(1), 15-17. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27319035

Schwalfenberg, G. K. (2012). The alkaline diet: is there evidence that an alkaline pH diet benefits health?. Journal of environmental and public health, 2012. Full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/

Musa-Veloso, K., Likhodii, S. S., & Cunnane, S. C. (2002). Breath acetone is a reliable indicator of ketosis in adults consuming ketogenic meals. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 76(1), 65-70. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12081817

Pascoe, L., & Kim Seow, W. (1994). Enamel hypoplasia and dental caries in Australian aboriginal children: prevalence and correlation between the two diseases. Pediatric Dentistry, 16, 193-193. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8058543

Sumithran, P., Prendergast, L. A., Delbridge, E., Purcell, K., Shulkes, A., Kriketos, A., & Proietto, J. (2013). Ketosis and appetite-mediating nutrients and hormones after weight loss. European journal of clinical nutrition, 67(7), 759. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23632752

Wallace, T. M., Meston, N. M., Gardner, S. G., & Matthews, D. R. (2001). The hospital and home use of a 30‐second hand‐held blood ketone meter: guidelines for clinical practice. Diabetic medicine, 18(8), 640-645. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11553201

Likhodii, S. S., Musa, K., & Cunnane, S. C. (2002). Breath acetone as a measure of systemic ketosis assessed in a rat model of the ketogenic diet. Clinical chemistry, 48(1), 115-120. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11751546

Dhillon, K. K., & Gupta, S. (2018). Biochemistry, Ketogenesis. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493179/

The post Keto & Dental Health: Benefits, Side Effects and Pitfalls appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

from Ask the Dentist https://askthedentist.com/keto-diet-oral-health/

[tryshareware]

Best Gaming Laptop 2019: Buying Guide, How To, Reviews

Ever since gaming consoles hit the market earlier on, they were the talk of the town. The demand for more powerful gaming platforms emerged and hence, PC gaming began to gain importance as the years passed. The thing about good gaming laptops is that they consist of rather powerful hardware which is capable of handling the best and most powerful games on the market. While console gaming is exciting, it still carries certain limitations. This isn’t the same case with gaming laptops. You can get the best gaming laptop which depends on the type of gamer you are. In this article, we shall be discussing the various parameters to consider which will help you buy the best gaming laptop for your gaming requirements.

Quick Tips

Never purchase a gaming laptop for the sole purpose of playing low-end games such as Candy Crush and other such games. These low-end games can be easily played using a very low-quality graphics card.

Never go for touchscreen gaming laptops. They are known to be very expensive and consumers of electricity.

When it comes to power, laptops of 17 or 18-inch screen size are the best in comparison to 13- 15 inch sized laptops which usually consist of low-end components.

Always ensure that the keyboard is comfortable to use. Using the keyboard before buying it could do the trick.

Always go for the rather new NVidia’s 10-series GPUs instead of mobile chips which are a thing of the past now. The new GPUs are more powerful and more future proof.

Low-resolution laptops must be avoided.

Always opt for SSD drive equipped laptops because they’re much faster and powerful.

Gaming laptops with the latest Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor coupled with the NVidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, etc. which will help you enjoy VR ready and will help you enjoy the best gaming titles on your gaming laptop.

Tips #1：Graphical requirements for a good gaming laptop

The graphical unit of a gaming laptop is one of its most integral components. It is responsible for delivering rather high-quality images during gameplay. The GPU is also responsible for processing the data and finally transmitting the video signal to the display device. This is only possible by means of a good quality GPU.

The VRAM too is an important component of a good GPU unit. In common practice, a VRAM of about 4GB to is enough to get the job done. Most of the best gaming laptops we find in the market today are equipped with NVidia GPUs. Though AMD too is good, NVidia almost always stands out in comparison.

Best GPU for Mainstream Gamers

GPU #1: NVidia GeForce GTX 1060

Laptops with this graphics card are able to handle games such as Mass Effect: Andromeda or Witcher 3 by actually not compromising on the stellar graphics this game carries. Though the settings need to be tweaked close to 4K, it’s not too much of a trouble. The best part is that you can now connect prominent VR headsets such as Rift or Vive headset to enjoy a VR gaming experience like no other.

GPU #2: NVidia GeForce GTX 1050/1050 Ti

This gaming graphics card is a notch below the usual 1060 GPU unit. However, the frame rates offered by this graphics card is certainly the best in the market which allows you to enjoy games such as Battlefield 1 using the most modest of settings. This graphics card is way more powerful and also has the capability to handle the Oculus Rift. However, it’s not suited for fo0r high performance-hungry gamers.

Best Graphics Card for High-performance gaming

GPU #1: NVidia GeForce GTX 1070

The 1070 graphics card is one of the best graphics cards in the market today. It is VR ready and is able to produce some of the most impressive frame rates but just falls short in front of the 1080 graphics card. You can enjoy gaming at crystal clear 1080 p resolution along with 4K as well.

Best graphics card for hardcore gaming.

GPU #1: NVidia GeForce GTX 1080

The 1080 graphics card is the one to certainly beat. Using this graphics card you can now enjoy high-end gaming titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider as well as other titles such as Grand Theft Auto V. With the use of special effect settings, your resolution is the best there is. It is also able to support VR devices thereby offering a truly future-proof gaming experience. However, this graphics card is very much on the pricey end and is only found on very high-end gaming laptops.

GPU #2: SLI

SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface. Developed by NVidia, the SLI is a technology which allows about 4 GPUs to work together which in turn scales the graphical capabilities of your gaming laptop. Very few laptops come equipped with this technology with the notable being Acer Predator 21 X and the MSI GT83 Titan SLI.

NVidia Max-Q Design

The brand new Max-Q design specification focus more on the efficiency of the system rather than its performance levels. It downclocks NVidia GPUs which places the 1080 graphics card into a very thin Asus ROG Zephyrus. It consumes very less power which thereby helps the system to produce lesser heat as the fans are not being used up too much. This leads to a much cooler and quieter gaming laptop performance but is all the more powerful at the same time.

Tips#2 Size & Portable

There are a wide variety of laptops which vary in terms of portability. While some are solely desktop type laptops while some of them are highly portable. However, the golden rule states that larger the laptop, more powerful it is in terms of performance.

Minimal Portability

In this category of portable laptops, the screen size is between 17 to 18 inches. This is perfect for gamers who keep their laptops at home. Laptops such as the Alien ware fall under this sizing category and are one of the most powerful gaming laptops in existence. They have plenty of space for heat generating components making them very powerful. However, they are very heavy and are difficult to carry around if ever you plan to do so.

Medium Portability

Gaming laptops close to 15 inches in screen size fall under this category. They are good to carry and are powerful as well. They weigh anywhere around 4-7 pounds and last about 5t hours on a full charge of the battery.

Best Portability

Laptops with a screen size of 13 to 14 inches fall under this category. These laptops are perfect for gamers always on the move as the weight just under around 5 pounds and boast a powerful battery life which lasts about 8 hours on a full charge. Though these laptops are not powerful in terms of the GPU or the CPU, they still are decent enough for playing good gaming titles.

Tips#3 How to choose the best RAM and CPU for my gaming laptop?

The GPU is often considered as the heart which keeps the gaming laptop running but when it comes to the brain, it’s the RAM. The CPU of a gaming laptop handles everything which is not related to graphics. This includes performing the necessary calculations along with the controlling aspects of gaming characters in the game being played. The performance levels of the non-gaming applications to is influenced by the quality of the CPU being used. Hence, before you pick the best CPU or RAM for your gaming laptop, keep in mind the following tips:

Intel only

Always choose a laptop which is powered by an Intel CPU.

Pick at least the 6th-Gen Core

The latest generation of Intel CPUs is all part of the 7th generation. For a decent gaming experience, we urge you to pick at least the 6th generations series. The latest generation consists of the “Kaby Lake” which was launched in early 2016. The 7th generation chips all carry model numbers which begin with 7 and 6th generation chips carry model numbers with a 6 in the starting.

Core i5 must be the minimum standard

When it comes to buying the best gaming laptop for your gaming requirements, one must start from the Intel Core i5 processor and slowly step-up up to the Dual-core Core i7.

Quad-Core is heavenly

If in case you’re looking for a core i7 gaming laptop, a quad-core chip is always better than a dual core. It is easy to identify if it is dual or quad and this can be done by simply looking at the model number’s end. Quad-core systems have an HQ or HK as a suffix

Clock Speed Matters

Higher the value of the clock speed, faster is your gaming laptop. A 3.4 GHz processor is all the faster than a 2.4 GHz processor. Intel’s new Sky Lake chips are overclocked which means that you can now adjust the speed using a program such as Intel Extreme Tuning Utility.

8 GB is more than enough

When it comes to choosing the right RAM value, make sure that you keep 8 GB as the minimum standard. 16 GB is always good but not necessary at the same time.

Tips #4 What’s the best Display for my gaming laptop?

Boasting brilliant graphics and performance levels unmatched in the market means nothing if your gaming laptop has a bad display device. It’s always best to choose the best gaming laptop which boasts a high-quality display device. To choose the best, here are a few must follow guidelines:

Resolution

The minimum permissible resolution for a good gaming laptop must be around 1920 x 1080. Anything below that means that you get a cheap gaming experience altogether. However, more modern laptops come equipped with a QHD or a 4K panel which are best known for their excellent color and clarity delivery. Hence, it’s always best to not keep an upper cap for video resolutions. A good resolution means a seamless gaming experience altogether.

Touch Screens

Many new gaming laptop releases consist of touch screens which is nice if you’re planning to play games such as candy crush or fruit ninja. Our team has tested out a host of two on one laptop and have come to a conclusion that this is an unnecessary feature if it’s the gaming aspects of the laptop you’re worried about.

Matte or Glossy

Most displays come in either glossy or in a matte finish. The better of the two is always down to personal preference of the gamer. Glossy displays are all about vibrant colors but the shiny surface is a direct invitation for annoying glare. Matte displays offer no such glare problems but the colors are usually washed out and dull.

OLED

OLED screens represent the future of display technology on gaming laptops. This display panel consists of a film of organic compounds which hold the ability to illuminate when a current passes through them. OLED displays are very thin in comparison to other displays meaning that they are rich in color and at the same time, are even more efficient. Only one gaming laptop houses this display technology which goes by the name Alien ware 13 R3 OLED.

G-Sync or Free Sync

In case of the modern gaming laptops, it’s always a battle between NVidia’s G-Sync and AMD’s Free Sync. Both of these graphics technologies have the capability to prevent image tearing as well as ghosting on display monitors which support 1080p to 4K. Most displays support a refresh rate of 60 Hz which there is a fresh influx of monitors which can support 120 Hz as well.

Tips#5 Keyboards and Touchpads

While most of us pay importance to other features of a good gaming laptop, we do end up forgetting the quality of the keyboard. Most gamers play games using the keyboard a lot too often, hence, it’s important to choose a gaming laptop which ensures a comfortable use of the keyboard.

Here are a few keyboard-related pointers which could help you out:

Key Travel:

In most ideal situations, we expect a firm delivery feedback when we press the keys. A typical key travel depth of anywhere close to around 1.5 to 2mm is acceptable with 2 mm being the ideal value.

Actuation

The aptest value of force required to press a keyboard key is about 60 grams. Anything below this value means that the keys are mushy and can slow down your gaming experience considerably.

Customization

A good gaming keyboard always offers impressive backlighting which can be customized. It makes the system look all the cooler. Those should also come with a software which allows the gamer to create cool macros and then load them on to the lighting system.

Anti-Ghosting

This feature is pretty handy to gamers who have the habit of repeatedly pressing several buttons in order to pull out a cool gaming move. Anti-ghosting means that you can push several keys all at once and all of them are registered individually.

We have noticed that premier gaming laptop brands now incorporate a clicking sound when a key is pressed and this is all the more evident in a mechanical keyboard.

These keyboards are best known for their iconic click sound and well as the springy feedback. They offer one of the best typing experience on your gaming laptop. Mechanical keyboards can be found in some of the premier gaming laptops available in the market.

When we talk about the customization software, Razer’s Synapse 2.0 app is a name to consider. Not only does it turn your keyboard into a freaky light show, it also allows you to access your creations with the help of cloud control. When it comes to creating impressive light shows, the two software’s we like are the Alien ware’s FX software and the SteelSeries Engine. They help keep track of your keystrokes which come in handy when you’re monitoring the kill rate of your keyboard.

Tips#6 Storage: SSD or HDD?

Faster gaming laptops are something which everyone demands. When it comes to speed, one must only think about SSD storage solutions. The speed they offer means that you can now load games faster meaning that you can now forget about long pauses between games, all thanks to SSD technology.

Since are SSD powered laptops are all the more expensive, one must opt for at least 1 TB of HDD space with a speed of about 7,200-rpm. To enjoy the best of both technologies, a system involving both HDD and SSD drives is always best. Not only can you load your games faster but also have room to store more games.

Tips #7 Audio

What’s a good gaming laptop with immaculate gaming capabilities but a poor delivery of sound? The audio aspects of a gaming laptop are all the more important as well. Though most of us use a gaming headset most of the time, there are situations when the speakers are all the more useful. MSI-exclusive along with the Nahimic audio software is one of the best when it comes to a great audio experience when it comes to gaming. Certain other notable audio software’s which are the best are Alien ware’s Dell Audio software along with the much-fancied Dolby Home Theater v4.

Tips#8 What are the brands I must look out for?

There are a wide variety of gaming laptop manufacturers in the market. While all of them are all the more impressive, there are a few which surely standout from the rest. They are as follows:

Alien Ware

Asus

Lenovo

MSI

OriginPC

Razer

Gigabyte/Aorus

HP

Acer

All of these brands are all the more impressive and all vary in terms of pricing as well. At the end of the day, it’s down to the personal choice of the gamer.

Tips#9 Budget: What You Get for Your Money?

In this section, we shall be discussing how well of a gaming laptop does your money fetch you. Let us discuss further:

Under USD 1,000

At this price, you can now get a gaming laptop with at least a 7th-generation Intel Core i7 CPU as well as an 8GB of RAM. 1080 displays too are part of such laptops with an average delivery of color and brightness. In some laptops, you can also find SSD drives a well. In common situations, you will get a laptop with a 1 TB HDD Drive as well as an NVidia GeForce 1050 or 1050 Ti GPU.

Between USD 1,000 and USD 2000

For this price, you can find a few laptops with Core i5 configuration. Majority of the laptops in this price range are powered by a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU along with a 16GB of RAM and a 1080p display. These laptops will mostly come with both HDD and SSD drives as part of their memory. When it comes to the graphics aspects, you can expect at least an NVidia GTX 1060 or 1070 GPU.

Between USD 2,000 and USD 3,000

At this price range, the minimum you can expect is a gaming laptop with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor along with a bare minimum 16 GB of RAM. SSDs too will be part of the system which ensures a gaming experience like no other. Screen resolutions can be either 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1400 or 3840 x 2160. For this price, you can expect graphics such as single 1080 or dual 1070M.

Recommendation: The Top 10 Top List Guide

These were some of the best tips one should keep in mind before purchasing a good quality gaming laptop. All of the mentioned parameters have been listed as a result of hundreds of hours of research and will certainly help you choose the best gaming laptop.

Conclusion

Picking the right gaming laptop is a very daunting task as the number of options available in the market is aplenty. However, with this go-to guide, you can now easily shortlist the best gaming laptops for your gaming laptops which will ensure a gaming experience like no other.

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