#ndemic creations

[fridge-reviews]

Plague Inc: Evolved - Blast Review

Developer: Ndemic Creations Rrp: £11.99 (Humblebundle and Steam)

Given the state of the world you'd think that I'd want to avoid this game to save being reminded about it all. But you know what? It felt good to be the one in control of the disease, making it mutate to make it more viralant and twarting the attempts to reaseach it. It's a rather simple concept really, make a virus and release it on the world with the aim of killing everyone on earth. It's a simple idea, but it's one that works very well. There really is something strangely entertaining about watching your disease spread across the world. Of course you don't want to start out of the gate with your disease being deadly, your hosts need to live to spread it and if it becomes too deadly too quickly the world will begin to work on a cure faster. So the game becomes a balancing act between being highly infectious and deadly.

This game kept me coming back over and over. Trying out new ways of infecting people, going on ever harder difficulties. That's the mark of a good game (to me), getting me to return when I feel I'm done with you.

[an-aussie-button-masher]

Breaking Good - Five Games That Scratch the Destructive Itch

   Some games are all about creation, building up the world and the people around you. These are not those games. Have you ever had the urge to just break something? Has a rough day got you feeling frustrated and needing an outlet? Don’t want to blow your actual house up, and are willing to settle for a virtual version? Try out these games! Here, you can tear apart everything from cars and buildings to entire cities and global populations without even getting out of your seat. Get ready to channel all those destructive urges into this handful of games all about the art of annihilation. Read on to break it down one game at a time - enjoy!

Besiege    Good news! Someone has entrusted you with the construction of medieval siege engines. A master architect like yourself must build deadly war machines to destroy your enemies - assuming your creations don’t accidentally just tear themselves apart the moment they start rolling. You have countless weapons and upgrades at your disposal - flamethrowers, saws, spikes, cannons, bombs, rockets, armour plating, and more. Manoeuvre around traps and the environment with steering (or just blindly flailing around) to launch attacks upon the panicking enemy forces, their camps, their castles, their own machines, and so on. There’s also plenty of “eh, that’s good enough” moments where the scorched remains of your construction just happen to flatten one last bit of the enemy camp to earn a technical victory. Finally, you can enter the unlimited-resource Sandbox mode to make some truly staggering behemoths that will bring everything in its path - including your PC - to its knees.

BeamNG.drive    Strictly speaking, this is merely a driving-themed physics simulation, with a handful of driving challenges for some more standard gameplay. Of course, we all know that “physics simulator” is just code for “how fast can I mangle this car?” Enter Beam.NG’s sandbox, and you’ll be able to answer that question and more with a wide-open playground, littered with obstacles, ramps, half-pipes, bot controls, gravity options, and everything you could need for all your automobile abuse. It’s a great way to spend some spare time answering all the important questions, such as: What happens when this hatchback is struck from all sides by five trucks accelerating at Mach 5? Which sports car fares better under Jupiter’s gravitational pull? How many lamp posts do I need to hit to peel this tour bus like a banana? The sky's the limit - literally, because I once propelled a limousine straight up like a rocket before it flattened against the map height limit like it was made of paper.

Plague Inc: Evolved    Global pandemics are the last thing anyone wants to dwell on at the moment, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of virtual virus-spreading! In Plague Inc., you can pick your poison, choose where your patient zero appears, and let yourself feel like a cackling supervillain for a little while. Carefully select your methods of transmission to spread across the land, skies and seas around the globe before anyone realises what’s wrong, then hit them with the symptoms all at once and watch chaos unfold! It’s highly satisfying to watch those population numbers dwindle and the world turn red as newly-infected dots consume entire countries. Eventually, humanity tries to fight back and you’ll need to battle the world’s efforts to concoct a cure - no laboratory will be safe for long! In this game, you can wipe out the planet’s entire population with careful planning and ruthlessness, all from the safety of the digital screen - no need to wash your hands after playing with this particular plague.

Teardown    What’s this game about, you ask? It’s in the name - tearing everything down! Playing as a legally-questionable demolitionist, the player is hired to destroy buildings (and sometimes steal stuff from the rubble), then make a hasty getaway before police arrive. There are plenty of tools of destruction unlocked over the course of the game, from the reasonable (sledgehammers, welding torches, and so on) to the overkill (dynamite and other explosives, and even a shotgun). Use the tools of the trade to strategically - or randomly - knock out the load-bearing supports and watch as the entire mansion, shopping centre, docks, or whatever you’re demolishing crashes down and shatters into millions of little voxel bits. The modding community really cranks up the destruction to a whole new level: slice entire cities in half with a flick of the mouse, punch whale-sized holes through skyscrapers with giant cannons, or go full Majora’s Mask and flatten the whole place by bringing down the moon. Another job well done!

Goat Simulator    Behold, the original and definitive “mischievous wildlife enters city and causes problems on purpose” video game: Goat Simulator. Why is a goat so intent on trashing the town and bending the laws of physics to its will? Who knows? It’s a goat, it - and the player - can do what it wants. As you unleash your hoofed havoc across the unsuspecting town, you’ll discover unique hidden interactions that transform your goat and grant new abilities - flying majestically through the air, scaling skyscrapers with your stretchy tongue, or summoning demonic powers to drag every nearby loose prop (and pedestrian) towards you. The game truly embraces the hilarity of ragdoll physics; nobody in this game seems to have a cohesive skeleton as they flail about like a wet noodle at the slightest headbutt. In Goat Simulator 3 (yes, it’s so big they had to skip a second game), the goat is set loose on a brand-new sprawling map, now with friends in co-operative mayhem!

   Okay, put down the sledgehammer - that’s enough destruction for today. Unless, of course, you know any other games that might fit this list that you’d like to share; if so, feel free to let me know! Feedback, reblogs and likes are all much appreciated!   Thanks for reading!

An Aussie Button-Masher

[fearepixeuhv]

Rise of HYDRA!! I am a huge fan of Agents of Shield. Come watch me destroy shield with hydra.

[ollamhproductions]

Wednesday again, and it's time to unleash the hordes. Hordes of Zombies that is. From here, things get a bit eerie, so hold on to your genes.

Going live now!

[vitorhugoguariento]

Especial História: Rebel Inc. e a Queda do Afeganistão

Especial História: Rebel Inc. e a Queda do Afeganistão

Se você é leitor assíduo do Guariento Portal, deve ter visto nossa Review de Rebel Inc. (Android e PC), game do estúdio indie britânico Ndemic Creations, também conhecido por Plague Inc. (Switch, PC, One, PS4 e Android) e que você pode jogar até no seu celular. O game coloca o jogador na pele de um governante que deve trazer estabilidade, enquanto é claro existem rebeldes ansiosos para arrancar o…

[indrawnilsas]

Blogpost #1: Analyzing the Trope of ‘World Domination’ Narratives Through the Lens of Binary Oppositions

Through this blog post, I would like to analyze the narrative of world domination, a very common trope employed in popular media, and how it aligns with Claude Lévi-Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions. For this, I will examine the Planet of the Apes franchise, the Marvel Avengers franchise, Plague Inc. (a mobile game by Ndemic Creations), and finally Risk (a game by Hasbro). I will be exploring the various binary oppositions in each of these works and attempting to see if there is an overarching theme among them.

When it comes to the trope of world domination, most narratives feature a central character, generally followed by a group of people or a completely third-party entity, often in a non-human form such as aliens or divine beings. More often than not, these characters are motivated to achieve world domination or control over the other party due to reasons such as personal gain, revenge, or even ideas that emphasize the rightful existence of one party over the other. Broadly speaking, these ideas are often polar, as Strauss suggests, such as good and bad, right and wrong, and order and chaos (The Media Insider, 2021). Now, I would like to analyze the movies and games individually.

Planet of the Apes Franchise

In Planet of the Apes, multiple binary oppositions are at play. One of the first instances we see is morality versus immorality when Will Rodman and Robert Franklin refuse to take the life of the baby chimpanzee, later known as Caesar, after being ordered to do so by their superior. As the franchise progresses, we see two very polar sides: the apes, who are fighting for their freedom after all the abuse they have endured, and the humans, who are trying to regain control of the apes. We also see the spread of the Simian virus, which wipes out about 90% of the human population. This can be viewed as a third party opposing humanity (science versus nature), with the overarching theme being apes versus humans. Further down the line, there is a binary opposition in the form of peace versus war when Caesar, who wants to coexist with humans, is opposed by his counterparts who desire war and the takeover of humanity.

Plague Inc.

Plague Inc. is a strategy game created by Ndemic Creations where the player's aim is to infect the world with a deadly virus and exterminate all humans. The overarching binary opposition is good versus evil, where the player represents the evil while world governments and organizations such as the WHO work toward finding a cure for the disease you create. As you play the game, more subtle oppositions arise, such as order versus anarchy, where the disease causes governments to collapse, leading to riots and chaos. Here, anarchy feeds into the evil, making it stronger.

The Marvel Avengers Franchise

The Marvel Avengers franchise is one of the highest-grossing franchises in history due to its widely loved characters and the stories it presents. The Avengers preach ideals such as justice and peace and are portrayed as the good guys, always fighting to prevail over the evil that manifests as villains such as Loki, Ultron, and Thanos. Regarding Thanos, he is depicted as an evil entity on a quest to eradicate half of the world's population, believing this would solve issues such as hunger and poverty. However, the Avengers oppose his methods. In Infinity War, when the Guardians meet the Avengers for the first time, we are greeted with a fight scene where both parties ultimately realize they are fighting against Thanos. However, their goals differ: Starlord is fighting to rescue his girlfriend (which can be seen as a personal reason), whereas the Avengers fight for the safety of Earth. Eventually, these two parties combine their efforts under one unified cause, illustrating how two binary oppositions can merge for the greater good of mankind.

Risk

Risk is a strategy game by Hasbro where the player's goal is to achieve world domination by defeating enemies and forming alliances with other players. However, these alliances do not last, as ultimately there is only one victor. The narrative here is somewhat lacking in terms of a complete structure, but the game seems inspired by history, featuring various versions starring historical leaders like Napoleon. There are also versions of the game where you can play as the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Fleet from Star Wars, again exemplifying good versus evil or dark versus light. The game can also be viewed through the lens of democracy versus dictatorship and peace versus war.

Closing Comments and Insights

After analyzing these different media, I can confidently say that when it comes to the trope of world domination, multiple binary oppositions often come into play. These binary oppositions tend to aid different trains of thought in the major narrative, often making the viewer question their biases. For example, the production of the Alzheimer’s drug was expedited without Will Rodman's consent, despite his objections. This was done for monetary gain, which ultimately led to a fatal pandemic. Here, greed triumphed over morals and aided the cause of the apes. When examining Thanos, who is clearly portrayed as the villain, one could question whether he was a ‘necessary evil’ and whether achieving an equilibrium that benefited everyone required a price to be paid. His motives were ultimately not for personal gain or power but to ensure that everyone had enough to survive (Weyant, 2022). Most of these narratives fall under the umbrella of good versus evil, but to classify them as such would detract from the smaller narratives and nuances of the characters. As mentioned earlier, these oppositions feed into each other and are like tributaries to a river, each having its own story but eventually contributing to the river of good versus evil.

While examining, I also realized that the ‘world domination’ narrative generally follows Todorov’s Narrative Theory, which occurs in a five-act linear and chronological order (BBC Bitesize, n.d.). First, we have an established equilibrium: the apes being caged and experimented upon (in Planet of the Apes), Tony Stark enjoying a walk in the park (in Avengers: Infinity War), or the world in its normal state with regular news, like the release of books by authors (in Plague Inc.). Then comes a disruption of the equilibrium: Caesar is able to say the word ‘No’ for the first time, the Children of Thanos make contact with Earth, or the spread of the virus is recognized. This is followed by disequilibrium, as seen when the Avengers leave the planet to neutralize Thanos’ threat, the apes break free from their cages and run amok, or the virus mutates and becomes fatal, leading to multiple deaths and countries locking down their borders. Penultimately, there is a struggle to repair or restore equilibrium, shown as a final showdown between the two sides where the Avengers face Thanos and his army, the apes confront the U.S. military, and the WHO, along with multiple first-world countries, increase funding and research to cure the virus. Finally, there is a new equilibrium: Thanos's infamous snap reduces the population by half, Caesar and his fellow apes overpower the military and retreat into the jungle, and the extinction of humans occurs in Plague Inc.

As for Risk, the game doesn't seem to have a very clear narrative structure. It lacks in terms of clear action and causation and doesn’t seem to have a clear timeline as well. It focuses more on ludology than narratology as this would make the game less strategy based and more predictable.

Citations

The Media Insider (2021). Binary Opposition: Claude Lévi-Strauss Media Studies Structural Theory Explained. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0O8IyMCBU

Weyant, J.E. (2022). MCU: Why Thanos Wasn’t The Bad Guy (And Why He Still Is). [online] Game Rant. Available at: https://gamerant.com/mcu-reasons-thanos-bad-guy-right/.

BBC Bitesize (n.d.). What is Narrative? - GCSE Media Studies Revision. [online] BBC Bitesize. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqdhrdm/revision/3.

Here is a summary of what I have written using Chat-Gpt incase the blogpost is too long:

In my blog, I explore the common narrative trope of world domination in popular media, analyzing how it aligns with Claude Lévi-Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions. I examine four works: the Planet of the Apes franchise, the Marvel Avengers franchise, the mobile game Plague Inc., and the board game Risk. Through this analysis, I illustrate how these narratives often rely on opposing forces to create tension and complexity.

In the Planet of the Apes franchise, I identify prevalent binary oppositions, such as morality vs. immorality and peace vs. war. Characters like Will Rodman and Caesar navigate their roles within the conflict between oppressed apes seeking freedom and the humans trying to regain control. The narrative underscores themes of survival and coexistence, particularly in Caesar’s struggle against more violent factions among his own kind.

With Plague Inc., I see a stark contrast between good and evil, where players embody a virus attempting to exterminate humanity, while global organizations work to contain the outbreak. Here, the opposition of order vs. anarchy emerges as the disease causes societal collapse, complicating the notion of good versus evil even further.

In the Marvel Avengers franchise, I explore the binary opposition of heroes vs. villains through characters like Thanos. Although he plays the antagonist, Thanos raises complex questions about morality and sacrifice. The Avengers embody ideals of justice, and their confrontation with Thanos reveals the different motivations among characters, showing how personal desires intersect with broader moral goals. The merging of their efforts against a common enemy illustrates how opposing forces can collaborate for a greater cause.

In Risk, I note that the narrative is more straightforward, focusing on strategy and competition for world domination. The game features historical and fictional characters, reinforcing themes of democracy vs. dictatorship and good vs. evil, though it lacks the coherent narrative structure of the other examples.

Ultimately, I conclude that these narratives not only follow Todorov’s Narrative Theory—progressing from equilibrium to disruption and resolution—but also invite audiences to question their biases and moral frameworks. By intertwining binary oppositions, these stories reveal deeper complexities within the overarching battle between good and evil, illustrating how individual motives and societal dynamics shape the quest for control and survival.

[dnser21]

PLAGUE INC EVOLVED

Part of our studies is to analyse every day activities we do & reflect on what we've learned. So for some of this, I made a reflective essay on what I learned while played Plague Inc. Evolved, and why it would be cool to teach about it : D

  According to Wikipedia, Plague Inc.: Evolved is…   " a real-time strategy simulation game developed by Ndemic Creations. In it, players create and evolve a pathogen in an effort to destroy the world with a deadly plague. It has several realistic variables that help simulate the spread and severity of the plague, bringing awareness to the dangers of each pathogen, and to CDC, which is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "

    Through this game, I personally learned a lot more about different types of pathogens. I didn’t even know they were even called pathogens before now, only considering ' illnesses ‘ as either bacteria or viruses. It also taught me just how many variables come into play when talking about the infection rate of certain diseases. With its mini notifs during the ingame that help give more information, I’ve also become aware of just how many different pandemics have occurred throughout history-- the game providing a mini message such as “ Your plague has become more infectious than the common cold ! “  whenever the infection rate reaches a certain threshold.

     It helps teach the players what the world does to prevent a pathogen from spreading, and how the state of certain countries very much affects the disease’s survival rate-- spreading faster if it’s in hotter or colder climates, or what type of livestock a certain country has. You even have to take into consideration the wealth of the country ( due to its healthcare ) or its overall population when deciding where in the world to start the disease or how you’re going to spread it, since countries with the highest healthcare are the most difficult to get the disease to spread to. Some countries, such as Greenland, are set to shut down very quickly should the pathogen become too noticeable at the start, making it nearly impossible to infect once they have closed down-- turning up the difficulty when you consider the only way to infect Greenland is through sea ports with a very cold climate, wanting to make the sea infection & cold resistance a priority.

      Though there’s some pathogens that have been added just for the fun of the game ( such as the Simian Flu which is a direct reference to Planet Ape or the Shadow Plague which turns people into vampires ), there are other pathogens that can be found in our everyday life. In-game, they’re categorised by playstyle difficulty, going from bacteria being the easiest to manipulate and evolve, to neurax worm being the most difficult. I’ve never gotten past the fungus stage, so there’s not much I can say on the playstyle of the other pathogens just yet.

The in-game descriptions are as follows:

      Because I was curious, I went to research more into each pathogen individually, looking to see how accurate the game was in terms of the validity of each pathogen.

PATHOGENS

     Pathogens are organisms that cause damaging diseases on a person. It needs a host in order to survive / thrive, using the body’s resources to replicate itself before transferring to a new host. The severity of the disease depends a lot on which one it is-- be it virus or bacteria, or unicellular or multicellular eukaryotes. They can be spread through various different means, such as skin contact, bodily fluid, through the air or water, touching infected surfaces, and more. Its method of transmission depends largely on which pathogen in particular has infected the host.

    A vast majority of bacteria are harmless, making them non-pathogenic. Rather than having a negative effect on the body, they can be seen as beneficial. That said, there are some bacteria ( which are pathogens ) that can be pretty damaging or can severely affect the health of an individual. They are microscopic, single-celled organisms that can reproduce rapidly once it has been introduced to the body. They are very diverse, meaning they can survive in all kinds of environments-- such as soil, acidic hot springs, radioactive wastes, seawater, snow countries, in rain, and more.

      CURES: While normal antibiotics are capable of treating bacterial infections, some can grow to have resistance to certain drugs. Natural antibiotics can also help, such as garlic, honey, ginger, and more. Another way to treat bacteria is through bacteriophage therapy, in which doctors introduce a phage virus that infects the bacteria, though it’s not particularly recommended.

       They are smaller than bacteria, and cannot grow or reproduce outside of a host body or cell. The most famous outbreaks were caused by viruses, such as ebola, the black death, polio, influenza, dengue, and the most recent one, COVID-19-- just to name a couple of the most renowned ones. While they are hard to get control of due to their high infection rate, they have also been used as instrumental research tools that helped further our understanding of basic cellular processes.

      According to LiveScience, viruses tend to teeter on the boundaries of life-- containing the key elements that make up all living organisms, whilst simultaneously lacking the capacity to read or act upon the information contained in their nucleus. Which is why they, basically, hijack the host’s cell machinery to do the replication for them. Viruses can usually be transmitted through respiratory passages, open wounds, insects, and more. It has a high mutation rate due to it’s random “ copying errors “, but for a large majority of the time, the mutations are minor. So much so it doesn’t affect the validity of vaccines. It is possible, though. Using influenza as an example, sometimes antigens drift too far from the virus, making the antigenic drift one of the main reasons why flu vaccines have to be constantly updated-- it makes the host vulnerable to the new mutated viruses.

          CURES: they can be prevented through good hygiene-- keeping places disinfected, since soaps, detergents and alcohol destroy the lipid layer of the virus’s, which makes it so that they can no longer infect cells. Antibiotics do not work for viral infections, but there are some antiviral medicines that help treat them. Taking vaccines also helps a lot in preventing getting many of said viral diseases. Treatment itself, apart from the antiviral medicines, has been challenging-- hence the persistence of practicing prevention rather than treatment. This is due to their high mutation rate, making it harder to make cures for certain strands.

      They are ( usually ) multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are unable to create their own food, making them heterotrophs. Though the kingdom of fungi is made up of four types-- saprotrophic, pathogenic, parasitic, and symbionts--, there are thousands of different species of fungi. The saprotrophic fungi is the largest group. It is the one we are aware of the most & is the one that lives in soil microbial communities, making them essential in carbon recycling. Pathogenic and parasitic fungi, however, are the second largest group, which mainly focus on attacking all groups of organisms.

       They have complex life cycles with multiple forms, making it vastly more difficult to find drugs that will kill it without killing the host. Though a single drug could kill one form of the fungi, it’s pretty ineffective at killing the rest, allowing it to survive and continue multiplying or changing forms. Some of the most common types of fungi infections are athlete’s foot, malaria, and more. They spread through microscopic spores, usually beginning in the lungs or the skin due to their air transference, and are very slow to progress or mutate. The spore is often present in the soil or in the air, where inhaling it or touching it can help spread the infection. They can either grow as yeasts or as molds, sometimes even switching or passing through both throughout their life cycle, and can usually be seen with the naked eye.

        CURE: There are antifungal and antiparasitic drugs, but they’re usually less effective and are relatively toxic for the person. That said, for most fungal infections, antifungal drugs can be applied on the infected site to try to get rid of it-- and if not, then either orally or injected.

       They’re organisms that largely behave like small animals that live on a host and feed from them. It usually feasts at the expense of the host, but there are some cases in which it doesn’t. They can usually be spread through soil, water, food, blood, sexual contact and insect bites.         There are three major types of parasites: 

                 Protozoa; 

                          Single-celled microscopic organisms that can live & multiply within the body, usually causing serious infections. Transmissions of protozoa that live in the intestine usually happen through fecal-oral routes-- like food, water, or person-to-person contact. The ones that live in the blood or human tissues usually only spread through mosquitoes or sand flies, or other such methods. 

               Helminths; 

                           Larger, multi-celled organisms that can live in or out of the body-- commonly known as worms. They’re usually visible to the naked eye when in their adult stage, but when in that final stage, they cannot multiple. They can be either free-living or parasitic, originating from three main groups; flatworms, thorny-headed worms or roundworms.

                  Ectoparasites; 

                           Multi-celled organisms that live or feed off of skin. The term itself refers to most blood sucking arthropods, but it doesn’t include the mosquito most of the time. It’s usually used to refer to ticks, fleas, lice and mites-- insects that attach or burrow into the skin and have to be actively extracted. They’re capable of causing their own diseases, as well as spreading other diseases, which is why they have such a tremendous morbidity / mortality rate.

              CURE: The treatment depends on the diagnosis ! Usually there’s prescribed antiparasitic or antibacterial medications that can help get rid of the parasites, but some medications might not be for everyone ( such as pregnant women or people with other health problems ). Given how the parasites are essentially living beings, the best way to cure it is to remove the parasite-- and until it is removed, one can be prescribed treatments or things one can do that can help relieve the symptoms. Some parasites have built a resistance, however, so sometimes medicine is not the most effective cure.

       They are abnormal, able to fold their cellular proteins abnormally and are most abundantly found in the brain. They come from a rare family of neurodegenerative disorders, and it is capable of affecting both humans and animals. Despite their rather long incubation periods, they are associated with major neuronal loss and one's inability to induce an inflammatory response. Most importantly, they’re pretty rare.

        “ Prion “ is only the term itself, a culmination of various diseases that end up falling under the category of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These pathogenic agents are still not completely understood, scientists really only know its basic symptoms / characteristic signs, and that it leads to brain damage. It’s hard to know much about them, given how they usually progress rapidly and are always fatal. Two of the most common diseases that come from prions are Mad Cow Disease ( which can trespass to humans as well ), and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

        So far, there are no known cures, doctors only know how to provide supportive care in hopes to ease the symptoms or slow the progress. Some symptoms include hallucinations, difficulty walking, rapidly developing dementia, difficulty speaking, confusion, and fatigue. This is all due to the fact that prion's main attribute is it’s distinct attack towards the brain. People who have this disease, are forced to live with it for life, and need help taking care of themselves.

       They’re a multi-part, single-stranded DNA plant virus that was first discovered in the late 1980’s. It mostly affects plants such as bananas, faba beans, legume crops, and even some fungi, insects and marine invertebrates-- but it is most commonly found in legume plants, given they’re their natural hosts. Some of its major symptoms are dwarfing, leaf rolling, necrosis, and yellowing of leaves. It is also mostly transmitted through aphids, and cannot replicate inside a vector.

       That said, the Nano-Virus the game is implying to seems to be non-existent. There is no such man made, mechanical virus going around in our world. While it can technically infect humans, I have found no proof of it so far-- every google result leading to Norovirus, instead of Nanovirus. That said, there doesn’t seem to be that much cure for nano-virus either, given how I kept getting responses related to norovirus instead of nano-virus whenever I searched for a cure.

       They are pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and other toxins that are deliberately produced and spread for the sake of causing harm. Usually, they cause diseases and deaths on humans, animals or plants in a very short amount of time-- hence them being called biological weapons. Sometimes, when controlled by certain groups, they can be used as bioterrorism attacks. They are normal pathogens that have been altered and bio-engineered to be as elusive and dangerous as possible, making them a subset of larger class weapons that can be considered as weapons of mass destruction ( chemical, nuclear & radiological weapons ).

       They have already been largely used throughout the course of history, several tens of thousands of deaths caused by the deliberate release of pathogens-- even during the Second World War, the Japanese used such bio-weapons to attack China through the poisoning of water wells, for even simple poisons are considered a type of bio weapon. The danger of bio weapons grows as our knowledge of biological disease-causing agents grows. 

        CURE: patients of bio-engineered diseases are usually given antibiotic tablets, or such antibiotics are administered through an IV even before it’s been identified. Those who are detected to have such a pathogen early on, are able to be treated early on as well. Vaccination against the most commonly known pathogens such as polio, anthrax, plague, small pox & more can help increase the immune protection in people, making it less likely for them to be affected by such pathogens.

       It’s not real. The Neurax worm is a disease specifically crafted for the sake of the game. That said, according to the game devs themselves, it’s confirmed that it was inspired by a real-life parasite ! 

       The parasite’s name is Toxoplasma gondii, which is generally shortened to T. gondii. About one third of the world’s population has been, or is still, infected by this parasite, which is transferred through contact with cat feces, uncooked contaminated meat & vegetables, blood transfusion or organ transplantation, consuming contaminated water and more. That said, because it’s most common means of transmission is through cat feces, it has donned the nickname of “ Kitty Litter Parasite “, and is one of the main reasons pregnant women are highly discouraged ( even banned ) from handling or getting near cat litter during pregnancy. 

       Most hosts are asymptomatic to it, and it usually resides in the brain or muscle cells. It’s been proven to be linked to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and seems to increase the risk of traffic accidents. But most importantly, it’s most commonly linked to suicides. There’s no guarantee people will kill themselves when infected with the T. gondii, or that it’s the main cause of such suicidal thoughts, but it’s been determined there could be an association between the two. The risk is seen to increase with higher levels of T. gondii, and the suicides linked to this infection are often the most brutal / violent ones. It’s even believed that the main reason the parasite gets into the cats system to begin with, is because it increases the suicidal behavior in rats, enough so that they don’t feel fear or precaution when entering a cat's territory-- allowing it to infect a cat when the rat gets eaten by it.

       CURE: Most people recover without treatment. Others who have more serious symptoms can be treated with drugs like pyrimethamine or sulfadiazine. Pregnant women, however, go through a treatment where the parasite is not completely eliminated. This is because there’s times where the parasite remains within the tissue cells while inactive, making it difficult for the medication to completely kill it without harming the host. AIDS patience might have to take medication for the rest of their lives, or for as long as they continue to be immunosuppressed. 

-------------------       -------------------       -------------------       -------------------       --------------------

       And that’s it in terms of research on pathogens ! I found it to be quite interesting to research, honestly. It was cool to see how some of them could actually be found in real life, and could have the same level of difficulty when it comes to spreading said disease ( hence the rising in difficulty level ), and how some of them didn’t even exist or were inspired by other diseases. I was very much surprised by the prion one-- I didn’t expect there to be a pathogen that was completely & utterly untreatable, yet be so devastating. It really is scary what nature can cook up.

       Next I wanted to briefly bring up the types of symptoms the game has brought up. I’ve noticed that while playing, the type of symptoms you can evolve in a pathogen doesn’t change between which pathogen you pick unless it’s a DLC. I considered making a chart like I did with the pathogens, but then decided it wasn’t the best use of my time. Especially considering that would basically be copy+pasting information the game provides, for I wasn’t about to research more information on each of the 32 symptoms presented in the game.

       I do, however, want to bring up something concerning other aspects of the game. Such as country wealth, weather conditions, political conditions, and other such things that the game takes into account when deciding how the world is going to react to a world-killing pathogen. I specifically wanted to point out how in-detail the game actually is, allowing players to be able to pick a certain country and looking at all the stats and graphs that one might need to beat this hyper realistic world that is based on real world data. 

         You’re able to monitor infection and death levels, keep track of reactions of different governments and their cure efforts. It forces you to improve the virus to adapt to the drugs/vaccines created against it ( you can even see how much each country contributes in terms of funding for cure research ! ! ! you can try to use that data to find ways to kill that country faster, too ), forcing you to spend time on that rather than on upgrading new symptoms. Various doctors, scientists-- even CDC and WHO themselves have tried to play the game ( WHO playing the spin-off game the creators made specifically in response to the COVID-19 outbreak Plague Inc: The Cure where you play as scientists seeking to control a pathogen ), and they enjoy the accuracy and the information the game provides.

        All in all, I found Plague Inc. to be a very informational game ! ! I’ve learned lots while playing it, and while researching things for it. And personally, I think it’s done it’s job of being fun to play, while at the same time bringing awareness to CDC and pathogens in general. And it makes me proud to have paid for this game, knowing that I’m able to support these hard-working game developers-- who, out of their own free will, donated quarter of a million of dollars they made on the game to fight COVID-19 “ on behalf of all players. “ The players themselves have been seen rising up to create fundraisers all on their own, even raising over $76000 to fight against Ebola and other diseases.

[fearepixeuhv]

Who would like some sweet sugar?

[ollamhproductions]

Is there anything more powerful than Hope? With any luck the answer is no, at least if we run the fungus the right way. Let's plague the world again.

Going live now

[vitorhugoguariento]

Review / Análise de Game: Rebel Inc. (Android)

Review / Análise de Game: Rebel Inc. (Android)

Fazer um game deve ser algo difícil. Sim, é normal que lançamentos multimilionários como The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) da Nintendo ou God of War: Ragnarok (PS4 e PS5) da Sony exijam muitas notas de dólares. Por isso mesmo é que o grupinho dos jogos indie merece destaque quando consegue alçar voo. Foi o caso de Plague Inc, o primeiro título do estúdio londrino Ndemic Creations…

[lauragames]

Plague Inc. released a cure mode that's free for everybody to play until the current pandemic is under control.

Some of the levels are challenging at first while you're still getting used to the game. In the plague mode there are mutations you can choose from to 'power-up' your illness. In the cure mode, those mutations are now resources. Understanding the extent to how they all work and their effectiveness during the game took some getting used to for me, but I think I have a pretty good grasp on it now. 

I beat bio-weapon on casual the first time and I didn’t even realize it until it said I eradicated it.

[raidbreakblog]

Plague Inc Removed from App Stores

Small UK Based development studio Ndemic Creations have taken to twitter this week to announce that Plague Inc; a game which involves creating your own virus and trying to spread it round the world causing as much harm as possible, has been removed from the Chinese app stores. In a statement provided on their website it is said that Plague Inc “includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China”.

Plague Inc launched back in 2012 and was well received scoring 80/100 on metacritic and a 7/10 on IGN, for two weeks after launch it retained the top spot on the paid app charts for both iPhone and iPad. It has had a huge resurgence recently with the outbreak of the CoronaVirus shifting people's minds heavily towards the spread of disease and illness. It has soared to back up the charts becoming the number one best selling app on the Chinese market in January.

Ndemic Creations are working hard on getting the game back into the hands of Chinese players but it is currently uncertain whether or not the ruling will be overturned. 

Please follow the link below to read up on the statement: https://www.ndemiccreations.com/en/news/173-statement-on-the-removal-of-plague-inc-from-the-china-app-store

[fearepixeuhv]

Cloud disease has to be the most interesting mod for Plague inc I've played yet. Kept me quite intrigued the whole time. Flanderization had the same effect; yet; on/in a historical way. Cloud disease had me pondering. Come watch and let me know what you think.

[ollamhproductions]

We're bringing all sorts of fun and entertaining things to the world. Ok, maybe just in name, in every other way their going to be horrible and disastrous.

Going live now!

[artschoolsurvivor]

Plague, Inc.

When I had had a bad day, the one thing I used to really enjoy was picking up my phone, paying the Plague, Inc. app and wiping out the world.  Psychopathic tendencies aside, it was a terrific method of stress relief. It seemed a little unseemly to be playing when Covid became a real problem and it found itself deleted… for a while. I saw the board game and wondered how it might convert.  I…

[euhtmods]

Plague Inc: Criador de Cenário 1.2.1 Mod Apk Download

Plague Inc: Criador de Cenário 1.2.1 Mod Apk Download

Plague Inc: Criador de cenários / editor de scripts Plague Inc. – este aplicativo é para criar cenários personalizados para o jogo Plague Inc. Crie novos tipos de doenças, mundos e eventos em seu cenário único e compartilhe-os com amigos e até com jogadores de todo o mundo! Defina suas próprias regras!Note que para jogar o script que você criou, você precisa instalar o jogo Plague Inc.!