#the fact that these people are going above & beyond to trade their pcs is so disappointing

[snallavanta]

i am in fact the only verkwan stan in the whole of singapore 😁

[dent-de-leon]

I’ve seen you blogging a lot of Dragon Age (and a lot of other ppl I follow too, honestly) and I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about it. It seems pretty cool!

oh ya sure!! oh boy this is gonna be a lot lmao,, but,, Dragon Age is an RPG by Bioware–they also made Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic, in case you’ve heard of those–and the DA series are easily some of my favorite video games. They go super in depth with lots of lore and there’s tons of world building,, I’m embarrassed by the number of fantasy Elvin words I know and I can tell you way too much about the history of fake countries cause that’s where I’m at lmao,, 

To try and summarize: the first game is called Dragon Age: Origins, and the focus is very much on fleshing out and playing through a backstory that you handcraft for your PC. You can be everything from an elf trying to reclaim their lost history, to a privileged human of the ruling nobility, a sheltered mage that’s locked away from the rest of the world for “their own good,” a dwarf just trying to survive whose always been a fighter at heart–skilled enough to champion a tournament, and so on. I played the City Elf origin and it just about killed me. 

The appeal here is you can start with various different branching paths and backstories, all of which culminate in your character becoming a Grey Warden. Essentially, DA has these monstrous sort of demonic creatures called darkspawn and usually they’re very disorganized and attack at random. But sometimes there’s a more powerful demon that can connect to them and control them as a kind of hive mind; they become a more organized army force, and spread a “Blight” and its taint wherever they go–it causes sickness and a long suffering death, makes the land completely uninhabitable, lots of bad shit. There’s only been four Blights before Origins, so they’re pretty rare, usually centuries apart. 

In the event of a Blight, the only thing that can stop the lead demon and its army is a Grey Warden. They’re a,, supposedly “neutral” party in political affairs; they’re meant to be an outside force from other armies and they aren’t divided by nations or anything, if you’re a Warden, you’re a Warden everywhere. So they’re also kinda above the law. Wardens can requisition land and resources, forcibly recruit condemned criminals and high ranking nobles alike–“anything to stop the Blight.” They’re elite warriors, and the only ones who can actually sense the darkspawn. That’s because they’re already tainted by them. You drink some darkspawn blood,, probably you die, but maybe you don’t,, and if you survive,, congrats!! You’re in the Wardens. Forever. You can run, but they’ll probably find you. There’s really no running from the fact that the taint will get you eventually in a few decades though. In Origins you end up being one of the only two surviving Wardens left to defend the country of Ferelden during the Fifth Blight–you have to travel the country, gather allies, try to prove you’re not a war criminal, save the whole world, and don’t forget to pet your dog :’) 

Dragon Age 2 is a lot simpler to talk about with all that context out of the way–you’re Hawke, a Ferelden refugee fleeing from the Fifth Blight. The Warden saves the world and everyone throws a big party just as you’re getting settled in your new city. Kirkwall is…a lot,, real creepy place. Maybe it’s that it used to be the center of the Imperium’s slave trade and is still called “The City of Chains.” Maybe it’s all the centuries of blood magic and death that’s seeped into the walls. Maybe it’s those architecture plans you find for the city that point out it’s been built in the shape of one big magical glyph. But there’s something weird there and the whole place is incredibly unsettling. Way more demons crammed into one city than most of the country combined, templars ready to turn on every mage in sight, there’s a lot happening in that one little place. 

I always say that other Dragon Age games are more about the player, but DA2 is really about your party members. It’s your companions’ stories–Hawke is sort of this unsuspecting bystander that just gets dragged under by all the city’s malevolent machinations. And ultimately–accidentally, so very unfortunately–they wind up at the very epicenter of it all. Maybe it’s about Hawke, a snide, sarcastic refugee just trying to provide for their family and take care of their friends. But it’s probably more so the story of a quintessential Byronic antihero tortured by his past and sparking a war for mage freedom, or a charming pirate captain in search of her mysterious lost treasure and who knows more about the city’s supposed “invaders” than she lets on. Or the silver-tongue dwarf with a love of telling stories, and a penchant for extravagant lies–the narrator of it all, and entirely unreliable. 

At its core, DA2 is about mages and templars. The mages typically being locked away in towers known as Circles because they’re seen as “too powerful, a danger to themselves and others,” etc. They’re guarded by knights that work for the dominant religious order known as Templars. Only the Templars frequently harass and systematically abuse the mages in their charge instead of “protecting” them. Ultimately, it’s also about betrayal and redemption, how far someone can go before they’re beyond redemption, etc. 

DA2 always hits this very melancholic note that neither of the other games quite reach. I think it’s because Origins and Inquisition are very grandiose in scope and scale,, you’re a chosen hero,, you’re saving the world,, the player is incredibly empowered. But in DA2, it really does feel like you have no power. Like you’re just trying to scrape by and look out for the people you care about. Like everything keeps going wrong no matter how hard you try to help, like you’re a failure to your family and somehow lost your friends. DA2 is confined to a single city and so much smaller in scope and scale, but the little glimpses of intimacy that you do get from that unique experience really hits you in the end.

Lastly, there’s Inquisition. You can choose your player’s race like in Origins, but you don’t really get to play out your backstory or anything, you’re just kinda thrown right into it. Inquisition is very go big, so everything is big–lots of exploration, lots of questing, LOTS OF DRAGONS,, THIS GAME IS IMPORTANT SOLELY FOR THE 13.5 DRAGONS YOU GET AS OPPOSED TO THE 1-2 IN EVERY OTHER DRAGON AGE GAME,, SERIOUSLY LACKING ON THE DRAGON PART THERE HONESTLY IT’S KINDA FALSE ADVERTISING,, but yeah I’d say DAI is the most like an open world sort of deal,, very classic high fantasy like Origins (though not so brutal or grisly like Origins), very You are the Chosen Savior stuff,, big departure from Hawke running round the sewers 

DAI builds directly off the previous games and decisions players made in them, but it’s also actually very easy to jump right into with no info on prior games. I’d say it’s also the most user friendly, and it’s probably better for new players to start with it to see how they like the world. Combat and mechanics in Origins can be very tedious, and parts of it just haven’t aged well. DA2 is easier mechanically, but much more punishing and harsh with its consequences. DAI is very forgiving by comparison, and you won’t accidentally get party members killed for the calls you make. And while DAI is very lore heavy, I think it’s the perfect place for newcomers to kind of run around and try to explore the living breathing world crafted from that world. 

The essential plot is that you’re following on the heels of the Mage Templar War, and rogue members from the Chantry (church basically) are looking to upstart the Inquisition again, a huge military organization that waged holy wars back in the day. You end up accidentally being in charge of everything because, and I quote, “You killed everyone who was in charge.” Oh yeah, there’s also demons tearing open rifts from their world into yours and you’ve been blessed/cursed with a magic mark on your hand that makes you the Only One who can close those rifts and save the world. Build your army, get drunk with your friends after slaying dragons, dance with your partner after usurping the empress at her own ball, try not to get torn to pieces by the magic in your own hand, get good at reading tarot cards, and maybe don’t romance the Elven God of Trickery on your first (heartbreaking) play through,, 

Lastly, there’s actually a fair amount of queer characters in DA, which is pretty cool. And a lot of them are romanceable partners for your character, so you can definitely play a queer PC. So,, off the top of my head–Bi characters (and romance options): Leliana and Zevran [Origins], Fenris, Anders, Isabella, Merrill [DA2], and Josephine [Inquisition]. There’s also Iron Bull, and he’s a pan character who’s romanceable in Inqusition. Dorian is gay and romanceable, and Sera is a romanceable lesbian, both also from Inquisition. Krem is a trans man and Maevaris is a trans woman, the former is a side character (and best friend of Iron Bull) in Inquisition, while the latter only appears in supplementary sources like comics, but she does get mentioned from time to time in Inquisition as Dorian’s close friend. Oh! Also--Solas and Josephine’s routes in Inquisition don’t culminate in a sex scene, so lots of people headcanon them as asexual. And you can also swing Dorian’s romance so it doesn’t have a sex scene if you wanna romance him but kinda play an ace Inquisitor, which is cool! Sorry for the long rant lmao but uhhh, I hope this helps?? :’)

[ttstranscripts]

Transcript of The Talk Show Episode 1

Title: All iPhone, All the Time

Hosts: John Gruber, Dan Benjamin

Release date: 28 June 2007

Description: In this, our inaugural episode, we discuss the impending release of the iPhone, speculate about costs and service plans, waiting in line for a phone, and more.

John Gruber: That’s what you’re going to say.

Dan Benjamin: That’s what I’ll say when I start recording.

Gruber: Right.

Benjamin: Which I did.

Gruber: Right. All right. And who are you?

Benjamin: I’m Dan Benjamin.

Gruber: I’m John Gruber.

Benjamin: How are you doing?

Gruber: Doing all right.

Benjamin: Why don’t we start talking about the iPhone?

Gruber: The what?

Benjamin: The iPhone, that’s the big thing.

Gruber: Oh, right, right, right, it’s like the iPod phone.

Benjamin: It’s a phone that can play songs. I think it’s an MP3 player.

Gruber: Right. So...

Benjamin: Big question, I mean, are you getting one?

Gruber: Right, am I going to get one. I think we’ve got to get at least — I think the question is how many will we get. Do I need one for each pocket?

Benjamin: [laughs] So you’re getting one, I’m getting one. Are we sort of people that are — are we unusual, are we really going to be seeing the kinds of lines and people waiting like people saw for the PS3 and things like that?

Gruber: Well, I don’t know, maybe I’m just not connected, I don’t even know how many people were waiting for PS3. I think it’s a very different crowd. I mean, certainly nothing I’ve ever been interested in — I can’t remember the last time that I was interested in something where I was worried would I be able to get it.

Benjamin: You’re actually thinking there’s a fair chance you’re not going to be able to even buy one of these things?

Gruber: Well, nobody really knows — how many are they going to have available on day one? I’ve heard the number three million bandied about. But that’s certainly isn’t definitive. That’s not a statement from AT&T or Apple. Nobody really knows. I don’t even know where I saw it.

Benjamin: Who said that, who actually said that to begin with? I thought Steve Jobs said three million.

Gruber: No, I don’t think so. The only number that Apple has said is that the vague idea that they think they’re going to sell 10 million total by the end of 2008, 18 months from now. So obviously, if they had three million of the first generation model available on day one, that would be huge. I think partially I’m biased — you’re probably in the same boat — where years of following Apple — whenever they come out with something that’s really, really anticipated, it’s hard to get immediately. It’s never widely available or seldom widely available on day one.

Benjamin: When I called up Cingular, the 888 number, the Cingular people told me even just in their stores they didn’t see any problem. Nobody who wanted a phone would have a problem getting one. When I called a local Cingular shop — AT&T I should be calling them, right — when I talked to the local people, they’re behind the curve on what they know. They don’t seem to have any information that’s up-to-date. I actually was telling them, I said, “Oh, so I hear that the basic iPhone plan is going to be $20 a month.” And they were, “Oh, where did you see that?” And I gave them the URL, they were like, “Well, I wrote it down, and when I go home, I’ll read about it.”

Gruber: “I’ll ask my manager.”

Benjamin: “I’ll ask my manager if we can get online tonight, if we’re allowed to read something on Apple.”

Gruber: You told me yesterday that they told you that as far as they knew yesterday, this was late yesterday, that they still thought that you’d have to activate your phone at the point of purchase. Go through a 10- or 15-minute activation process per sale.

Benjamin: Right, so it’s kind of a puzzle. My main question — and something I’ve heard other people who are under an AT&T/Cingular contract as I am — one of the concerns, I think, was what happens to the existing contract, do we need to pay some kind of a fee or a fine in order to get the iPhone, and the answer is no, definitively no. The thinking is, the only reason that you would ever need to pay anything would be if you were canceling your contract, which you’re not, you’re extending it when you get the iPhone. And the only other time where you’d be forced to pay some kind of amount above and beyond something normal, is if you’re under contract and you want to upgrade to a brand new phone, you’re not eligible to do that until your contract is up, then you don’t get the discount price on the phone. What you get is the full retail price, so you want to buy one of those Razors or something, and it’s like $39 if you’re not under contract. If you are, then it’s $500. So in case of the iPhone, we have to pay full price anyway, so the answer is a simple one. You’re buying the phone for full price anyway, and there is no fee, just the activation.

Gruber: Right, and just to be clear, what we’re saying, we’re not reporting that this is news that you’re going to have to go through that sort of hassle if you buy at the AT&T store. We’re just saying that the retail employees are so in the dark that that’s what they think. I mean, I don’t even think that’s possible. I think that the way this is — from everything I’ve read so far, it seems like you have to — the fact that none of it works without iTunes — if it’s tied to your iTunes account, how would it even possibly be activated in the store unless they’re going to —

Benjamin: It makes absolutely no sense. Unless they have a Mac sitting up there or a PC for you to go up to, sign in with your iTunes account, which of course everybody has memorized, and you’re going to log in and activate it right there, and of course that’s not a security risk for you.

Gruber: [laughs] Right, like a public iTunes machine.

Benjamin: It’s just some guy’s — the manager brought his PC from home for you to use. I mean, it’s ridiculous. So they just don’t know yet, and I’ve heard that they’re receiving their training on the iPhone today.

Gruber: Well, and I think the big problem is that from an Apple Store retail employee’s perspective, it’s certainly going to be a big day, probably the busiest single evening in the store’s history, but it’s going to be a very Apple-style process, it’s not going to be that different than December 23rd iPod shoppers, where they’re going to have those little portable credit card swipers, and they’re going to move people as fast as they can. It’s not just going to be one guy at a checkout. Whereas from an AT&T retail store employee’s perspective, this is like nothing they’ve ever seen before. There’s never been this sort of — 150–200 people trying to buy the exact same thing in three hours on Friday night.

Benjamin: And I think something else that we had talked about a little bit before is there’s a big difference not only in what I think those people are used to selling but in the actual process itself. AT&T/Cingular stores are really becoming much more of a retail outlet than usual, they’re very much — and I think you made the comparison that buying a cell phone sometimes is more like buying a car as far as the experience goes. When you go to the Apple Store, if you want a straightforward experience where you just go in and say, “I would like this”, they’ll go and get it for you and you’ll buy it.

Gruber: My comparison was that the average cell phone store employee comes across more like a car salesman, it’s more like a personality type.

Benjamin: It’s all about the upsell. “Oh, you need a charger with that, don’t you?” And I think there’s a huge difference in the mindset, and I think when you go to the Apple Store, they’re expecting you to just buy something, and maybe you need help, if not, no problem, if you do, come back. The idea I think is that the individual person would be able to activate their own phone. I think it scares the crap out of the average AT&T salesperson.

Gruber: It just sounds crazy.

Benjamin: You can’t do that.

Gruber: Right. Assuming it’ll work, and presumably it’s pretty well-tested, but obviously, the one thing they certainly — I mean, in theory, maybe you could test it somehow, but live practice is always different — is how is the system going to stand up when 1.5 million people are trying to do it at 8:15 PM EST, simultaneously.

Benjamin: That’s actually good because I can’t answer that question, that’s a perfect segue into something I can answer, or I can talk about. These reviews have come out, the Mossberg review and some of these other ones, where they essentially say the iPhone is phenomenal, the keyboard issue is a non-issue, I think was one of the quotes. And that’s really great, but they seem to —

Gruber: I think Mossberg had the best line about the keyboard, and he really sort of backed up the Jobs’s line that you have to give it a week. And Mossberg said that three days in, he was so frustrated by the keyboard he wanted to throw the iPod [sic] against the wall, and five days in, he had like a breakthrough and felt like he could type just as fast as he does on his Treo.

Benjamin: That says a lot because those Treo people are kind of freaky. Or Blackberry, or whatever they are.

Gruber: And I think I know where you’re heading, but on the keyboard point — my thing with the keyboard is that — I’m a touch typist, I type pretty fast on a regular computer keyboard, so anything other than that to me has always been incredibly frustrating, whether it’s trying to type on somebody’s Treo — anything that I can’t touch type on to me feels like I’m completely and utterly hamstrung. So the way I feel, of course the iPhone on screen keyboard is going to suck. What’s the best portable keyboard ever made? A Blackberry, a Treo, or something like that? To me, they suck too. Do you want it to suck really, really bad or just sort of bad? So I feel like that’s where Apple made a trade-off where the best they were going to possibly do anyway with the hardware keyboard was still going to be something that you had to peck on, they traded that off for, compared to a Treo or Blackberry form factor, a much larger screen, and compared to any kind of slider phone, something that’s much thinner. Although I guess the BlackJack is pretty thin, but that’s not a slider. There’s no slider phone that compares to that sort of thinness, pocketability.

Benjamin: Where I was actually going with this was, the one thing that everybody sort of unanimously is criticizing now is the AT&T EDGE network. People talk about how sort of horrible it is. I have a phone now that is on the EDGE network that I use for checking email and very occasionally browsing the web. If you’re used to things being instantaneous, then it is horribly slow. If the idea of getting something like an email on your phone is still a novelty, then you probably won’t mind it. But I think one thing that’s actually a discussion point is why do you suppose Apple’s decided to partner with AT&T, and then as a second question, why do you think that the iPhone is only ever necessarily going to work on AT&T’s network? I think I know the answer to both, but I’d like to hear what you think.

Gruber: I think the answer to why AT&T was simply — I don’t really think it came down to networking capabilities or who had the best network, I think it was that AT&T/Cingular at the time offered Apple the best deal, that Apple, I think, came in with the minimal amount of “here’s how much control we want”, and maybe they didn’t even get that much, but I think Apple certainly wanted as much control in terms of pricing, in terms of the plans, in terms of the features they’d be allowed to add on the phone without any interference — a couple of people from Cingular have said they didn’t even get to see the iPhone until after they agreed to it. So obviously, Apple had a lot of control in it, and I think, I forget who had it, but a couple of people said, obviously, they did talk to the other networks, they certainly talked to Verizon, and I think it just came down to control, how much control was AT&T willing to — say, “Okay, you can do your thing if we’ll be exclusive for the iPhone.”

Benjamin: I think you’re 100 percent right, I think at the end of the day it came down to the company that was the most willing to say, “Okay, Apple, do whatever you want, essentially, but just promise us that it would be just us.” But I actually think that there is something else behind the reason why the iPhone is slated to only be on AT&T for as long as it is. I think a big part of it is the business reason that you gave, but they have done so much — and I’m saying this coming from a background in the telecommunications industry and telecommunication billing systems — there’s so much that happens behind the scenes from the billing and the processing and all of that. The idea that Apple would go and write software that would handle all of that, essentially replacing all of the point of sales systems, all of the prepackaged software, and all of the companies that are building software that does this, and Apple has actually gone and written something that on the front end is basically iTunes that we’re going to interact with, and on the back end is something that’s going to plug into all of this really, really old, ancient, legacy C-like type systems, in other words, all the software that Cingular and AT&T have — there’s a lot of work involved, I think, behind the scenes, in making that process be as streamlined as it appears to be on those videos. I think that took probably many months to get right, and I think the idea of Apple trying to build the system that’s going to continue to work seamlessly with multiple carriers, that seems almost impossible.

Gruber: Yeah, I think that’s a good point that they needed to get somebody who they were — pick one, work out the best deal, but then commit to it for the long term because they built their own custom iPhone back end on top of the network, for the visual voicemail and a couple of other unique features, or at least especially the visual voicemail, I can’t think of anything else at the top of my head. It wouldn’t just work with another carrier.

Benjamin: So tell me, what are some of the things that we don’t know about the iPhone.

Gruber: The two that come to mind for me are the calendar app and the notes app because while Apple has revealed so much in the last week and a half with these videos that they’ve been unveiling, showing off, you know, detailed how to use your iPhone, how the stuff works, the how-to video doesn’t show the calendar app. And I don’t even think they’ve shown screenshots of the notes app. And the notes app was also definitely one of the apps that back in January, when they let a couple of people at Macworld play with the early pre-production models, wasn’t even an application, it was just a screenshot. You’d tap the icon, and I think David Pogue said there were couple of the apps that at the time were just — just a screenshot would show up on the phone. So what happens with the notes app? Like I said, I don’t really think keyboarding — it’s not like you’re really going to be a good typist on this thing anyway, it’s not like anybody’s going to take — I think — really extensive notes on it, but if you type a note, where does it go? How does it sync? What is it, a text file? Is it an RTF file? It’s a total mystery. And with the calendar stuff, how does the syncing work? If you sync calendars from your Mac on iCal to the iPhone, can you edit and move those dates around? Can you change events and then sync it again and it goes back to your Mac and it keeps track? What happens while after you’ve untethered your —

Benjamin: What’s the point of a view-only calendar on an iPhone? I want to be able to enter an event right there, sync it up.

Gruber: I mean, I don’t know. Doesn’t seem to me like they’ve really said anything about that. And really, to me, the calendar stuff really sort of is this thing that really cries out for networking, somewhere to IMAP for email. You do most of your email on your desktop computer, and while you’re using your iPhone, you’re connecting via IMAP. The whole point of IMAP is that your inbox is going to be up-to-date wherever you go and look at it next. You sort of need the same thing for calendaring. But where would that shared calendar live? Obviously, I don’t think that’s going to be ready for any kind of official — here’s the official answer from Apple — it’s not going to be ready on Friday, but obviously, something like that is a much better way to deal with calendaring on a portable.

Benjamin: Absolutely.

Gruber: And it’s certainly one of those things, I think, people will criticize, people who are used to handhelds that connect to Exchange that already handles that sort of stuff.

Benjamin: Is the fact that it’s not going to do 3G — and I have used phones on AT&T 3G network, and they’re screaming fast, they’re really, really great. You could watch streaming TV on them, they’re really good. They don’t have much of a battery life but —

Gruber: I have to wonder because that’s one question nobody really seems to have a good answer for. It’s not like AT&T doesn’t have 3G networking, they do. I just read today —

Benjamin: It’s fast!

Gruber: — 160 markets that have phones, AT&T sells 3G data phones. So why isn’t the iPhone 3G? My only guess — I have two guesses: a) it’s about battery life, or b) it’s about widespread availability, that Apple wanted to have one device, just like the iPod. We’re going to ship the first time with one thing, or in this case there are two variations that are exactly the same except one has 4 GB and the other one has 8 GB of memory. But that’s obviously the single most insignificant — I mean, in terms of manufacturing, it’s a very insignificant detail.

Benjamin: So if they had built 3G capability into it, at least my understanding, which I could be wrong, but my understanding was that it can live happily on a 3G network, and if you step down to an EDGE network, it will jump on that.

Gruber: Yeah. I don’t know, maybe it’s battery, maybe it was cost. Battery might make sense. I don’t know. I mean, it must be something.

Benjamin: The battery lasted about an hour and a half on the 3G phone.

Gruber: And that to me is also, the battery angle, is the most surprisingly good news of the initial reviews from the newspapers this week. And even Apple’s announcement — what was it, about 10 days ago — when they said that battery life was higher than previously announced. Because I remember when the iPod [sic] was first announced back in January, there were so many of the initial people — there were two reactions: there were the people who said, “Oh my god, this is awesome, I cannot wait to get one.” That’s me, I was certainly there. Me and you were right there saying, “This is incredible, I cannot believe that they built this.”

And then there were the people who were saying, “They’re full of it. This is not going to work like they’re saying it is”, immediately began doubting it. And there were a whole bunch of people who said that it’s going to get about an hour of battery life, it’s going to get 90 minutes of battery life, it’s ridiculous that they built this thing, that with all these features and Wi-Fi it’s going to get so little battery life, and the battery is not replaceable, that it’s never going to get the battery life that Apple claimed — five hours or whatever they said. And so here they get closer to the release, and they say, guess what, by the way, eight hours. And the reviews more or less back it up, some of them said it ended up at seven, for music playback — 22–23 hours, nine hours of internet playback, I think, Walt Mossberg got, using the web and surfing Wi-Fi. And that’s with Wi-Fi on the whole time. The battery life is for real. Obviously, it’s not the sort of thing where you can use it for days at a time, but nothing with Wi-Fi is. In terms of its competitors, other phones that do even vaguely similar things, the battery life — iPhone blows it away. Blows everything else away.

Benjamin: So what are we really saying, are we saying go to the Apple Store, not the AT&T store to buy one, even though —

Gruber: Yeah, that’s a good — where do you go to buy one if you want to get one on day one? I think you and I both agree, go to an Apple Store if you live near one because I would say a) I think the retail staff is going to be better prepared for it, b) I refuse to believe that they’re not going to be at least as well stocked as Cingular stores, if not better. I just cannot believe that Apple Stores would not have more than Cingular stores, or at least as many.

Benjamin: Doesn’t seem possible that they wouldn’t have tremendously bigger volume going through those stores, and be able to move them faster.

Gruber: The big question is, is it worth gambling, if you really don’t want to wait in line for hours on Friday and spend the whole day in line, is it worth risking trying to swing by on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon and pick one up? Or do you think they’re going to be sold out?

Benjamin: Well, yeah, that’s the question, are they going to sell out, and everything I’ve heard says no. And that’s the thing for me is, I don’t need to have one Friday evening.

Gruber: But I want it over the weekend.

Benjamin: Yeah, if I could pick it up Sunday, that would be great. If I could get it Tuesday, that would be fine. The point for me is, I don’t want to be the guy that thinks, “Ah, there are not going to be any lines”, and then on Tuesday I try to pick one up, or even Sunday try to pick one up, and now I’m the guy that’s not going to get one until August.

Gruber: I’m going to guess it’s not going to be August, but I’m the guy who’s been waiting since the first week of January to get a Wii because I don’t feel like showing up anywhere on Saturday morning at 6 in the morning. So every time I go to Target, or every couple of weeks I look in Best Buy online to see if they have any, and still can’t get one. I don’t think it’s going to be like that, I think that worst case scenario, you may have to wait till July, but who knows. I don’t want to take a chance. I want an iPhone a lot more than I want a Wii.

Benjamin: So you’re going to wait?

Gruber: No, I think I’m going to go Friday. I still haven’t really decided though.

Benjamin: You’re going to wait in line on the curbside?

Gruber: I guess so, I don’t know. I’m hoping they’ll let you stay inside, it’s going to be hot. What are you going to do?

Benjamin: I’m going to wait outside the Apple Store.

Gruber: Yeah, I think that the malls around here, I think they’ll let you wait inside. I mean, I don’t see how they would keep you from waiting inside, really. Today, right now, it’s like 97 degrees with like a 100 percent humidity in Philadelphia. Waiting outside for six hours is —

Benjamin: That’s like a nice fall day in Orlando.

Gruber: [laughs] When was the last time you waited for something?

Benjamin: Ah, that’s a good question. I think I waited for tickets when I was in college.

Gruber: Yeah, I don’t think I’ve waited in line, like a serious line, like got there hours before —

Benjamin: You’re not talking like at the local grocery store to buy milk or something.

Gruber: Right. I don’t think that I actually got in line hours before something went on sale since — I don’t know, must have been some concert back in college. 10–12 years ago.

Benjamin: So that says a lot, says a lot for Apple. I think there’s a lot of people in our situation who are sitting there thinking, yeah, I think I’m going to wait.

Gruber: Yeah, and I still don’t know — how many people do you really think are going to show up per store? I really don’t know what to expect. I’m not going to get there that early, I’m certainly not going to wake up early.

Benjamin: When are you going to get there?

Gruber: I’m thinking, like, 2. My thought is all you have to do is really get there ahead of the sort of people who aren’t taking off from work, the sort of people who are just going to leave work early on Friday. So I feel like if I get there around 2...

Benjamin: Probably safe. You’re thinking you just need to beat the people who are going to cut out early from work?

Gruber: Right. I figure a lot of people are going to start taking off work at 3 o’clock.

Benjamin: You don’t think there’ll be a lot of people saying, “Hey, it’s Friday, let’s do a half day.”

Gruber: Well, I don’t know.

Benjamin: I think if you want to be safe, John, you need to get there at 10.

Gruber: That isn’t going to happen.

Benjamin: I think that’s the only way to be safe.

Gruber: Yeah, that’s not going to — are you going to get there at 10?

Benjamin: Don’t know.

Gruber: See, I just can’t see doing it.

Benjamin: Get some breakfast on the way and —

Gruber: I feel like, get there at 10 and there’s like three guys with beards, neckbeards who — with folding chairs, sat up watching — I just can’t see getting in line with them. And if I get there at 2 and there’s 400 people in line, I would just go home and order it from apple.com.

Benjamin: And in that case you’ll have it in less than a week, probably. I think that’s probably the smart thing to do, we’re giving away all our ideas, but I think showing up there at about 2 o’clock when the store goes dark, seeing what the line is like, if there’s less than a hundred people in line, I say you wait. More than a hundred — get out of there.

Gruber: That’s what I think, look for about a hundred people.

Benjamin: And then do you go to the Cingular store down the road? Is that your fallback? Or is your fallback ordering online?

Gruber: I don’t know. My thought is that I’m so — unless I read something in the next day or two that really makes me think that AT&T is going to be prepared, really prepared for what’s going to happen, I’m just too afraid that you’d get there and even with like 20–30–40 people ahead of you in line in an AT&T store that it’s going to be a nightmare of 10 or 15 minutes per customer in terms of them not being prepared to just zip people in and out.

Benjamin: Personally, I think it’s going to be a nightmare at the AT&T store.

Gruber: Have you ever done Christmas shopping in an Apple retail store? Like, late, like, pick up an iPod around the 20th of December?

Benjamin: They set up special lines, and they get in and out really fast.

Gruber: It’s just fantastic if you’re buying anything that’s one of the big ticket items like any of the regular iPods, just give me the middle of the line iBook. You just hand the guy your credit card, he swipes it on a little handheld portable thing, asks for your email address, the receipt goes to your email address, they put a sticker on the box, and you walk out the door.

Benjamin: Done.

Gruber: Takes less time than it takes to walk into the corner grocery store and buy a bottle of iced tea.

Benjamin: Yeah.

Gruber: So I guess we’re about half hour into this thing, and we haven’t even —

Benjamin: Yeah, we’re wrapping up.

Gruber: We haven’t even said what it is.

Benjamin: We have a show.

Gruber: The Talk Show.

Benjamin: Yeah. The Talk Show dot net. Which you seem to like the dot net thing.

Gruber: Right. I’ve got the daringfireball.net.

Benjamin: So now we have thetalkshow.net.

Gruber: We’ve talked about this before. When I registered, people often asked me why is it daringfireball dot net instead of dot com. I actually own the dot com as well but don’t use it, and it’s just some sort of weird — I got on the internet in 1995 or 1994, and to me dot com means you’re selling stuff. I’ve since gotten past it, but for whatever reason I’ve always had a thing about using dot com as the generic domain name.

Benjamin: Well, and it works out because the dot com wasn’t available right now.

Gruber: Exactly. [laughs]

Benjamin: So this is perfect.

Gruber: I don’t think anything dot com is available anymore.

Benjamin: No. And this is a show that I’ve been telling you I wanted to do for a long time, since the very first podcast we’ve recorded, and it actually took us finally meeting in person in San Francisco a few weeks ago for me to finally convince you that it maybe wasn’t a horrible idea.

Gruber: Right, that’s very true.

Benjamin: And we have a sponsor.

Gruber: We do have a sponsor.

Benjamin: Would you like to tell us about the sponsor, John?

Gruber: No, I don’t even know who it is.

Benjamin: That’s not true.

Gruber: [laughs]

Benjamin: Our first sponsor, and hopefully not our only sponsor, so if you’re interested, thetalkshow.net for information on how to become a sponsor.

Gruber: What you need to do if you want to be a sponsor is call Dan very, very late at night, Eastern Standard Time, call around 11 or 12, maybe even 12:30 in the morning. Just call Dan Benjamin and tell him you want to sponsor this show.

Benjamin: So, PeepCode. This is a company that my friend Geoffrey Grosenbach, very well-known in the podcasting world — he’s done the Ruby on Rails podcast for quite a long time. He set up his company, PeepCode, where he’s basically doing screencasts, and you can learn — it’s basically like instruction that’s on demand, you go there, you pick the topic you’re interested in, a lot of it has to do with Rails, but it’s not specific only to Rails, and you go and you — very inexpensive to actually buy the screencast that you want — you watch it, and you actually learn something.

Gruber: Right, it’s sort of tapping into some sort of psychological thing where it’s just easier to learn things when you’re seeing it than just reading it. It’s literally almost as good as being there and looking over his shoulder while he shows you the app. And it terms of getting the general idea — oh, that’s what you do — it’s just, you get it, it’s just the most effective way to learn it.

Benjamin: It really is. I think one of the things that Geoffrey’s really done with PeepCode is he’s taking things that generally are more difficult to explain in just a blog post, things that aren’t necessarily “first do this, then do that”, but involve a lot more of concept and involve a lot more multiple concepts coming together, and something where you can say, if you see it, you can learn this in five minutes, but if you have to read about it, it’s going to take you two hours, and that’s what he does.

Gruber: I think “concept” is the key word, in terms of getting the concept across, that sort of format is better. It’s the same reason people go to WWDC. You go there, and it’s not like it replaces the Cocoa documentation, but when you go to a 45-minute session on some new technology, and the guy who actually is an expert at it, from Apple, is telling you in 45 minutes, here’s the most important things you need to know about Core Animation, you get the basic gist. You’re like, oh, I see, I understand what it’s about.

Benjamin: peepcode.com.

Gruber: Yeah.

Benjamin: Okay. So what’s next? I guess we try and go get some iPhones, and we’re going to talk about it.

Gruber: All right, I guess next week’s show we’ll record on our iPhones in a conference call.

Benjamin: Excellent.

Gruber: [laughs]

Benjamin: And by the way, we’re going to try and do this every week.

Gruber: Right, no, every week.

Benjamin: And you know, it turned out, John, to be more than — we’re trying to stick to half an hour, I’m going to have to cut 10 minutes — I told you I didn’t want to have to edit this thing. You did really good by not cursing very — at all.

Gruber: I think there were only two times where I wanted to curse.

Benjamin: Is that all?

Gruber: Two where I had to cut myself off.

Benjamin: All right. Well, hey, good talking to you, and good luck, hope you get the iPhone. I’ll be looking for some live twittering and picturing.

Gruber: I’ll call you from the line on Friday.

Benjamin: Not if I call you first.

Gruber: You know, why don’t you get two and just FedEx me one.

Benjamin: Oh yeah, okay. Done. Easy.

Gruber: All right. Thanks, Dan.

Benjamin: Thank you. Talk to you next time.

[inmost-dens]

Name: Hangar Author: John Romero Game: Doom (doom.wad) Source port: DOSBOX Type: Map (E1M1) Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/2280/Ultimate_Doom/ Release date: December 10, 1993

If only you could talk to the monsters...

It doesn’t seem rational. does it? Along comes a fairly simple 3D perspective maze adventure/shoot 'em up, and suddenly hundreds of grown men start acting like they've never seen a videogame before - and even the normally sober PC press are turned into gun-mad fanatics. Huge ratings, rave reviews across the board... No one could deny that Id Software's Doom has caused quite a stir - on both sides of the Atlantic. And that’s before the full version is even out in the shops.

It's got to go down as a marketing coup: by releasing the episode of their new game as shareware, Id have managed to whip up and control a vast torrent of nigh-­frantic bulletin-board trading. Well, you write a game as immediately playable as Doom and ship it with the message, ‘please distribute like crazy' and you’re guaranteed a big audience.

And Doom looks like following its forerunner, Wolfenstein 3D, in becoming de rigeur games software in offices and homes throughout the Western world. Basically, the way it works is that the episode of Doom: Evil Unleashed is free. Anyone can get hold of it, and they can play it until they're sick of it - or can just discard it straight away if they don’t like it. The next two episodes you have to pay for. So get hooked on Doom and you'll probably want to buy the rest of it. Interestingly, though, Id Software are also planning to release a more conventional all-in-one, version of Doom later this year.

One thing that this distribution policy ensures is a vast, vast audience. Almost every PC in the world seems certain at one time or other to have the code to Doom ticking away on it. That obviously means that the game needs to be kept simple. You don't want anyone losing interest, or being unable to play, because they don't have the manual, or a joystick, or a sound card, etc, etc. And the real beauty of Doom - and yes, even a game as undeniably violent as this can have an element of beauty - is the way it works so well within this limitation.

Doom will run okay on almost any hardisked PC, but play it on a high-end system and it is immediately recognisable as a very, very impressive piece of software, with graphics technology way up there with the Strike Commanders and Comanches of this world. And the speed at which it all works is nothing short of breathtaking.

The differences between Doom and the now primitive Wolfenstein are obvious at first glance. Firstly, ld have got a lot better at clipping sprites in three axes - which means simply that the action in Doom happens on more than one level. There are stairs for you to climb, lifts to and aliens firing at you from windows and balconies high above the ground. This adds major new depth to the action - go back and play Wolfenstein and you'll laugh at the horrible 2Dness of the 3D perspective. It also makes games like 3DO's new Monster Manor look totally passé before they're even out in the shops.

That said, though, there are problems with the game (Edge has no intention of joining the rabble mindlessly praising Doom beyond its worth). Yes, it is good in fact it’s a very, very technically impressive piece of programming but where's the genuine 3D (look up and down) of Ultima Underworld? Where’s the variety in the gameplay (it’s all just kill, kill, kill)? And looking at it coldly, what is there really in Doom (apart from the graphics) to set it above even the most average, most highly repetitive and tedious 2D shoot ‘em up?

Okay, there are some visual touches in this game that will literally blow your mind like the scaling and parallax on the distant mountains - but then everyone said much the same about the hi-res images in The 7th Guest. They may look great, but what do you do with them? You don't ever get to explore those distant mountain ranges - they’re really little more than impressive padding (as in The 7th Guest, you’re just meant to watch them - in awe).

Doom is certainly a gorgeous-looking game - it has also, incidentally, made serious advances in what people will expect of 3D graphics in future. But the gameplay is as narrow as it gets: you run along beautifully parallaxed corridors and through stunning 3D rooms shooting at a near endless supply of green lizards. That’s it. Still, we're not going to deny that there is a worryingly addictive fascination in watching the frantic despatching of those little green guys.

On the plus side, some of the lighting effects in the game are truly scary. Everyone at one time or another has described some videogame as scary - and as we all know, they're never scary to anyone with an IQ above, say, 12. Well, that's one generalisation that Doom shatters: walking through the computer centre with the lights flashing slowly and rhythmically, and turning to see one of those hideous pink beasts running behind you is a seriously intense videogame experience.

It's just a shame that the number of enemies is fairly limited. After a while, the multiple pump-action, blood-spraying demise of yet another pink monster is only marginally satisfying. If whenever you turned a corner you could be met by some new, more grotesque|y deformed creature than the last, then at least Doom could boast that it had replaced gameplay with real horror.

As it is, once the power of Doom's graphics has worn off (they're amazing, so give that at least a week or two), you’lI be longing for something new in this game.

If only you could talk to these creatures, then perhaps you could try and make friends with them, form alliances... Now, that would be interesting.

[wsmith215]

Edward Saatchi on virtual beings: AI is the next great art form

Edward Saatchi, CEO of Fable Studio and maker of Emmy-winning virtual reality experiences, participated in a thoughtful conversation about “virtual beings” at our recent GamesBeat Summit 2020 event.

I called the session “We are who we pretend to be,” after the moral of story in one of my favorite novels, Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut. The novel is about an American spy in World War II who does too good a job at his cover role of being a Nazi propagandist. The moral is: “We are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

We chose to talk about the ethics and promise of virtual humans, or artificial people created for video games and other experiences. Saatchi is the organizer of The Virtual Beings Summit. His event explores what it means to create virtual beings, and it has been held a couple of times since mid-2019, and Saatchi is organizing a new event for June.

I did a rehearsal talk with Saatchi where we talked about other things as well, and I’ve included quotes from that conversation in this story, as well as quotes from the embedded video that aired at our event.

VB Transform 2020 Online – July 15-17. Join leading AI executives: Register for the free livestream.

From Saatchi’s view, AI is the next great art form. It is fighting for its legitimacy now, just as virtual reality, video games, films, comics, and other things had to fight for their legitimacy in the past.

“As game developers start to explore natural language processing, computer vision, and synthetic speech, we could move away from the slightly repetitive releases we have had recently,” said Saatchi, who is trying to bring together game developers and AI technologists through his summit. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity in developers exploring machine learning and artificial intelligence as if it were an art form.”

Dark history

Above: A rogue Android kidnaps a girl in Detroit: Become Human.

Image Credit: Sony

I opened with a question about the usual dark vision associated with artificial people, going back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Today, we’ve got Black Mirror, the Terminator, Westworld, Detroit: Become Human, and more. I asked, “What are we so afraid of?”

We can see how fresh these fears are with Neon, a Samsung-backed spinoff that touted its artificial humans as assistants for people at CES 2020, the big tech trade show that took place in January. You could rent these people, who could become a doctor, chef, stewardess or some kind of replacement for a human.

It’s part of what Saatchi has called the “replacement fear narrative” that we have about artificial intelligence, or AI, replacing us. Westworld raises another “valid” fear about how AI could come to dominate humans, while another fear is loneliness, based on the worry that we could trick ourselves into having relationships with these beings out of loneliness, he said.

“There are quite a few movies and books, all with possible negative outcomes. That’s not what I believe, but it’s a pretty cool canon,” Saatchi said.

In Detroit: Become Human, there’s massive unemployment, caused by the economic impact of robots replacing people. It’s a video game where we see the psychological impact, where people can inflict their darker impulses on artificial beings that we tell themselves aren’t real people, Saatchi said.

Then there’s Lucy

By contrast, Saatchi’s team created the cartoonish virtual reality (and soon to be non-VR) character Lucy, from Wolves in the Walls, a VR experience inspired by a book by Neil Gaiman.

“For us, there’s a world where virtual beings could help us become better people,” Saatchi said. “Beings who aren’t selfish, who aren’t motivated by greed or envy, who are able to listen to us and validate us and see us, could help us be kinder and gentler toward other real people. We all walk around with a huge amount of emotions, anxiety, things we can’t express to ourselves or to others.”

But we could say these things to a virtual being.

Lucy is a cute girl who believes there are wolves in the walls of her house. She’s also a companion who looks you in the eye and talks with you, remembering the choices that you’ve made.

“Lucy is a kid, our first being, from a Neil Gaiman story,” Saatchi said. “You will be able to have video chats quite soon, interact with her, learn from her. We haven’t yet seen a connection between a character’s life you can follow on Instagram or YouTube, but also be able to talk to that character, check in with them, talk about what is going on with you, build empathy. For us, this is the first time you can interact with a character and build a set of memories and an emotional relationship with that character.”

Fable Studio is building out that interactive side of Lucy, as well as with other characters as well. Maybe Lucy will show up in Zoom meetings in the future, helping create the illusion that this character is real.

“She sees things in a hopeful and optimistic way,” Saatchi said. “In the conversations we have with Lucy, you get a sense of her as a real, three-dimensional character that is hopefully connective. In this coronavirus period, for us, it is always important for us to wake up in the morning feeling like you are doing something useful. Building a virtual being you can have conversations with, have a video chat with, and communicate with, feels even more important because the loneliness and feeling of isolation — the stuff we think about metaphorically — is real.”

In the story of Lucy, the fact that no one listens to Lucy becomes a metaphor for what is going on in the family. When the wolves do come out of the walls, a crisis happens, and she has to take charge and lead her family to love each other and fight the wolves.

“We want you to feel like you can communicate with Lucy as your imaginary friend,” Saatchi said. “We want you to feel that there is a universe we have created and a logic to why you are communicating with each other that is not transactional. It’s not a virtual assistant relationship. It’s more of a story-driven, playful relationship.”

Do digital humans have to look realistic?

Above: The Unreal Engine 5 will produce outstanding imagery for the PlayStation 5.

Image Credit: Epic Games

Other visions of digital humans tend to push the envelope on realism. Epic Games’ is creating highly realistic demos of digital humans (like with its recent Unreal Engine 5 demo for the PlayStation 5) that will make use of the growing processing power of PCs and next-generation consoles.

But, as noted, Lucy is a cartoon. Fable’s DNA includes veterans of Pixar (like cofounder Jessica Yaffa Shamash) and Dreamworks (Peter Billington), as well as artificial intelligence experts. And both are necessary to move virtual beings forward. Saatchi said it is easier to animate a character like Lucy. It’s still hard to get characters who look super-realistic, like Magic Leap’s Mica, to look real when they’re speaking to you.

With Lucy, Fable is going beyond the visuals to integrate a wide variety of AI aspects, including machine learning, computer vision, synthetic speech, memory, and computer animation. The idea is to have a narrative with Lucy leading the storyline, but also to create a real companion for you.

“We think memory is the thing that everyone should be working on or exploring in virtual beings because it might unlock some pretty profound things about how humans relate to each other, and eventually to a virtual being,” Saatchi said.

The visuals have improved over the years, Saatchi said, but the behavior, or the brain of the artificial character, hasn’t kept pace. Fable Studio spends less time on the visuals, and it spends more time on “memory” and the deepening one-to-one relationship between the human (you) and the character. The character should know who you are, with a memory that goes back in time about choices you have made.

The explosion of virtual beings

Above: Lil Miquela

Image Credit: @Lilmiquela on Instagram

Since Saatchi’s first Virtual Beings Summit in July 2019, there has been an explosion of these projects that are taking very different forms. Replika is a text messaging bot that has millions of users who believe the bot is like a virtual best friend. It’s like a form of therapy with enormous potential, Saatchi said.

“You have an ongoing digital conversation with your Replika,” Saatchi said.

Investor Cyan Bannister of Founders Fund has bankrolled a lot of these projects. She saw a virtual concert put on by a Japanese virtual character, Hatsune Miku, and was fascinated with how she could draw crowds.

One of her investments is Brud. On Instagram, you can follow the virtual life of Brud’s Lil Miquela, an artificial influencer who has 2.3 million followers on Instagram.

Beyond that, you can have a conversation with Deepak Chopra via a project being created by AI Foundation. The celebrity musician Grimes created a digital avatar of herself. MuseNet is an AI that creates its own music, like a new Mozart composition. Genies lets celebrities cash in on animated clones of themselves. Saatchi thinks there is enormous potential for virtual beings in this space.

Virtual Immortality is resurrecting deceased actor James Dean for a computer-generated imaging (CGI) performance in a new film.

“I just think that’s fantastic,” Saatchi said. “A lot of people obviously think that’s terrible. Artistically, that’s so fascinating to think about a new performance.”

The Wave has virtual concerts where a real performer like John Legend is driving a motion-captured animated character. Netflix will likely move deeper into interactive, as it did with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, with interactive experiences that are part game and part live action. Facade is an example of an interactive story game that is very conversational.

On the not-so-good side, deep fakes are being used to make real people say things they never said.

“I think this is an interesting moment for us where we can see the beginning of a new movement,” Saatchi said. “Each of these comes with controversy.”

The intersection of virtual beings and games

Above: Motion capture for digital character Lucy of Wolves in the Walls.

Image Credit: Fable Studios

Bannister said at the first Virtual Beings Summit that she would love to have a conversation with her grandmother again, but her grandmother passed away. The startup HereAfter is trying to make that kind of conversation happen, across the divide of death. Saatchi noted that his own children won’t have a chance to meet his mother, because she has passed away.

“It will change human psychology, quite a lot,” Saatchi said, if you could have a conversation with someone who died.

These interactions could yield powerful emotional moments associated with virtual beings, and that could benefit games in particular, Saatchi said.

“We’re pretty close to being at the point where we are able to get these things done,” Saatchi said. “Interactive entertainment is getting more cinematic and story driven. There are empathy games and narrative games. That’s going to be very exciting. When you see how much people connect to or love interactive characters like Ellie in The Last of Us, you can see that looking to the virtual beings community will be very important.”

SpiritAI is helping companies create non-player characters who appear to be like real humans, so the hundreds of characters you may come upon in a game will make it feel more immersive, not fake. Speech Graphics is creating facial animation that is AI driven.

Game designers have focused on “emergent gameplay,” where the events in a game aren’t scripted but emerge from what the player does. These types of games are more immersive because the player feels like they’re in a real world, where anything can happen. But Saatchi said much of that is based on environment-based gameplay, like how enemies might spawn in a part of the world where you don’t expect.

But “character-based gameplay” is more of a rarity, and that’s something the virtual beings community is focused on, he said.

“It would be cool to see emergent gameplay where the characters are changing in an unpredictable way,” Saatchi said.

Source link

The post Edward Saatchi on virtual beings: AI is the next great art form appeared first on The Bleak Report.

from WordPress https://bleakreport.com/edward-saatchi-on-virtual-beings-ai-is-the-next-great-art-form/

[fred-frederator-studios]

7 Questions* for Gregory Little, Senior Vice President, Content @RainmakerEnt.

Don’t let the picture fool you, Greg Little’s an easy going guy. 

As some of you probably know, Frederator combined late last year with a couple of companies to form WOW! Unlimited, and we instantly became a companion company to Rainmaker Entertainment, Vancouver, one of the world’s leading animation studios. I thought you might want to meet some of our new colleagues. 

Gregory Little is based in Burbank, California, alongside the Frederator Studios team, where he runs Rainmaker’s creative development, content strategy and sales, including the development of business strategies that take advantage of emerging platforms and new distribution models. As you can tell he is one busy MF. Like I say up above, he’s a great guy with an easygoing manner. Greg’s got his antennae up across the global animation biz, and if you want to know anything about anything, you could do worse than starting at his office. 

 As you’ll read, Greg was a  UCLA English major (I’ve been telling animators for years that taking more English classes –literature and creative writing– is the fastest way to learning to making a good show) which has prepared him well in his cartoon sojourns. He started out in live action development, and had his first Rainmaker run with his development and production of Escape from Planet Earth, before stints at Brown Bag and the Gotham Group. He’s been back at Rainmaker for over a year now, and we’re lucky to have him as a colleague. 

1 You've had an interesting path into our industry. Tell us about that.

It’s not that interesting… basically a case of identifying what I like and doing things that give me more of it. 

I loved being an English major, which was trade school for the best part of my job: working with characters, stories and the humans who create them. I moved from features to TV when I realized it’s nice to get things made from time to time. The business/strategy/deal part appeals to the gearhead wonk in me.

2 Do your kids (how old are they?) love the fact that you're in animation, or are they bored by it?

They love it even if they’re not sure what I do exactly. But since that’s still largely true for my parents, I’m being patient. We tell our sons, now 7 and 10, to follow their hearts and do what they love, so I’m glad my job can be an example of that for them. 

So far content-wise I’ve managed to stay relevant. Our 10-year-old is now all YouTube, all the time, but he mostly watches videos about what he’s into and I’m happy to dive into those interests (Minecraft, Magic The Gathering, RC off-road racing, etc).

3 What screen time are you most engaged with? TV, streaming, video games, Facebook? Or something else?

You can always hook me with a British crime or historical drama, from Prime Suspect back in the day to Peaky Blinders, Broadchurch, Luther, etc more recently--and unrequited love stories the British do so well (Persuasion ca. 2007). Also FX-style American series—Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, Better Call Saul, Fargo, to name a few of an endless list.

I try to stay away from PC gaming because it’s too much of a rabbit hole: to date my all-time favorite media experience is the first Deus Ex game, created by Warren Spector whom I got to work with some years back. Also I have played every song on Rock Band at Expert level except one: Green Grass and High Tides remains unconquered.

Lately I’m trying to reduce screen time. See “Music” below, and I read a ton of books. Just finished Golden Hill and loved it. For a very dark take on marriage, check out Mr Peanut.

4 I seem to remember you like to be out on the water a lot. What's that about?

Yeah I’ve sailed and surfed since I was a kid. Traveled around the world surfing after college. It’s easy to understand surfing’s appeal but more difficult to explain sailing. Beyond the obvious aesthetics, for me it’s about feeling competent to deal with what nature throws at you. The mechanical problem-solving is also cool (plug for my patented sailing accessory, the Bottleport). I like staring at the same stars at 3am as sailors have for thousands of years.

Beyond all that, I can trace it to a book I read when I was about 14: Dove, Robin Lee Graham’s diaries as a 16-year-old kid sailing around the world alone. It’s everything I wanted life to be at that age. And maybe still.

5 What kind of music do you like to groove to? What kind will you never listen to?

Traveling to MIPTV this year, every French train station had a public piano. I’ve always wanted to learn to play and that was the last straw – I started taking lessons when I got back. My wife’s a closet singer and we’re looking forward to being Marty & Elayne at 70, singing jazz standards and drinking hard liquor. She’s going to start smoking again at 80. Last month we sang our first real song together: Aimee Mann’s Wise Up, with me on piano and Steph singing! It was awesome. Practice is a true human superpower.

6 Favorite cartoon ever?

Speed Racer. As a very young kid it was totally real to me. My phone is named Racer-X.

7 What do you love about Los Angeles?

The rain.

Thanks Greg! 

…..

*7 Questions is my irregular series of interviews with interesting people. Coming up soon, writers, graphic designers, educators, tech founders, start up investors, music folks, and more Frederators.

[whittlebaggett8]

One of the most-anticipated blockbuster games of 2019 just crashed and burned — here’s what’s going on with ‘Anthem’, Defence Online

source

BioWare/EA

The first huge game of 2019 was supposed to be “Anthem,” a brand-new game from EA’s acclaimed BioWare studio

Instead, “Anthem” is the latest example of hype and marketing leading to extraordinary backlash.

Worse, after launch, the game has been plagued by major issues.

What went wrong with “Anthem”?

That’s the big question in the first few months of 2019. The new game was a highly-anticipated blockbuster from EA’s beloved BioWare studio. The storied studio is responsible for popular franchises like “Mass Effect” and “Dragon Age,” and spent decades earning good will with gaming’s most evangelic fans.

But rather than celebrating, BioWare is now scrambling to fix its newest game and stem the barrage of negativity it’s seen since the rocky, complicated launch of “Anthem” in mid-February.

Here’s a step-by-step recap of how EA blew it:

1. “Anthem” was officially announced in June 2017 at E3, the annual video game trade show. Here’s what that looked like:

A lengthy gameplay video – “captured in-game running in real time” – demonstrated what players could expect from the brand-new franchise.

“It’s a dynamic world, where the unexpected is around every corner,” an announcer explains as the gorgeous, detailed video plays.

That first look introduced much of the foundational aspects of “Anthem”: Fort Tarsis, the concept of “javelin” suits, and the social, online-only nature of the game.

It also set a potentially impossible bar for the game to reach: Despite the trailer’s insistence that it was captured from the actual game, there are massive discrepancies between the game demonstrated at E3 2017 and the game that launched in mid-February 2019.

Videos highlighting those differences have gone viral in recent weeks.

2. It was shown once again the following year, at E3 in June 2018, with a lengthy gameplay demo:

It was at E3 2018 where public sentiment on “Anthem” went from cautious interest to cautious worry.

BioWare, a studio known for its storytelling chops, appeared to be creating a so-called “loot shooter” along the lines of the “Destiny” or “The Division” franchises, a genre in which gameplay trumps storyline. Though lots of BioWare fans enjoyed the gameplay of Anthem’s”Mass Effect” and “Dragon Age” games, what drove so many players to BioWare games had always been the rich worlds and the characters within those worlds.

BioWare repeatedly promised that those fans would still find something to love in “Anthem.” There’s even a marketing phrase tied to it: “Our World, My Story.”

The idea was that the looting and shooting aspects of “Anthem” would be tied to the game’s online-only open world. The story aspects would be tied to an area named Fort Tarsis, which is where you’d go between missions.

What fans mostly heard was that BioWare’s latest game was focused on gameplay over story – a concern that turned out to be founded.

3. The first major sign of problems: The “Anthem” buyer’s guide chart from EA.

caption

Just buying the game was more work than it should’ve been.

source

EA/BioWare

What you see above is an actual chart published on EA’s official help channel. That any game requires a complex chart to explain to players when and how they can actually play the game is absurd.

That’s worth stressing: No game should require players to consult a chart in order to figure out when they can play it.

By doing so, EA illustrated an ongoing issue with modern blockbuster games.

In an effort to diversify and increase profits while facing increasingly high production costs, many blockbuster games come in a variety of different editions. In the case of “Anthem,” there was a standard edition for $60 and a “Legion of Dawn” edition which cost $20 more. Pretty simple so far!

Here’s where it gets complicated: EA offers several different subscription services.

If you pay $5 a month or $30 a year for EA Access, which is available only on Xbox One, you could start playing “Anthem” on February 15. If you pay $5 a month or $30 a year for EA’s Origin Access Basic plan, which is only available on PC, you also could start playing “Anthem” on February 15.

For everyone else, the game officially launched on February 22.

That applied even if you preordered the game and paid $80 for the special “Legion of Dawn” version and, more bizarrely, even if you pay for the more expensive tier of EA’s Origin Access program. Huh?

It was, put simply, a mess – a mess that came with its own chart to illustrate how much of a mess it was. “Anthem” was taking flak before it even came out.

4. The public first got to try “Anthem” in early 2019. Things did not go well.

source

EA/BioWare

Right around the same time as BioWare’s owner, EA, released the buying chart, the “VIP Demo” for “Anthem” launched.

The idea of the “VIP Demo” was to reward people who pre-ordered “Anthem” with an early taste. Additionally, if you were a paid subscriber to either of EA’s subscription programs, you also get access to the demo.

In so many words: The only way into this demo was with money.

And that’s exactly why people were so mad when the demo was busted for the majority of the weekend it was available. Many were unable to get past the login screen seen above; others were forced to restart the game after it hit an “infinite loading” bug where a loading screen showed progress until, nearing completion, it froze indefinitely.

Before the general public could even play it, the game had hit another major snag with potential fans.

5. By its mid-February launch, the hype for “Anthem” among gaming’s most ardent fans had turned into snark. It was received poorly by critics.

source

EA/BioWare

“Anthem” has a Metacritic average of 60 based on over 60 reviews from a variety of publications. The studio’s last game, “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” was widely regarded as a disaster – it has a Metacritic average of around 70.

Put simply: Critics had a resoundingly negative response to “Anthem.”

As Defence Online’s Kevin Webb wrote in his review:

“It has the impressive budget and production value you expect from Electronic Arts, a major publisher. It’s a brand-new franchise with ongoing support from BioWare, the celebrated creators of the ‘Mass Effect’ series. ‘Anthem’s’ most important hook, the mechanized ‘javelins’ that let players fly and explore the game’s massive open world, are awesome in design and amazing to see in motion.

And yet, I’m not sure if all of that makes ‘Anthem’ a fun game. While I’ve mostly enjoyed the 10 hours I’ve spent with ‘Anthem’ so far, I couldn’t fight the feeling that parts of the new third-person shooter felt more like work than play.”

6. Post-launch bugs have taken the situation from bad to much worse.

source

EA/BioWare

Initially, some folks were claiming that the PlayStation 4 version of “Anthem” was outright killing – or “bricking” – their consoles. The reality wasn’t quite that bad, but the version of “Anthem” on PS4 does indeed have a bug that powers down the console.

Hilarious as that may sound, it’s potentially dangerous for the data on a PS4.

That’s because modern game consoles are essentially PCs. And what happens when you suddenly, without warning, pull the plug from a PC? The next time you turn it on, the computer lets you know not to do that again.

The same thing goes for the PlayStation 4. Some users had to restart their consoles in Safe Mode just to get things running correctly again. This is far from normal, in case that wasn’t already clear – games don’t force consoles to restart, let alone major console games from major publishers like EA.

7. EA got in its own way by releasing “Apex Legends” near-simultaneously with “Anthem.”

source

“Apex Legends/Electronic Arts

“No one really knew how much it would take off,” BioWare lead producer Mike Gamble told Defence Online in a phone interview last month. Gamble, the lead producer on “Anthem,” was commenting on the curious timing for the release of EA’s other title, “Apex Legends,” right before his own game’s long-planned launch.

Since its surprise announcement and launch on February 4, “Apex Legends” has attracted more than 50 million players. It’s a bonafide hit across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC – in fact, “Apex Legends” is growing even more quickly than “Fortnite.”

It’s safe to say no one could’ve expected this kind of reaction, even in the wake of the “Fortnite” phenomenon.

But what does the massive, sudden success of “Apex Legends” mean for “Anthem”? Major blockbuster titles like “Anthem” typically take tens of milions, sometimes even hundreds of millions, of dollars to create over several years. After all that time and money though, there is far, far more conversation about “Apex Legends” righ tnow than there is about “Anthem.”

8. BioWare has more “Anthem” in the works, and is focused on fixing bugs in the meantime.

caption

Loading.

source

EA/BioWare

BioWare laid out a 90-day roadmap for “Anthem” that details a variety of upcoming additions to the game. Additionally, there appear to be plans for even more content beyond those first three months.

It remains to be seen if BioWare can turn the fate of “Anthem” around, or if it even makes sense to continue putting resources into the game – especially in comparison to the massively popular “Apex Legends,” also published by EA.

“‘Anthem’s’ launch represents a commitment we’re making to you: we’re just getting started,” BioWare head of live service Chad Robertson wrote on the BioWare blog on February 22. “This is just the start of a rich Live Service we’ll be creating together.”

from WordPress https://defenceonline.com/2019/03/one-of-the-most-anticipated-blockbuster-games-of-2019-just-crashed-and-burned-heres-whats-going-on-with-anthem-defence-online/

[yeskhanzadame11]

Bet on Yourself or Get Out of the Game! 9 Non-Negotiable for New Businesses

In an surroundings in which increasingly people are leaving the "security" of a regular, company job to cling a shingle as an impartial, the distinction among those that succeed and those that fail can often be associated without delay to how much humans are inclined to invest in themselves.

Putting "pores and skin in the sport" is an expression that conveys how a ways you'll visit prove that you are invested inside the business. I've met so many independents that seem to suppose that an idea, a cellular cellphone, and an old PC entitles them to contracts however I actually have determined that the folks who do fine on their very own have made enormous investments in themselves before looking forward to others to put money base camp alternative  into them (shopping for projects or infusing capital.) Over the past ten years, I even have come up with a list of "no-trainers" that I assume each representative have to keep in thoughts when finding out to go out on his very own.

Nine No-Trainer Non-Negotiable Keys to Success as an Independent Consultant

1. Give your employer name actual concept

2. Get a separate commercial enterprise cellphone line, internet deal with, web page

three. Buy accurate system and maintain it updated

4. Ongoing schooling counts - go to conferences, alternate suggests

5. Visit clients for your own dime now and then

6. Don't misrepresent yourself, and do not bargain the value of a digital business enterprise

7. Join institutions, volunteer, and community

8. Don't be reasonably-priced

nine. Don't be grasping

What's in a name?

Your corporation name and brand makes an impression before you ever get a danger to dazzle your prospect along with your knowledge. There are lots of opinions on naming conventions - however one factor that screams "small" are those who run one man or woman shops, and name their agencies by including "and agency", or "and associates" to their remaining call. The exception to this are of course, the ones profession specialists who have a actual recognizable call in the enterprise they're running in. Otherwise, naming your agency after your self ties you and everybody you could rent to your call. And your name usually is NOT a trademark of the advantages you provide your clients. Starting a actual commercial enterprise manner developing some thing above and beyond YOU. Get out of your very own way. Be smart, be authentic, and be descriptive. And, by the way, in case you provide you with an excellent story about how you obtain your name you will have something to interrupt the ice while you meet potentialities.

You are NOT your agency.

Outsourcing work to different experts is part of my commercial enterprise model and over time I even have learned that those who do not take themselves critically as contractors are inconsistent with their deliverable. I search for companions who: have a separate work space of their home (with a door!), have installed a commercial enterprise line of credit (separate commercial enterprise from non-public expenses), have a cellular cellphone (no longer one for the family that they percentage, however their personal), have a dedicated cellphone line, very own a website name for enterprise use (e.G. Do not use your name@yahoo.Com for business mail), have a exceptionally new notebook PC, a scanner, and at least a black & white laser printer. Buying valid copies of software counts, too. When you're "legit" you have get admission to to assist traces which is available in on hand whilst inevitably, you want actual help to solve a hassle. (As an instance, I've gotten caught writing complex if/then statements in Excel, but my legitimately purchased software program entitled me to tech assist.)

Keep your self up to date with the satisfactory tools you can have enough money

I always pay a touch extra to get equipment that meets state-of-the-art needs and offers me room to grow. A excessive first-class enterprise-class telephone (like the Poly com), a laser printer, a scanner/fax gadget - all of those are important for your private home office. Virtual telephone structures including Hotmail can ahead your calls to any number at the same time as supplying you with a expert look for much less than $10/month. And of route, keep in mind that today's first rate package deal is the next day's vintage device set. When you're on your personal, it slow is your most valuable asset that lamentably, you cannot buy extra of. When you make an effort to equip yourself from the get-move, you will be capable of supply professionally with the least amount of anxiety! And as you grow, you want to keep reinvesting to preserve that area.

Keep getting to know.

There is not any sorrier sight than assembly a has-been-hotshot now "representative" who thinks he/she is aware of it all. If you pass into business thinking that your clients are going to pay you to keep enhancing your skill set - you're incorrect. Schedule a category, trade show, or convention at least once a month. Sure, you may have had sixty humans running for you inside the beyond at your beck and call. Now? You are in your personal. So for goodness sake, discover ways to truly use Word or create Excel macros. Go to change shows, pick up literature as an well-known shows-most effective attendee, and now after which PAY to attend a convention and go to the periods. Taking the ones one or  day seminars that dive underneath the floor of programs can help you in sudden approaches when you are trying to resolve vexing issues. Really. Take time to increase an alternate view of everything you may.

Stop in and say hi there.

Not just to the customers which are on your metropolis. Schedule a experience - go visit clients which are throughout the u . S . A ., just because - and do it at your fee. Find a convention and agenda journeys around it. The greater proactive you are, the more top of mind you'll be whilst a mission comes alongside. The key isn't to have a high strain income name. Your long time agenda might be to get extra work, but quick term -- you should consciousness on checking in with human beings and demonstrating which you care about them and their issues even whilst you are not at the clock. Setting up your schedule is easy if you do not strain people to peer you. At least two times annually, I find a proper conference to attend in a metropolis where I actually have customers and potentialities. I point out that I'll be on the town for the X conference and would really like to prevent in and capture up. While I do not go away with contracts all of the time, greater regularly than now not, I'm the primary person they call whilst some thing new and intriguing comes up. And don't limit yourself to clients. If you figure with others sincerely (different contractors, vendors) make it a point to meet them. It makes all of the distinction in the global while human beings can size you up in person.

Represent yourself as you are.

I've run a digital employer for almost ten years. I have had Fortune 50 groups meet at my eating room table. How is that possible? I represent what I do really. I give an explanation for that I have a virtual group. We are all connected through the net with organization collaboration software program (suppose base camp alternative , Web Ex Intranets) and we meet frequently for updates on our tasks. I invite customers to visit with the crew - and host absolutely everyone at my domestic, or we agree to satisfy at a trade display. On those occasions in which it counts, individuals who want to grow collectively locate approaches to get there. Showing up is ninety% of success or so it appears. Once humans recognize they can anticipate you, they do.

No consultant is an island, get accessible, community and proportion!

As a professional facts expert, I belong to as many associations as I can to keep on top of industry traits. In my enterprise, the Direct Marketing Association (DAM), American Marketing Association (AMA), Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIRSHIP), Market Research Association (MAR) are just a few of the various companies that I even have related to over time. As a female-owned enterprise, I joined the COWBOY in Syracuse, NY and the National Women's Chamber of Commerce as well. While I can't attend all the meetings, I actively participate on list serves, attend conferences, and volunteer when I can. Keeping up with contacts is straightforward the usage of LinkedIn as well as cope with e book software program, which includes Plano. I find that the greater I percentage with others, the extra they percentage with me. The extra I know, the more fee I convey to my customers.

Don't be reasonably-priced.

Just don't.

The tighter you are along with your cash, the greater humans suppose you're desperate and the less in all likelihood they may be to do repeat enterprise with you. On the alternative hand, do not be a prim Donna. You do not should pass overboard to impress others. If someone invites you to sign up for them on a purchaser name, pick out up the tab for lunch. If an companion invitations you live over (as opposed to staying at a inn), convey a small gift. When you are at a conference and you visit get a espresso, buy one for your purchaser. And on the subject of tasks and deliverable, if you could throw in something greater, do it. Nickel and deeming your pals and customers will earn you a reputation this is not possible to shake. The old pronouncing "it takes money to make cash" -- is proper. You want to dress the component, act the part, feel the component, and all of sudden, you may be the consultant you envision.

Don't be grasping.

Some of the neatest humans I realize are lousy crew players. They positioned themselves first - above and beyond rational expectancy. Over the years I had been very near operating with capacity companions who determined at the closing minute to negotiate tough - and almost completely in their own choose to the detriment of the rest of the crew. I suppose that is why some human beings are impartial; they truly don't play properly with others.

People do now not like to be taken gain of or pressured right into a corner. The more you push a person, the extra he is in all likelihood to drop out of the dialogue. I have discovered to think through the alternatives and to maintain them open as possibilities evolve. Keep in thoughts that a honestly useful settlement is one in which all of us offers up a little for the good of the group. This holds true for customer contracts as well as for collaborative possibilities. Some people assume which  base camp alternative you should start tons better than you count on to get and negotiate right down to an acceptable stage. Personally, I do not like to experience as though I'm giving up that much. I'd prefer to begin reasonably, and take matters off the table instead of put on a show and try and get the alternative birthday party down to a bare bones agreement or fee. Everyone should experience as if they're getting a bargain. Greed has no place on the negotiating table.

[fostersffff]

It’s nearly the end of the year, and barring me entering some kind of wild hyper-focused fugue state, I don’t believe I’ll be finishing any more games by the 31st. So with that said, instead of doing a strictly best/worst thing, here’s a list of awards- both positive and negative- I made up to assign to games that I felt were worth talking about in some way.

The Exceeded Expectations Award

A tight race between Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Devil May Cry 5. I really don’t think anyone was expecting Three Houses to be the smash hit it would become, but the surprising and exciting E3 timeskip trailer was followed by a steady steam of promising information about the gameplay and story that wound up coalescing into fantastic experience. Ultimately, DMC5 wins out for Hideaki Itsuno making the unbelievably bold claim that the game would “exceed fans’ expectations” to an audience with the second highest expectations in the history of the industry, behind only Final Fantasy VII Remake, and then actually delivering on that claim with one of the finest action game experiences I’ve had in recent memory.

The Most Clearly Sent Out To Die Award

Daemon X Machina. It didn’t stand a chance in it’s release window and was cannibalized by its own publisher putting out like three other high profile games both before and after it. As such, this game will most likely be remembered by people thinking back to E3 2018 and going “whatever happened to that really cool mech combat game?”, and by people who did play it for the weird crossover DLC like Code Geass and The Witcher 3.

The Most Overrated Game of the Year Award

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. Yuri Vesperia is every bit as good a character as people said he was, but if this is the peak of the “Tales” series, it’s decidedly not for me. It was honestly kind of upsetting to see that this game occupied one of my “most-played” slots on Nintendo’s "Year in Review” page instead of Valkyria Chronicles 4.

The Least Overrated Game of the Year Award

A Hat in Time. A lot of the praise I saw for this game came from people who were disappointed with Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017, and as someone who gleefully played Odyssey like five times in a row, I figured it wouldn’t resonate with me in the same way, but it’s every bit as good as people said it was. The base game was perfectly satisfying on its own, but it was an absolute treat to see how well both the Seal the Deal and Nyakuza Metro DLC turned out and how much better Gears for Breakfast got with every aspect of the game over time. The only genuine problem I have with it are the technical issues present in the Switch port, the most severe of which have been patched out at this point, and while it’s still not the optimal way to play, the issues with Hat’s Switch port didn’t really impede my enjoyment at all. Speaking of which...

The Be Careful What You Wish For Award

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. I really love the Switch both in concept and execution, and up until August of this year I was adamant that all but the most technically demanding games should try to put out a Switch port. That’s changed thanks to the Switch port of Bloodstained: it was goddamn near unplayable at launch, and even with the multiple-month-delayed SUPER PATCH, I still encountered an unacceptable number of crashes and atrocious visual glitches while dealing with a compromised-under-the-best-possible-circumstances version of the game. It was so bad I genuinely considered stopping near the end to restart on the PC version, but I soldiered on. It’s a shame too, because in terms of actual content, Bloodstained is a success story on par with A Hat in Time or Shovel Knight, but it’s gonna be a while before I give a better optimized version of the game a whirl.

The Returning Champion Award

Capcom. The four-hit combo of RE2make, Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and the announcement of RE3make to close out the year following the kickoff of the Mega Man Apology Tour in 2018 firmly cements Capcom as being back after what felt like a full decade of mediocrity and disappointment across the board. Square-Enix gave them a run for their money here between Kingdom Hearts III, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Dragon Quest XI S, and Collection of Mana, but barring THE BLUNDER OF THE DECADE I think they’ve got this particular award in the bag for 2020.

The Dropped Ball Award

Super Mario Maker 2. I actually didn’t care all that much about no local multiplayer, but between that and the online multiplayer being offensively broken in terms of how awful the lag was, it seems like Nintendo let what should’ve been an evergreen Switch title flop to the ground and start gasping for air. Either that, or the original Super Mario Maker only succeeded because there was so little else to do with a Wii U. Granted, the recent Zelda update is super neat, but coming a full six months after launch with almost no fanfare when other Switch games like Splatoon 2, Mario Tennis Aces, and even Arms had more consistent post-launch support is such a strange and bad look.

The Stuck Landing Award

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. After six and a half years, Shovel Knight has delivered on all of its Kickstarter campaign promises, and while the original game and the Plague of Shadows campaign were excellent, Specter of Torment, King of Cards, and Shovel Knight Showdown all went far above and beyond what people were expecting of Yacht Club Games by creating new stages with remixed music, wildly divergent gameplay mechanics, a fully fleshed out card game, and a Smash Bros.-tier multiplayer game. It’s the only game I can think of in my entire history of playing video games where the price has gone up over time and I’ve found myself nodding in agreement.

The Still Good One Year Later After The Hype Has Faded Award

Mega Man 11. Still excellent!

The Achievements In Localization Award

Another tight race, this time between Collection of Mana in recognition of Square-Enix deciding to localize a 23 year old game from scratch when a total remake is coming out in less than a year’s time, Judgment for having two separate scripts for the English dub and the Japanese dub’s subtitles, and Trails of Cold Steel III for NISA doing a genuinely terrific job that had no obvious cut corners in a game with this much text that was consistent with the naming conventions established by an entirely different localization company, even hiring back like 99% of the other company’s voice cast. Despite all of that praise for NISA, this one goes to Judgment for what I hope will become a standard in the industry.

The Worst Ending and Voice Acting Award

While I appreciate how committed to the joke WayForward was, the ending of River City Girls gets worse the further away I get from it, especially since they could’ve actually alleviated so many problems with one extra line of dialogue from Hasebe and/or Mami about how they were the ones who “abducted” Kunio and Riki (by sending them to the spa) and that they also sent the text that kicks of the plot just to fuck with Misako and Kyoko. Also: in general, don’t hire e-celebs to do voicework for your project if they are not actual voice actors, either by trade or by aspiration. At least most of them were kept to shopkeeper cameos, but I’ll never understand the decision to cast Big Capital-“Oi” Irish Brogue Jacksepticeye as recurring character Godai other than “CLOUT PLEASE”.

The Best Ending and Voice Acting Award

Dragon Quest XI S. This game should be front and center when conversations come up about having to earn a happy ending, because the ending you get when the credits roll is perfectly satisfactory... but you can do better. And not only can you do better, you can get what is effectively the most perfect ending that can be in the entire history of Dragon Quest as a gaming franchise, which sounds like a dramatic overstatement until you see it. And, to contrast the previous award, I really appreciate how DQXI’s voice cast didn’t include anyone I was familiar with and thus I never had the experience of “oh shit it’s x from y”, but this award exists in particular for Serena’s voice actress, Jessica Clark, and her reading of the line “I hate to ask, but would you mind awfully not going anywhere for a little while? I think I’m going to cry...”

The Most Wrong I Ever Was About A Story Award

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. For years, I thoughtlessly regurgitated the opinion that “parts of FF8 are good, but it’s definitely a bad game with a lame romance and Squall is a terrible protagonist” based on the memory of playing the demo as a child and enjoying it, but seeing the internet at large bash it without mercy. I was wrong, because not only is it not bad, the central romance is totally compelling and Squall has become my favorite Final Fantasy protagonist, in the very same year that I finally also played Final Fantasy VII and came to terms with the fact that Cloud has been good all along, actually.

The 2019 Was A Ridiculously Good Year For Games In General Because I Didn’t Actually Play It That Much Despite The First Game Being My GOTY 2016 And This Game Is An Improvement In Every Single Possible Way Award

Dragon Quest Builders 2. I cannot believe how little of DQB2 I’ve played! And it’s so good!

[foodoliplife]

8 Factors Why You Do My Homework Ought To Study Accounting Degrees 

8 Factors Why You Ought To Study Accounting Degrees 

Accountants will be the backbone of the business. An accountant’s job primarily involves making and evaluating the economic documents and records of the business. In that way, they are able to help check if the continuing business is succeeding.

You can somebody do my homework might already be thinking about starting a vocation in accounting and finance, yet still desire a small bit more of a drive and assurance in your decision. Accounting-related degrees are a excellent choice, particularly because business and finance will be around. Here are a few more reasons you ought to start a program that is accounting-related

1. You will have an enjoyable research experience

Accounting is really a reasonably difficult field of study. Nevertheless, if you value numbers, you then’ll take pleasure in the challenge. You never necessarily can you do my homework should be a math wizard to have a degree in accounting. Knowing the fundamentals of addition, subtraction, unit, and multiplication is all that’s necessary, alongside good analysis abilities. You just need certainly to find the accounting degrees and certificates that will help advance your do my homework learning and allow one to have a great time during the time that is same.

2. You’ll learn skills that may be applied in several aspects of everything

In highschool, everyone learns Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, and/or Trigonometry. Unfortunately, not everybody makes use of these subjects within their everyday lives, usually simply because they do not know how exactly to apply them. If you should be not looking to are an engineer or an designer, then Geometry could be of no use to you. You can apply accounting principles both at work do my homework and outside of work when you have a career in accounting:

You should use your knowledge on payroll administration, revenue and loss ratios, as well as other business-related ideas once you begin your business that is own. Your accounting knowledge will allow you to in your home management, such as managing your allowance and costs efficiently with sheets and ledgers.

3. You can simply take other degrees alongside accounting

It’s typical for accounting majors to simultaneously take another degree, as there are numerous do my homework courses that are pertaining to accounting and finance. Thus, you could have double majors like the following:

Significant in Accounting and Business Management

Significant in Accounting and Finance

Major in Accounting and Business Entrepreneurship

If you have a degree that is double you are putting more credentials on your own CV and resume, which can boost your odds of employment. Aside from this, you are additionally offering your self an opportunity to broaden your horizons and work with different areas.

4. You’ll get employed immediately

Accounting is amongst the jobs which have a high and fast hiring rate. It’s let me tell you that task opening rates and option of work are for the top considerations of students when assignment help websites careers that are choosing. Everyone would like to land a good-paying job fast. Universities have consistently found all around the global globe that a majority of accounting graduates land a posture within the first half a year after graduation pay for assignments australia or in the very first 6 months after moving their licensure exam.

5. You’ll be sought after

Every company sector or industry requires an accountant. Even with technical advancements, the skills of a accountant will be a requirement at work. There were significant technical improvements in the industry, such as for instance going from written to digital ledgers and utilizing heightened applications and pc software to aid make find someone to do my homework work faster. These tasks, however, still require the brain that is analytical expertise of a homework website accountant. An accountant is among the key workers that determine and make certain that the organization is making earnings.

The most common misconception about finishing an accounting degree is the fact that you are going to just end up making financial statements and filling the ledgers for the business you work for. This will be not even close to your do my homework sole option. There are many other positions you are able to transfer to by having an accounting level apart from simply bookkeeping. You could also decide to get a:

Finance Manager

Financial and Investment Advisor

Company Analyst

And a whole lot more

6. You should have opportunities that are international

Among the great things about accounting is you may get exposure to an array that is wide of opportunities. You can easily get a job overseas with an accounting degree if you plan on working abroad make me do my homework. All of the accounting axioms and techniques apply across international boundaries, conserve for a few specifics of legislation which will apply to each nation. Hence, you may possibly only have to have a couple additional classes to study the accounting that is fundamental associated with state or nation you want to migrate to and just take an exam.

7. You will have good strategies for profession advancements

A degree in accounting can open up possibilities so that you can volunteer in big my homework com businesses including the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (whom). These international organizations are constantly in the significance of more accountants or economics experts to simply help them inside their daily auditing.

Take note, though, that these organizations may possibly not be able to offer you a high earnings. But, your volunteer experience in these companies that are international be valuable beyond a salary. You will improve your abilities and knowledge greatly. Doing work get someone to do my assignment for these companies can also connect you to various people that are influential organizations the top names on the market.

These connections can greatly benefit you should you start to pursue accounting as a livelihood, expand your career, or enter into excellent schools to obtain a master’s degree, particularly if you showed work that is outstanding even while a volunteer.

8. An accounting level can be a stepping-stone for other degrees

You could use your accounting degree as a stepping-stone toward further studies, such as for instance legislation. You may realize that some topics in law college are usually adopted in your accounting level or are merely analysis that which people who help on homework you have formerly learned. It has in addition been shown that certified public accountants (CPAs) have greater odds of passing the law bar exams. Thus, becoming a business lawyer can be manufactured easier if you have an accounting history.

Conclusion

Accounting has consistently topped the list of best levels to take college. Due to the eternal presence of business and trade, it is hard that the planet will ever be without any as a type of accounting or finance. These do my college homework reasons mentioned above are proof that accounting will be one of many best degree choices. Accounting does rise above simply working with numbers.

[cecilbrim8959-blog]

Rsorder Runescpae 2007 Gold For Sale And thinking About Old School Runescape Update

I plan to put in writing a sequel to this as I only showcased a few games away from the many great on-line games. Tend to be some just these that delivered to mind as i have played them all recently. Yet there are lots of others i have played in the past that basically just in the trunk of my mind and will want to be updated. Just writing this paragraph I have remembered two that I'm going to feature simply 2. It is effortless to function these steps and you can have a try when you have quite a large number. If your have 250k is good, and the more you have, greater to adopt these measures. However, if you don't have so much, 80K furthermore okay. Train earn more, you should invest more, so many old school runescape accounts with just above 200 thousand gold points in order to grow in in the future, also you can just buy runescape items some coin. And you need to purchase some feathers as investment to double your gold. Another thing that Jagex is in to Runescape costs nothing trade. All you have to also make more people come back for various reasons including being within a position to real Life trading. I personally imagine this improve the chance of all online gamers of how to play Runescape. Training . is all up to up for you to analyse if this is often a great or possibly a bad thing of what Runescape is coming along. I think that this great the best and really make the game a lot funner since more players will be on. Currently, legs or body armor give you a better return than helmets or hoods. Check current street prices before offering credit reports. 80 units make a piece of degradable body armor, 50 for legs, and 30 for head gear. So, in summary, to utilize those . my top three rules on tips on how to select your ideal ultimateguide. Use them, and homework own research, I'm positive you can to acquire your best ultimate Runescape guide very before long! I refreshed the page many times but nothing changed. Any time I created one, very easily gone in mere two just a. And at last I gave up. These blogs were to share my experience of playing cheapest runescape gold, as suggested by my playmates on Runescape community forums. Almost everyone has a blog, except me. We had been defined out-of-date and uncooperative. I thought about what they said for a bit and proceeded to have an effort. But, it seemed that I wasn't given opportunity to be hip. Instead of crossing the stepping stones, investigate the crevice right. Golrana will cross along with the last stepping stone into normal water. Doing this saves a trip almost all of the way of the river. I don't personally for example MMORPG even so deserves pertaining to being mentioned any kind of list for this best free MMORPGs. Farmville is Runescape. The undeniable fact that you may play it in a browser with seperate downloaded client can be a plus. Benefits of of this the indisputable fact anyone can take advantage of it, whether or not they don't own a pc. I have seen many kids how to play Runescape in the public library computer. Features a part about that, is that anyone can, and undoubtedly has at some point, use the game. Can make the community very large and generally un-friendly. In which a major point, an individual can't play a multiplayer game if do not want to like men and women you are playing it with. Beyond the community, the game is effectively set up and has an large regarding content and a few hours and days of game use. The number 1 place for a new character to start out skilling at could be the chicken shack NW of Lumbridge. Bring an axe and a tinder box, and chop a few logs through the nearby trees whenever demand more exterior wood. Kill any escaped chickens, enter in the yard, and close the gate to hold your feathered friends in chopping span. then start akillin. Training woodcutting on Ivy is an impressive when how to play Runescape while multi-tasking. With the sounds turned on, the RuneScape player is set to chopping ivy while the user is on another website. The chopping sound will stop and the ivy help establish a shriveling sound when cut alongside. A bird's nest makes a loud squawking sound. All the RuneScape player has conduct is open the window and chop at another vine. Members who've a Woodcutting skill of level 80 or more may the Sawmill, where they cut logs advertise planks to earn Woodcutting experience. Logs are provided in the Sawmill but cannot be studied from the complex, and planks that are made there also will not be taken out and about. Saws, which are readily available for free at the Sawmill, however, can be utilized away. If you're log from RuneScape and enter the lobby or perhaps just log outside in general certain that you you don't have any wood in your inventory as will will guide it from you. Finally, blitzers can cast the level 82 Ancient Magic attack, and barragers cast amount 94 Ancient Magic bout. You should have at least two of either associated with those pker types on your team. These characters can freeze the opponent and get tons of injury. The issue about barragers is their capability to attack multiple players at once with one cast, with regard to example freezing associated with people at dress yourself in time while also doing much amount of injury.

[the-fitsquad]

Laptops Will In no way Replace Desktops In Workplace

Worldwide And China Embalming Workstations Market 2016 Trends, Growth And Evaluation To 2021

The above article is all about shared office space for rental and its benefits for new business workplace, new startups to commence a new office in their preferred location. The all-in-one particular model is where the monitor and CPU are element of 1 unit so you do not have a CPU tower and a separate monitor that takes up much more space as is the case with the conventional desktop technique. The components on the office desks also include the stationary and the telephone. And with support for dual Quadro® graphics cards, you can take pleasure in amazing graphics efficiency or quad-monitor capability in a extremely inexpensive workstation. The requested run level switch can’t be completed effectively considering that one particular or more services will not stop or restart within the specified timeout. Adjustable monitor and keyboard tray arm that is attached into a wall track assisting customers access computers without the need to have for a desk. Digital Storm CAD workstations function a vast choice of quickly and reliable SSD storage options that will enable content creators to do more in much less time.

Packaged in a 21×21 mm TFBGA, the 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet controller is footprint compatible with the Intel® 82546EB Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Controller (very same package size, exact same number and pattern of pins and similar signal layout), allowing for a flexible, single port or dual port, multipurpose design and style. Most workstations have extremely powerful graphics cards and large higher resolution monitors. When we attempt to test input message (request XML) employing service operation tester we faced beneath error. As the want for efficient residence offices has risen, so has the desire for comfy, multipurpose workstations. Offered with up to two (on most models) specialist dual-width NVIDIA® Quadro or AMD® RadeonPro graphics cards, APEXX 2 also characteristics the most current Intel® Core i7 processors.

Professional post-sale hardware assistance for the duration of owning the workstation. Inside a restricted space area, the desk and racks of the workstation is made to match in PCs, monitors, DVDs, laptop speakers and far more. The GPU now has an option for AMD skilled graphics instead of the NVIDIA-only prior providing, and the CPUs have been updated to the most current Haswell revision. Primarily based on the Haswell microarchitecture, this Intel processor family features a complete new set of performance enhancing functions more than the preceding generation. If you can afford it, VMware Workstation is one particular of the very best virtualization applications out there. Armari are a major specialist manufacturer and integrator of higher performance personal computer systems and options.

It can be noted that for the promotion of the company a properly-designed and furnished workplace plays the most crucial role to get the intended aim and beneficial in catering a great amount clientele, by means of the nicely-managed office space. Later, the front office clerk wants to come up with the folio outstanding balance. You can bring an antique-chic flavor into your workplace with desks that consist of inspired design details from sources like steamer trunks and early 20th-century printer’s offices. What is been really getting at me though is if the dual xeon is really going to give me THAT A lot MORE” performance than the single setup. The HP Z620 also comes standard with 4x USB three. ports as nicely as a 1-port Thunderbolt 2 and an HP IEEE 1394b FireWire PCIe cards.

The Software Licensing Service reported that the license has not been evaluated. The most critical point is to get a laptop that meets your financial requirements but can still run all your programs smoothly and error-cost-free. As systems get smaller, we’ve observed an ever wider collection of PCs gathering under the mini Pc umbrella, as makers apply the components and design and style lessons discovered from laptops to pack far more potent capabilities into smaller desktop designs. Graitec supplies a full variety of Autodesk certified HP CAD Workstations for Revit, Inventor, 3ds Max, AutoCAD and a assortment of other CAD packages at quite cost-effective cost breaks like of course a three year HP warranty. If you could rapidly jump between the two that might not be so negative, but from the desktop it really is five taps and swipes into the Control Panel just to get to this setting and, when you adjust it, Windows forces you to log out of the laptop – therefore closing all your currently operating apps.

Studies show that stress applied to the underside of the carpal tunnel is transferred into the tunnel itself through the transverse carpal ligament, and that intracarpal pressure doubles with a wrist rest compared with floating the hands over a keyboard. It also supplies 4K multi-touch display designed to make information handling simpler, more versatile, effective and price successful. Normally group communication takes place in individual , in the identical space but the new technology offers a facility for discussion with the group of persons on the internet You can conduct a meeting , hold a group discussion or brief people scattered across the country or about the world. The Software Licensing Service reported that the Token Shop contains a duplicate token. In the trial, the P4P program let Verizon clients using the Fios fiber-optic-cable service and the Pando peer-to-peer network download files three to seven times as speedily as they could have otherwise, says Laird Popkin, Pando’s chief technology officer.

We at High Ground Gaming dig the L-shaped desks. These days it really is extremely hard to find a Windows-primarily based Pc with Thunderbolt 2 ports, unless you construct your personal method with a motherboard like the ASUS z87 series and obtain the add-on card. Workstation cubicles and their style have evolved to a excellent extent from modern day office furniture to professional workplace furniture that is readily accessible in the open marketplace. We cannot give particulars on future solution roadmaps but we are focused on designing our workstations to meet the quickly evolving wants of the most compute-intensive industries where our consumers operate in, to offer you them differentiated value so they can be much more productive and effective. Produced by and for design and style experts, the Z2 Mini gives you each overall performance and reliability for the greatest CAD encounter.

The word of the day in ergonomic workspace design is to say goodbye to these cubicles! With the Fall Creators Update, users will see permission prompts just before an app can access certain device capabilities and information – like use of the camera, microphone, contacts list, calendar and a lot more. RAM governs access occasions for your system, so program on obtaining a good quantity of RAM for your new workstation laptop. The ideal trading pc that make and exchange if you acquiring the 4 very best for this then 8gb ideally 16gb hdd ss. Then it looks like in any organization enterprise equipment is an hp laptop for day trading personal computer october the lowest feasible. Shipping+Handling: Even though Pc Parts Picker does try to incorporate it, it had a quite difficult time showing when there was further expense.

Setelah melihat sisi rancangan dan tujuan dari thin client network, maka bisa kita ambil kesimpulan bahwa Thin Client cocok untuk sebuah sistem yang beban utamanya adalah aplikasi: Browser world wide web, Messaging, Workplace dan image processing skala kecil. This is not just since it attributes Intel’s strong new Xeon 5500 series processors, but due to the fact HP has completely re-believed the workstation and the way it can be serviced, upgraded and usually taken to bits. Culture is a form of social control and as such, is a form of social control and energy indicates by which a men and women achieve power more than themselves and their behavior in order to obtain specific ends. The activation server reported that the product important type is getting used by one more user.

Even so, for Net browsing and typical workplace applications, where the laptop spends the majority of its time waiting for the next user input, even netbook-class laptops are normally rapidly enough. The Z6 also sports dual CPUs, can manage up to 384 GB of method memory, and functions dual M.two slots for HP’s own Z Turbo Drive PCIe SSDs. At this point and time, we are employing all these media and mediums, and they do have an effect on us. If controlling one’s mind signifies being robotic or zombie-like, I concede that point. Considering that numerous folks have much more than one particular computer systems in their houses, it comes as no surprise that executive and pc desks are so common. Once a enterprise expands beyond a half-dozen workers with PCs, it will require a devoted IT staffer or subcontractor, and they will require PCs with corporate IT features to make deployment and troubleshooting less complicated.

They employed that period to erect social structures and institutions via which these days they manipulate African societies by remote as properly as not-so remote control. Our overview configuration was a made-to-order technique, equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700, 32GB of RAM and Nvidia Quadro M620 graphics. AutoCAD is a single of the most high-priced pieces of application you will ever obtain, but the complexity and energy of it will much more than justify the price for most experts. Douglas Zeng, a senior economist who focuses on the international marketplace and the Chinese and African economies with the Planet Bank, says whilst China is rapidly emerging as a important economic player in Africa, its overseas activities are closely scrutinized by international media, research institutions, and donor agencies, “However much of the conventional wisdom about Chinese development finance rests on untested assumptions, person case research, and incomplete information sources”.

AMD works with leading software program vendors to certify a lot more than 100 applications across the entire AMD FirePro solution family, to make sure quickly and reliable functionality users can count on. AMD FirePro graphics drivers are rigorously tested and optimized for a wide range of expert graphics applications to guarantee optimal efficiency and reliability. The Software Licensing Service reported that the Token Shop was unable to study a token. There is need to see this website have to has appropriate wrist assistance which is attainable only with a desktop Pc. A separate keyboard and mouse will gives you the correct height and peeper sitting posture at identical time with possessing wrists supported. The folks who control these organizations are for the most element company individuals, not in the inventive field they do not care a lot about the type of arts or music, but focus heavily on becoming able to sell the music as a solution.

Organise your work far more efficiently with a practical office desk from Amart Furniture. With its special BIOS mechanism dedicated to boosting CPU performance, WS C621E SAGE can deliver outstanding program speed,” ASUS explains on the motherboard’s product web page. Obtaining decided regardless of whether to use an iMac Pro or multimedia Computer for your photo editing and possessing selected your editing computer software for post-production the issue remaining is storage. Models, textures and applications are taking up much more storage space every single year, so it is crucial to pick the optimum storage configuration for your workstation. Back in the planet of Windows laptops, the HP Spectre x360 15t ($1,150-plus) also has a 15-inch, 4K-optional touchscreen, not to mention a thin and light style that comes in at four.05 pounds and .63 inches thick.

As a member of the world’s most secure and manageable mobile workstation family10, the HP ZBook x2 functions HP Confident Commence Gen311 for BIOS protection, TPM two. for hardware-based encryption to safe credentials, secure authentication techniques via the Intelligent Card Reader and HP’s Client Security Suite Gen312 to protect data, device and identity, including facial recognition and fingerprint reader. Absolutely nothing contained in any of the Third Party Content or Solutions is an supply or guarantee by Equator to sell a specific solution for a certain price or that any advertiser will sell any product or service for any purpose or value or on any specific terms. Made by and for design and style pros, the revolutionary Z2 Mini provides you both efficiency and reliability in a little, elegant design and style for the very best CAD experience.

– certain suggestions about: improvement, what it implies to be human, to be content, to be in manage, to be alive The ills of technologies have nothing to do with being not all-natural, but have significantly to do with the introduction of perpetual dissonance, entropy and disequilibrium which humans try to method into an even-keeled equilibrium. Catering to each enthusiasts and companies alike from desktop gaming to specialist workstations, and all the supporting application. Lots of folks think that antivirus software plan is a sophisticated element to operate. But any person who has invested in a powerful Xeon workstation in the last 12 months has had to accept a trade off. All purchases that add to the University’s asset base or laptop workstations will need a justification statement on the Buy Order and approval by the Director, Technology Solutions.

from KelsusIT.com – Refurbished laptops, desktop computers , servers http://bit.ly/2mrMTbY via IFTTT

[kelsusit]

Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) Sales Market Evaluation, Guidelines Overview And Upcoming Trends Forecas

Tough Drives Explained

The advent of computer systems has changed a bit of everything in our every day lives. Up to four graphics cards and optional RAID for up to eight tough drives. – PAWs need to be utilized for any part that has administrative rights more than cloud hosted VMs which includes the capacity to set up agents, export challenging disk files, or access storage where difficult drives with operating systems, sensitive data, or company vital data is stored. As described above, we’re hearing the very first iteration of WCOS will be for mobile-sort devices such as phones, tablets, and wearables, with WCOS for desktop and Xbox devices coming later. Tuition and costs will differ across programs and places. CPU rendering can take benefit of several CPU cores, producing AMD Ryzen CPUs an outstanding value for rendering. It is estimated that at least 80% of the time spent by the typical office worker is spent seated at their desk or workstation.

Whichever style you are seeking for, be certain to check out Sam’s Club workstation accessories to add a small extra comfort and utility to your office setup. If you consider that just 1 year of membership in a gym could run you $800-1000, a walking desk could be paid for in that length of time and alternatively of renewing a membership, the desk would be bought and paid for and the workstation owned and employed for years. In 1996, Dr. Seth Roberts, Professor of Psychology at University of California at Berkeley formally developed a treadmill desk and is claimed to be the very first official user. Contemporary connectors are created to help a variety of office configurations, thereby generating them an best choose. Introduced in Windows ten, Credential Guard makes use of hardware and virtualization-primarily based safety to mitigate widespread credential theft attacks, such as Pass-the-Hash, by protecting the derived credentials.

The HP Z420 Workstation delivers your selection of Intel® Xeon® E5-1600 and E5-2600 series processors—with base clock frequencies of up to 3.6GHz and the new Intel® C602 chipset. It may well not ship till sometime later in the year (likely to give developers time to support it), but production might have already started. Analyzing China on its personal terms, won’t do for African people, until this entire point becomes an analysis of the African Mode of Development. If you have higher top quality office designer furniture and decor throughout which tends to make it clear that your company or organization values its personnel, then this is most likely to encourage employees to stay with you, rather than searching for a greater job and a lot more comfortable working conditions elsewhere.

CELSIUS H770: a mobile workstation with NVIDIA Quadro graphics for a 4K resolution show along with the newest mobile Intel Xeon processors and Fujitsu’s distinctive PalmSecure technologies. Most of the time, integrated graphics will be just fine, considering that you will not be playing 3D games on your function desktop. All their merchandise are higher functionality, custom-built and optimised to work with a vast array of computer software applications. I am not going to be talking so a lot about White men and women in my posts, but will directly address ourselves(Africans) as to what is taking place to us right now. Most ergonomic recommendations for computer workstation arrangements assume that you will be utilizing a desktop program, where the computer screen is separate from the keyboard. Each and every modular desk unit can be set up alone or configured with other pieces in its series to produce a collaborative workspace.

Even so, it tucks into a corner to take up less of your office space whilst offering several storage compartments, a monitor shelf, and smooth-sliding keyboard drawer. The replication operation failed due to the fact the target object referred by a hyperlink value is recycled. CAD software is utilised for creating 3D models, technical drawings and documentation for manufacturing of a product, construction of a building or civil operates. All of our workstations come from respected manufacturers like Knoll, HON, Steelcase, Allsteel, and Herman Miller, so our buyers can rest assured that they will receive merchandise with an unmatched mixture of style, overall performance, and durability. In the Start off menu, users will find a list of not too long ago utilized applications, see an alphabetical list of installed programs and, if desired, pin their Residence folder or its preset sub folders, such as Documents or Images.

Get huge, whole-system computational energy from a workstation that optimizes the way the processor, memory, graphics, OS, and application technology perform with each other. No matter whether you are seeking for the best home workplace desks for small spaces or a long workstation to accommodate your workload, we have the perfect solution. At a quick glance looks kinda along the lines of the Dell M4800, which is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and RHEL certified, has Displayport, lots of storage choices, runs pro graphics cards, supported 32GB, and so forth. Modern day AutoCAD contains a complete set of standard strong modelling and 3D tools, but lacks the advanced capabilities of strong modelling applications. The EUROCOM Panther four. is constructed with an ultra heavy duty design for unintentional abuse while on the go. It is a totally upgradeable program with support for the ideal in mobile technology.

These Workstations deliver higher performance and reliability with the most recent innovation and market major technologies, along with supplying expandability, nicely beyond normal computers’ capabilities and at entry value point. A primary element of any office fitout , workstations need to be designed with specific enterprise requirements in thoughts. Truth be told you can run CAD (say AutoCAD or SolidEdge) on a Microsoft Surface Pro three with the rather homely Intel HD5000 (which is certified FYI). Another prospective safety hazard that may possibly happen in workstations is the height at which storage spaces and shelves are located. Make sure the workplace chair supplies appropriate back help. HP RDX cartridge technique is a new top backup normal for workstations and modest-scale companies.

These men and women who are assisting below-create the locals have adapted to the existing Apartheid norm of hunting down upon the neighborhood African South African South Africans as inferior, lazy and criminal in their techniques anytime interacting with Africans from the north of South Africa, inside South Africa. That is what every employee almost certainly tells herself at the end of the day following long periods of sitting in their not-so comfortable office chair Back pain is the price most men and women pay on best of putting on hours of auditing accounts, writing documents, or encoding data. This test was executed by running Prime 95 for many hours and measuring the temperature for each and every CPU core making use of CPU Thermometer 1.two The outcomes are impressive, CPU Core temperatures are amongst 18 and 30 degrees (centigrade) when idle and among 39 and 50 degrees beneath maximum load.

With its revolutionary design, the HP Z620 Workstation gives you a close to-silent computing solution in a kind element that is a ideal fit for space-constrained environments. A paper trading account statement will be provided every single day and is accessible by logging into Account Management with your PaperTrader login and accessing the Reports menu. These are the kind of the companies that use PCs in such a way, that call for immense hardware energy. NASA is sending 120 HP ZBook Workstations to the International Space Station to support push the boundaries of science and discovery. The enhanced performance could be one of the motives why the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are in a position to provide help for 4K video recording at 60 frames per second. It mixes conventional x86 CPUs with specialized processing units that help the chip take on heavy workloads.

The managed Linux service supplies a standardized Linux application image, which the Computer Officers can install onto suitable desktop hardware owned by research groups. This permits the workstations to be inventoried and managed by an additional pc user and will permit computers to be updated and maintained with applications that will perform. Attain peak productivity with a wide option of AMD and NVIDIA professional graphics. The new HP Z1 Workstation is the most desirable, most strong, and most costly all-in-one particular Pc I’ve ever noticed. Keep in mind single Xeon systems give no advantage more than X79 workstations because the CPU’s are locked. Some purchasers may also want to go all-SSD for maximum storage efficiency, but that will be costly and also limit capacity, so Dell has also added assistance for SSD caching on spinning hard drives.

Toshiba’s superb range of Tecra enterprise laptops has produced this brilliant mobile workstation, which packs a heck of a lot of energy into an effortlessly portable body. With these workstations, HP says that they have produced safety a top priority. At that time, i planned to attempt the new Windows ten Pro Solution Important. BOXX is proud to offer hardware solutions that provide gorgeous, seamless experiences for viewers across the globe. With the proper office furniture, such as a desk, you can ensure the ideal working situations in your house office. This uber-workstation, which can be rotated up to 120 degress, controls its own micro-climate, electronically filtering oxygen prior to delivery and allowing the occupant to modify air settings up to 21.five times per hour.

As an skilled office furnishings remanufacturer, Davies Workplace can also custom-remanufacture workplace workstation goods to suit your organization’s distinct wants, allowing you to tailor your obtain as you see fit. Desks used in offices have to be wide adequate to hold a number of files and at times a computer. The Software program Licensing Service determined that the license could not be used by the existing version of the security processor component. Get an alert with the newest ads for “dual xeon workstation” in Ontario. Those who favor the space-saving AIOs, will discover this to be strong adequate for AutoCAD 2017 and other heavyweight applications. Comparatively less expensive, workstations are fundamentally a lot more for official jobs such as emailing, document creation and presentation, internet browsing and other business-connected performances.

The significant floor-plan need to, of course, have been formulated prior to installation, but it can be a excellent notion to reassess your options and your objectives for your space instantly following the workplace partitions are in location. If you study the conductors’ reports, you see that most automobiles went out and returned on the same day, even though some did remain overnight. With our entry level workstation, I’d advise href=”http://bit.ly/2j8Osdq; top article this develop as more of a photo editing rather than video editing or 3D modeling system, but it will work for those applications as well. The smallest of HP’s new full size desktop workstations is the Z4. In contrast to its siblings, the Z4 is a single-processor machine that makes use of Intel’s new Xeon W processors instead of the far more expensive socket 3647 models.

If you are attempting to perform out just how pricey the Z8 G4 could get, then issue in around US$21,000 for two Xeon Platinum 8180, US$16,500 for 3 x Quadro p6000, and then US$1600 per 100 GB of DDR4-2666 ECC RAM. As nicely as offering plenty of energy and mobility, there is also lots of connectivity alternatives which tends to make this an exceptional laptop for organization use. For tiled or stacked displays (like those used in digital signage) these workstations can also drive up to eight independent displays. There’s the H-series, targeted at “performance laptops and mobile workstations,” and the S-series, meant for far more-standard desktops. Five research of varied workstations found that staff described feeling less musculoskeletal discomfort following replacing their typical chairs with posture support chairs.

HP advertises that it constructed the Z2 Mini G3 Workstation with pc-aided design in mind, so I tested this claim to see how the Z2 fared beneath the demands of the AutoCAD system. Capable of handling CPU-intensive tasks like video encoding, rendering, content material creation, and so considerably more, our Core i9 Workstations bring astounding energy inside reach. In the heat of summer time, it is good to get some time off to fix up about the residence and do something that I typically take no pleasure in – rebuilding computer systems and reinstalling the OS & application! Teachers who incorporate workstations into their daily routines uncover that they have the time to invest more time working with students in modest groups, a technique which research shows adds to the success of all students.

L shaped office desks, as the name suggests, are shaped as the alphabet L. They are the most common decision amongst offices when it comes to purchasing office furnishings that creates the maximum functioning space. The most recent DDR4 RDIMM technologies is employed right here, using ECC protection plus Dell’s personal Dependable Memory Technology (RMT) to detect and appropriate memory errors in true time. The conventional bottlenecks are nonetheless with storage, although I saw a video exactly where someone hooked up 24 1 gig SSDs in a massive array and that disk setup lastly over saturated the processor, RAM, serial bus capacity. To use an current shared folder that contains the applications deployed within your organization, make sure that it is accessible from within the virtual machine.

The management of these organizations really feel that celebrating workplace birthdays in truth proves to be a considerably required breather and every single one goes back to their workstations fresh and recharged. This operation is not permitted on the existing boot, technique or pagefile volume. The Software Licensing Service reported that the license is not installed. Perfectly suited for skilled applications such as 3D Modelling or Autodesk AutoCAD. Open Edit Neighborhood Users and Groups (), select Groups, and confirm that the only members of the regional Administrators group are the local Administrator account and the PAW Maintenance global safety group. While the HP EliteDesk 800 tiny type aspect Pc gives a beautiful design and style with best-notch productivity and functionality for your enterprise in order to match your workstyle.

HP continues its dominance in the workstation industry by producing the Z620 Workstation an incredibly versatile method that can be configured to suit the wants of a lot of enterprise and specialist environments which includes the media and entertainment industry, Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC), high-finish computing, life sciences, video surveillance, and industries that use geographic info systems (GIS). This could let Mac customers who require to run an occasional Windows app to do so without possessing to reboot very first – even though they’ll need sufficient RAM and processing power to run both OS X and the virtual machine simultaneously. The software is intended in big part as a collaborative tool, enabling several customers to access the exact same HP workstation during a lengthy-distance evaluation session.

A function distinctive to my vision boards is that I also place two labels on the bottom of board that read: Date created: today’s date” and Date Manifested: blank” This lets me know how lengthy my vision has been gestating because its creation and also each time I look at my vision board, not only am I emotionally charged with the photographs, but I also really feel an overwhelming sense to see it manifested to completion. Modern office workstations are the latest trend in today’s corporate culture. That means CAD experts can now leverage their investment in graphics hardware to attain far much more than anything yesterday’s graphics cards could have ever hoped to attain. The user profile database connection can’t be produced, because of error %1. Systems furniture provides a comprehensive cohesive space for your enterprise now and simply adapts for a quickly changing business in the future.

It gives a complete range of workstation-class graphics cards and processors, and is thoroughly tested and certified to perform with today’s top industry applications. – future upgradeability, specifically memory: 64GB is the present max on Core i7, with the majority restricted to 32GB. The Software Licensing Service reported that the event ID is already registered. Staying in the very same position, at the identical desk, day when day, is not conducive in permitting groups of folks to operate at their ideal. Despite these slight variations, this laptop remains an exceptional option for Dell energy customers who need the customization possibilities Dell offers in a package that is all company. LAS VEGAS, NV – October 18, 2017 — Right now at Adobe® MAX, HP will showcase the world’s most powerful detachable PC1 developed to solve the efficiency and mobility demands of artists, designers and digital imaging experts who need to have to push Adobe Inventive Cloud® and other specialist applications to the limit.

Then you’ve come to the proper place, as we’ve gathered together the very very best effective workstations funds can buy in 2017. Our CAD Workstations are assembled with the most current Intel processors for extreme rendering. It is a city of unbridled squander and unfathomable squalor.”For Africans, it was as if they entered into the entered into the tenth century with their intense culture,village life and age old rites, and exited into the twentieth century city of technologies and segregation. Desks for PCs also advantage from holes, slots, and open-back styles even though which cables for the computer systems and peripherals run. To ask inquiries, acquire compliance help, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or conditions posing imminent danger to workers, the public ought to get in touch with OSHA’s toll-totally free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the Charleston Area Office at 304-347-5937.

FWIW, CAD models don’t “come with color” that is totally added by whichever software you are viewing it on. All a CAD file provides you is a ‘wireframe’ model, absolutely nothing more. Whether or not it be budget or space constraints, at times we have to forgo an extra-big desk. Lenovo ThinkPad P Series provide high-performance in a portable workstation laptop featuring ISV-certification in models ranging from 14-inch to 15.6-inch to 17.3-inch These powerhouses even supply multitouch displays. Any unique hardware such as network interface cards and video cards are preinstalled and tested with DeltaV application — reducing time and work in deploying the method. Whilst many hardening methods can be utilized for common users, PAW is designed to isolate accounts from the open world wide web access that most customers call for for job duties.

When it comes to the style of this room, it is essential for you to believe about the functionality offered so you will be confident that it is the right spot that will support you to do the correct issue for your company. The ergonomic desk originated with the starting of the field of human factors or ergonomics right after Planet War II. Legislation stating minimal needs for furnishings utilized by workplace workers referred to ergonomic desk requirements. As new technologies is place in spot, office workstations must also adapt. Primarily based on Ultra Little Desktop category of vendors shipping > 1M units annually as of October three, 2016 based on watts, with 4th or 6th Gen Intel processors or AMD Pro processors integrated VESA mount, VGA, 6 USB Ports, Windows Pro OS and TPM.

File Server Resource Manager failed to access the volume. Whilst numerous folks who are searching for out these kinds of laptops seek out elements of the Quadro, FirePro, and Xeon level of functionality, I find that, for the most element, you can get away with seventh generation i7s and Nvidia Pascal GPUs. Welcome to the open workplace workstations of a whole new era. In the early 1980s, with the advent of 32-bit microprocessors such as the Motorola 68000 , a quantity of new participants in this field appeared, such as Apollo Pc and Sun Microsystems , who developed Unix -based workstations primarily based on this processor. Extra advantages of workstation-class graphics cards are more quickly overall performance and computing energy, and GPU acceleration technology.

IT press had the chance to preview these new workstations during the HP Global Companion Conference last month. The Series 200 workstations originated just before there had been any “Series” at HP. The initial model was the HP 9826A, followed by the HP 9836A. A lot of that useful feedback comes by way of the Windows Insider Plan Today we are very excited to announce a new edition of Windows ten Pro developed to meet the needs of our advanced users deploying their Workstation PCs in demanding and mission-critical scenarios. The activation server reported that it failed to insert item important property. Ergonomics is an essential consideration for any office and another benefit of modular workplace furnishings is that you can be assured you are meeting the ergonomic demands of your employees.

This helps take the payload off of your processor so your processor can be utilised for other basic functions such as running the program or performing various commands inside the system. Compared to the MSI WE62, this model is equipped with a far more strong Nvidia Quadro M3000m workstation class graphic card with 4GB of graphic memory. CAD workstations are typically equipped with Error-Correcting Code Memory, RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), SSD (Solid State Drives), and Optimized GPU to provide this durability. Note that it is also achievable to create a cubicle-filled workplace environment without the use of cubicle desks by combining standard cost-free-standing desk types like the pedestal desk with special types of totally free-standing partitions.

I am certainly getting a PCIe drive od some sort subsequent time- and costs are dropping day-to-day. Not a whole lot has changed regarding a workstation develop but by now you should be on Windows 10 and be thinking about a ridiculous amount of RAM and a beefier CAD GPU. We offer workstations with the complete range of NVIDIA Quadro and AMD Radeon Pro graphics cards which have ISV certified drivers for hundreds of professional applications, plus NVIDIA GeForce cards which do not have certified drivers but are a fantastic option for game developers. According to John H. White, there have been just a few railroads with conductor cars prior to the war. The dual-socket HP Z820 Workstation delivers exceptional performance, award-winning industrial design and style and tool-cost-free serviceability in the industry’s most expandable chassis.

Like many here, Broadberry has a finger in storage, servers and even transportables (laptops that appear like they had been teleported from the 1980’s), providing them access to some wonderful workstation partnerships. Simply because it reduces the quantity of directions permanently stored in the microprocessor, RISC architecture streamlines and accelerates information processing A corollary of that feature is that applications computer software run by workstations have to consist of more instructions and complexity than CISC-architecture applications. If structural alterations are desired (such as removing a wall, moving plumbing about, or adding new windows or doors) an interior designer interior design and style office furnishings manufacturers in chennai is the far better choice.

HP Z Series workstations deliver mission-critical energy and reliability. Then we come with the issue that the computer you suggested cost two times a lot more right here in the netherlands. Microsoft Dynamics GP is a versatile and powerful business management solution which sets the normal for making insight and enhancing efficiency across your enterprise. This indicates that it has an equivalent prospective of 25 GHz processing energy per processor, which is more than 3.64 = 14.4 GHz of the i7 3820. The HP Z820 Workstation is a tool-free of charge method enabling you to swap parts or make upgrades on your own. • Handheld PCs (such as PDAs) lack the power of a desktop or notebook Pc, but offer you features for users who want restricted functions and small size.

Filed under: General Tagged: 1. policy on computer workstation setup, best workstation pc, small corner computer desks uk from KelsusIT.com – Refurbished laptops, desktop computers , servers http://bit.ly/2AXabfy via IFTTT

[crazypuppydinosaur-blog]

5 Tools Everybody in the Secure free Amazon Gift Card Market Ought to Be Using.

Why We Love Gift Card Code Generator (As well as You Should, Also!).

Our Free Amazon Gift Card is your alternative to kick all those problems you have constantly dealt with. So if Lucktastic deals 1500 Tokens for downloading Pirate Kings, and Swagbucks only supplies 25 Swagbucks for the exact same download, you should evaluate out which one will pay you more, due to the fact that you just get one! Sign up for get the best material of the week, as well as wonderful pc gaming deals, as chosen by the editors. Amazon likes to use bonus offers, where if you invest $X in an item category you can get a free Amazon gift card. Free Gift Card Codes could be a reasonable choice after that an individual simply do not have the additional money to purchase and situate the perfect gift for a good friend or family members memeber. The firm sells hundreds of gift cards from various huge company stores and various other small companies. An internet application that works with Android and apple iphone, Appdown pays you to download as well as play games as well as try various other applications. If you have time, a minimum of a week, you can additionally have Amazon send you gift cards through snail mail. The history of Ways to Secure free Gift Card Codes. Likewise, these codes are sent out to your e-mail quickly you purchase the gift cards. Greater than 95% people have actually offered or received at the very least one, as well as in 2007 greater than 60% of individuals evaluated stated they planned to give a card that year. Wal-Mart introduced a new iPad application as well as an upgrade iPhone application, in order to link customers offline and also on-line buying experience. Overall costs on gift cards this season will reach concerning $30 billion, the team said.

How To Get Free Amazon Gift Cards And Beyond

You'll get emails with survey options daily unless you choose to go straight to the site. You'll download and install a Chrome expansion or mobile application, and also Google will certainly track your use of its items. You'll get this gift card as quickly as you come to be a card participant, even before you make any type of purchases. Swagbucks additionally offers you the possibility to gain with referrals, taking simple surveys (I recognize you despise them yet they pay) playing games, purchasing from on the internet stores, enjoying motion picture trailers and so much more. I have made a minimum of $20 in Amazon gift cards from these men and they likewise have other gift cards to pick from, like Pay Chum. Some online shops provide us a little cut if you get something through one of our web links. The intricacy of this on-line application is impressive, it makes use of various IPs and proxies to attach to G server as well as get the requested information - codes. Products that Amazon is searching for consist of electronics, textbooks, video games, music and also movies. When making use of the Android app, you will certainly click play shop which will certainly show a food selection. These factors could then be sold for a variety of prizes, consisting of free Amazon gift cards (Bing also provides $3 gift cards). Earn money To (or GPT) websites have actually been expanding in popularity in recent years as a wonderful means to make some extra earnings online. The site changes its stock daily, so you should examine often for new gift cards from Amazon as well as other rewards. Amazon's trade-in program lets you exchange made use of phones, tablets, books, video games and other items for a free Amazon gift card. In addition to solitary gift cards in the denominations listed above, you could also acquire a gift card with a variable religion so you could determine for yourself how much to contribute to it. Swagbucks is an additional great application for earning Amazon gift cards, and what is terrific concerning this application is you can cash out with just 300 Swagbucks ($ 3 Amazon Gift Card)!

[casualarsonist]

No Man’s Sky in 2017 - A First Impressions Review

I think I’ve made mention before of how I often find myself drawn to or intrigued by certain games that, despite critical histrionics, manage to garner themselves a cult following; games like Homefront: The Revolution, and Watch Dogs. Perhaps this is because I like the idea that some products don’t necessarily wear their value on their skin, that it is within some kind of niche that a game offers the best of its experience. And so it was that one of my favourite Youtubers - hbomberguy - with this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DhaUe6y-Co - convinced me to look into buying No Man’s Sky. Because here’s the thing: I didn’t care about the game before release. I didn’t listen to the hype, I didn’t read up on it, I wasn’t interested. It’s only after things blew up that I even really began to register what No Man’s Sky was supposed to be, and it’s only after watching that video that I wanted to experience it for myself.

In trying to do consumer research for a game so contentious, it’s borderline impossible to find a review that is current, in-depth, *and* untouched by emotion; it was extremely hard to find an appraisal of whether the game was a better buy on PS or PS4 that took into account all the updates and performance tweaks made since its release, as well as to find a qualitative evaluation of the game that didn’t mention whether Hello Games had or had not ‘redeemed’ themselves. In the end, I took into account that PC players seemed to have often have problems with frame-rates, as well as the overwhelmingly more-positive Metacritic rating of the PS4 version (and the fact that it’s £6 cheaper in the PSN sale than the PC version) to buy this version, and as such, this article pertains to that version only. Also, as this is a huge game and the consumer experience no-doubt changes as your experience with the game’s mechanics increases, it’s important to note that I’ve played about 20-25 hours so far, and only ventured two star systems from the beginning, so I’m still going to refer to this as ‘first impressions.’

***

No Man’s Sky is an independent first-person space exploration and survival game developed by the UK’s Hello Games. Upon release, it received arguably the largest consumer backlash in the history of video games after their vague, hype-led promotional campaign revealed itself to be anywhere from wafflingly distracting to outright deceptive, and the level of fan expectation pre-release had, at least somewhat independently, mutated into something absurd and unhealthy. In any case, Hello stirred up expectation by promising not just the world, but the universe - literally quintillions of stars, each with their own unique planetary system, and each planet with its own unique landscape and blend of flora and fauna, and to be honest, for the most part, it delivers on that part of the promise, at least to a certain degree. There is some credence to the remaining complaints about the game, but honestly, I think that even if these issues were resolved, some people simply won’t like it for what it is, so my intention here is to give you a feeling of what it was like for me, playing the game with near-enough of a blank slate.

I woke up on a freezing snow planet. My ship was wrecked and surrounded by some boxes with a small amount of basic resources. Activating a nearby terminal, I was given a mission to repair my equipment and the rest was up to me. Venturing out on foot, I found the planet to be pleasantly populated, with a fairly regular smattering of non-hostile creatures, a dozen or so different types of plant-life, and relatively abundant resources. The world looked gorgeous – icy plains and some light hills, dotted with trees and bushes and mineral outcrops, all delivered in a beautifully simple, but not plain, graphical style. Nearby planets dominated the skyline, beckoning me temptingly from across the expanse. I noticed little pop in, and most of the ‘fading in’ was tasteful and non-invasive (although after a number of hours of playtime or on particularly densely detailed planets the fading in became more laboured).

Scanning the area I noticed that there was a point of interest within a minute’s walk that turned out to be small abandoned outpost with a number of supplies. From there, another point lay about 2 mins away again, and from there another, until I’d reached about six different places. Along the way I found holes in the ground that led me through intricate cave systems that, while pretty and adorned with all kinds of stone and plant formations, largely held nothing of practical value for me. After getting my ship up and running I explored the planet through the air, finding more ancient alien monuments and occasionally populated bases, as well as completing the initial missions that seemed to be aimed towards getting me aloft into the stars. I was constantly aware of small robots - Sentinals - that buzzed about the areas of interest, as well as the near-constant presence of noisy spaceships flying overhead. I met a species of alien – the Gek – and spoke and traded with them, learning a small amount of their incomprehensible language, as well as encountering outposts that contained systems holding cryptic messages or puzzles that I had to solve in order to unlock the rewards within. 

I spent about four hours on this planet (maybe more) before venturing to the next, drawn by a waypoint that led to an ancient ritual site. Travel from one planet to the other was seamless – taking off from the ice planet (which I have forever designated the name ‘Smegmanius’), I was out of its atmosphere in seconds, and blasting towards the soon-to-be-titled planet ‘McBulgin’. The detail on the planet surface faded rather smoothly in before me as I approached, and as I landed near the site I hopped out of my ship onto an arid, barren surface dominated by areas of toxic haze and harsh outcrops of dry rock and minerals. The difference in climate was palpable as heat audibly simmered the grey rock (although the overall effect on my environmental protection was roughly the same as the previous planet, just hot instead of cold); this place felt truly alien. This feeling was only enhanced by the fact that it was entirely devoid of sentient life, and the points of interest were stationed much further away from one another compared to those on Smegmanius, so exploring the planet was a much more lonely experience, but, interestingly, made me far less nervous and jumpy. In any case, the tangible loneliness aroused by this hostile planet simply through replacing snow with rock, introducing jagged geological geometry, and removing fauna from the equation, had me enraptured.

In exploring the rest of the system and beyond I’ve found planets with vast lakes and squidgy terrain, ‘paradise planets’ with green skies and green rivers that run through deep canyons, desolate moon-like planets with tall mountains, mushroom planets with toxic atmospheres, and barren planets with little to see or do besides mine the abundant outcrops of valuable minerals. I’ve seen creatures enormous, tiny, cute, and horrifying. I’ve seen haunting monuments to civilizations long-dead half-buried in the middle of nowhere, and bizarre arcing bands of shining minerals streaking out of the ground. I’ve seen soaring peaks and deep ravines and scorched, featureless plains, and strange floating islands peppering twisted purple landscapes. I’ve been hunted through snowy forests by predators that make my skin crawl, and fought off pirates in asteroid belts above the looming spectres of ocean planets. I’m a couple of dozen hours in and while there is a certain definite degree of repetition in aspects of the worlds I’ve been to (because this is an indie game made by a small team of human devs and not the Holy Grail made by Jesus Christ himself), I’ve not lost the sense of wonder when first setting foot on a new planet. I have no doubt that there will be a point where I feel as if I’m just going through the motions, but I haven’t hit that point yet, and for £10 I certainly feel like I’ve got value for my money. I’m also certain that I’ll pick the game up again after I’m done with it for the first time, as there is simply so much to see, not to mention the fact that Hello Games keep adding content for free and thereby increasing the amount available for people to do.

It’s just my opinion, but concerning an independent game in which 100% of the players will likely explore less than 0.001% of the available worlds, there is no place for the expectation that everything one experiences will be different every time. Part of the reality of creating something both near-infinite *and* user friendly is that there needs to be a balance allowing the systems to be creative without letting them break the game for the player, or risk leaving them with nothing to see and do – landing on literal bald rock, or a gas giant that kills you just for venturing into it, or an ocean planet with no life (because let’s not forget that, thus far, most of the real observable universe is devoid of life) would lack emotional impact and certainly be disappointing if they were anywhere near as prevalent in the game as they are in reality. And a consequence of this balancing within the procedural generation system is a subsequent degree of homogenisation amongst the experiences. In saying that, I think that they’ve got that balance pretty close to being just right – every planet is its own experience in one way or another; some fill you with feelings of wonder, others with a hyper-awareness of your existence as a lone speck on an otherwise forsaken landscape; some can intrigue you for hours, others for mere minutes. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t welcome additional content in terms of plants and animals and terrain variations (I’d even go so far as to say I’d pay for them), but honestly, while better-regarded games like Elite: Dangerous and its ilk give you the cool feeling of being a space pilot, No Man’s Sky gives you the cool feeling of being a space explorer.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that there have been significant additions to the game since launch, such as more biomes, vehicles, and narrative additions, and it’s not entirely fair of me to criticise the opinions and reactions of those that pre-ordered the game for full price and played it when it was an inferior state. But the continued vitriol of the most vocally negative commentators doesn’t seem proportionate to the game as it exists in its current state. No Man’s Sky is the one of the few games I’ve played that has actively engaged my girlfriend to the point that she wants to join in with me. We spent 8 hours together the other day exploring the solar systems and passing the controller back and forth amidst mutual expressions of fascination. The controls on-foot and in-flight are simple enough for everyone, and at the time of writing she hasn’t texted me back for 3 hours, so I can be pretty certain that she’s enveloped in the new game that we started up for her this morning, and when we both get home from work today she’ll have stories to tell me of things that I have never experienced, and will likely never get to witness myself. The feeling that you can be playing the same game as someone and know that the things they’re seeing will likely never be looked upon by another’s eyes is truly breathtaking.

However, the truth remains that the game will not be for everyone. Some will object to the gameplay itself and the fact that the core actions of the player are far less expansive than the in-game universe. Many won’t have the patience for the experience and may perhaps wish that NMS was more Mass Effect than Minecraft. And there are still bugs to be found, and items that seem to have an unfinished purpose, although personally I’ve found these to be a rarity. But if those who haven’t yet played can rid themselves of expectations, or (if you’re lucky) not have any expectations to begin with, what you may find is a space exploration and survival game unlike any other. For decades developers have released games that focus on the feeling of piloting a ship throughout space itself and of engaging in various forms of space combat, leaving the planets themselves standing starkly out of reach, but for the first time that I know of, Hello Games have created a product that aims to bridge the gap between the land and the sky and place the player both in the cockpit and the walking boots of a galactic traveller. Much is streamlined about the game, and it is certainly about far as one can get from a space simulation, but No Man’s Sky, for all the faults of its launch and whatever of those still remain, offers a sensation of wonder in exploration that I’ve never experienced before - a feeling that is exciting to share and paradoxically exquisite in how unlikely it is that you will share the experience with someone outside of a person sitting next to you.

[pagedesignhub-blog]

India to have 420 million cell internet users with the aid of June: IAMAI

New Post has been published on https://pagedesignhub.com/india-to-have-420-million-cell-internet-users-with-the-aid-of-june-iamai/

India to have 420 million cell internet users with the aid of June: IAMAI

New Delhi: India is projected to have 420 million cellular internet users with the aid of June 2017 with urban customers spending close to Rs 275/month on statistics, a report through IAMAI stated.

In the document posted by means of internet and cellular Affiliation of India (IAMAI) and IMRB, the wide variety of mobile internet users at the stop of December 2016 was determined to be 389 million.

Out of the 420 million anticipated customers, 250 million customers are predicted to come from urban India and the closing 170 million would be from rural parts of us of a.

With smartphones becoming extra low-cost and reduced cellular internet costs, the growth in user base is quicker in rural components, the report stated.

city users were pronounced to be pinnacle purchasers of social networking, communication, and enjoyment on the mobile net at the same time as enjoyment nonetheless topped the listing for rural users.

As per the record,” urban users are paying as lots as Rs 552 a month with approximately 50 according to cent going closer to facts costs.”

The document also found In the ‘general mobile bill’ that young urban users spent more on statistics services, even as the share of voice fees elevated with age.

The average month-to-month invoice turned into said to be the highest for the age group of 45 years, and each cellular statistics and voice expenses for this age group have been determined to be the highest.

“Thus, whilst in terms of uptake, the more youthful generation is riding the increase of telecom services in urban India, greater senior generations provide better average sales per user (ARPU) for telcos,” it said.

Guidelines on Infant cellular internet Safety Ask any child from first grade to college to call the cellphone, media player or tablet that they covet the maximum and you will listen to iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. Logo attention and call for Apple merchandise many of the jungle health club crowd has never been higher. What most dad and mom do not comprehend even though is that if suitable Safety checks are not installed location, Apple’s remarkable gadgets can be an unguarded gateway to the dangerous forbidden end result.

at the same time as maximum parents understand they must use parental controls on their domestic computer systems, consistent with a survey by way of McAfee, four out of 5 dad and mom fail to turn such software on. Almost a 3rd of dad and mom left their children by myself when browsing, and almost 1/2 of mother and father stated they did not know if their youngsters had social networking bills at websites like Fb. (Suppose your youngster is simply too young? Over 20 percentage of 4th – fifth graders have a social networking profile. in line with a Cox Communications observe, seventy two percentage of teens have a social networking profile and Almost 1/2 have a public profile viewable by absolutely everyone.)

Over half of mother and father do not monitor their kids’ desktop or pc usage (consistent with an MSN Europe survey). In terms of mobile net Safety, even the maximum tech savvy dad and mom find it next to not possible to monitor their kids’ mobile habits. Despite the fact that kids simplest use their mobile devices for the duration of the go back and forth to and from school, they need to apply them adequately. Non-public monitoring is not continually feasible. Even when they may be In the identical room, a determine can not study what’s on a small display screen without sitting right next to their Baby.

Luckily, there are technologies that may help. dad and mom can create mobile Safety for their children, and it is not as tough as they’ll Think.

cell computing is the quickest developing generation zone, with children market penetration rising higher every day. Seventy-six percent of all eight to 18-year olds have iPods or other MP3 gamers. teens spend at the least forty-nine mins an afternoon eating media on mobile devices, consistent with a Kaiser Own family Foundation have a look at.

cellular technology can disclose younger humans to the coolest, the awful and unsightly of the net. in keeping with a Pew internet take a look at, 70 percentage of teenagers are exposed to pornography by accident at the net.

The Apple of every children’s eye: With over one hundred twenty million iOS devices sold, as of September 2010 (67.6 million iPhones, 7.2 million iPads, forty-five.2 million iPod touches), Apple dominates the cellular market. Beyond its apparent cool aspect, the availability of lots of child-pleasant apps manner that youth Emblem loyalty is already locked in. Similarly to being “cool”, iOS gadgets are converting the manner getting to know occurs Within the school room and at home.

There are pilot programs the usage of cell getting to know in all 50 states. Many are targeted around the iPod touch as the number one laptop to replace all textbooks, coursework, graphing calculators, etc. The iSchool Initiative estimates each $one hundred fifty iPod contact could keep as a minimum $600 according to student in step with 12 months. The ones powerful numbers suggest that greater faculty applications would require an iPod contact. (A few faculties will even standardize over to the iPod touch’s brother, the larger and extra pricey iPad, which runs on the same iOS platform.)

each mother and father and faculty districts will need to locate methods to relaxed these devices to make them Toddler-friendly at home and In the school room. This isn’t only a count of Safety, there’s cash involved. colleges that enable cellular learning want to implement cellular Baby net Safety standards to implement a fashionable of internet Protection and stay eligible for federal investment.

As more school systems take a look at Apple’s iOS products Within the school room, both parents and educators want to make certain that the primary defense towards besides the point content material (net filtering software program) is about on kids’ iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

Some Suppose that the parental controls on iPods, iPhones, and iPads are insufficient. while parental controls are critical for desktops and laptops, mobile parental controls need to take place above and Past what’s built into the technology of the devices. To make certain that your cellular children are competently browsing the cell net, here are 10 Tips to keep your Toddler safe on line.

Child mobile internet Protection tip #1: Safari might be a safari of unfiltered content material. As first-rate as Safari is at displaying websites (as long as they do not use Flash), it has no net filtering parental controls. None. Zip. Zilch. In case your kids need to talk on PredatorsRUs.Com, Safari will allow them to. First and essential, trade the iPod’s Safari browser to one which allows net filtering.

Baby cellular internet Protection tip #2: Put money into a leading on-line content material filtering carrier. services like Mobicip ( http://www.Mobicip.Com/ ) have won figure’s Preference awards and are used by school districts across the united states to clear out dangerous on-line content material. There are a number of Toddler-secure iPod browsers in the marketplace. read the evaluations and select the quality-rated Child-secure iPod browser to your teenager’s age range.

Child cell internet Safety tip #3: Use the iPod’s fundamental parental controls. As soon as you have got mounted the child-safe iPod browser, disable Safari. However be warned, children are smart. If children do not like using a Child-secure iPod browser, they will honestly download another browser. right here’s how you forestall them.

on the iPod’s Settings menu, select Restrictions, and turn off Safari, YouTube, Installing Apps and Place. You may also turn off the digicam, if this is appropriate.

whilst you are at it, restrict the type of content material they can download from iTunes to age suitable ranges. turn off In-App Purchases.

Baby mobile internet Protection tip #4: Search is king. Seek is in which the motion is. (That is why Google has a marketplace cap of a $151 billion.) kids most customarily stumble upon beside the point content by means of twist of fate through searches. You need a Toddler-safe iPod browser that enforces secure searches on all popular search engines like google. make certain that this option can’t be disabled via changing the search engine alternatives.

Toddler cellular internet Protection tip #5: hold your blacklist up to date routinely. There are masses of thousands of recent web sites created every day. (Spammers alone create 57,000 new websites each week.) In case you block PredatorsRUs.Com nowadays, the horrific men will create Predators4Friends.Com the next day. make sure your Child-secure iPod browser constantly updates its listing of threats.

Baby cell net Safety tip #6: Use scores as a manual. Even the maximum devoted discern can not surf and decide every new web site, so ensure your Child-secure iPod browser uses ratings which include the Family online Protection Institute’s movie style rankings to pick which sites your kid can visit.

Baby mobile internet Safety tip #7: Use a browser with real-time filtering. Due to the fact, your Infant may be the first to find out an besides the point site, make sure your Baby-secure iPod browser can come across inappropriate content on the fly.

Baby mobile internet Protection tip #8: Encrypt your kid’s visitors. awful guys use unfastened WiFi hotspots to snoop on people’s internet site visitors. That guy over there isn’t operating on his novel, he is watching your Toddler’s iPod use remotely. Get a Child-safe iPod browser that encrypts web traffic over unsecured WiFi hotspots.

Baby mobile internet Protection tip #nine: Wireless Safety extends to 3G and 4G too. Apple has restricted A few iPod, iPhone and iPad capabilities to WiFi best, whilst others paintings to your service’s 3G or 4G sign. make certain your iPod’s Infant-secure browser’s Safety measures live intact while you turn from cellular to WiFi, or vice versa.

Baby cell internet Safety tip #10: Allow age appropriate net use. Remember that as your kid a while, you may need a Child-secure iPod browser that has graduated degrees of web get admission to for older kids.

cell internet Safety answers start first and predominant with internet filtering. Block the sites which can be going to cause issues. But through ways, the great way to defend your kids is to sit down and speak cell internet Safety. here are A few websites to get you started out.