This and that | Ripple's Web

Mars: War Logs Review

Developer: Spiders
Publisher: Focus
Platform(s): PC (reviewed), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
UK Price: £14.99
US Price: $19.99

We recommend Mars: War Logs. That’s a curt appraisal that goes against the score you’ll see on the next page. It’s a strange recommendation, because it’s not one that coincides with a suggestion that the game is particularly good. It’s instead an interesting bookmark for people who’ve a formal interest in game design or criticism. If that’s you, it’s something you should look at, because it’s a great way to understand the difference between a game that gets everything right and one that stumbles spectacularly in so many little areas it entirely fails to justify itself.

Mars: War Logs has a lot of the hallmarks of an excellent game. It’s got a combat system that’s learned from The Witcher’s tactical dodging, parrying and negative status-conferring. It has the kind of exploration and attempts at character work that you’d expect out of Mass Effect, plus a morality system and ways to have a sense of authorship over the way missions end. There’s an interesting crafting system that has you adding components to your existing gear in order to convey different advantages and there’s a plot that can weave and turn with your actions.

None of this emulation, nor the ideas that the game progenerates, succeed and instead appear as if the designers have missed the purpose of their inclusion.

Set in Distant-Future Mars, you play as Roy, a prisoner of war captured by nebulously defined Baddies. The aim of the first act is to escape from your imprisonment and subsequent chapters involve you attempting to overthrow evil by way of helping out strangers with menial tasks that usually involve hitting people with improvised weaponry. The character motivations are rote and the plot itself seems like justification for progression rather than something that works interactivity around it’s own storytelling aims.

Partly why game stories are worth seeing isn’t for their eventual culmination or the events along the way, it’s the character work that propels the player forward. You won’t want to talk to anyone more than you have to, the dialogue is awfully written ([url=www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovAJdz_932w]here’s a link to just one example[/url]‎) and the voice acting is just as sub par.

Progressing through that story will involve hundreds of minor skirmishes. There are four types of enemy you can fight. Humans and Mars-Indigenous Moles are almost directly comparable, rarer Technomancer enemies wielding a variety of defensive abilities offer slightly more challenge. Finally, you’ll fight “dogs” (actually massive quadrupedal prawns) who can only be attacked from behind. War Logs suggests it contains a variety of options, but the most effective method is constantly rolling away from danger and performing brief melee attacks when it suits you for every single enemy in the game. You’ve the ability to increase the effectiveness of your “technomancer” abilities that can boost weapon damage, provide a shield or shoot projectiles, but it’s just not as effective as pumping skill points into improving the aforementioned rolling tactic as there’s a cap on how much you can use those abilities without recharging.

You’ve partner AIs that join you in combat, but only a character that’s brought into your party in the last act of the game has any effectiveness as a fighter rather than a tool with which to draw some of the enemies away from you and eventually faint. There’s no way to outfit these partner characters with better equipment nor specialise their skills in any way. It leaves you feeling as if there’s barely a reason for their assistance.

Often during a mission you’ll have to take back something that’s stolen or collect money backtracking constantly through the same areas. You’ll usually be given a choice between intimidating the target or hopping into a fight. Intimidation might not work and could transition into combat anyway. This kind of system works elsewhere because you’d have the option to put stat points into your abilities to talk people into agreeing with you. Here the only character upgrades you can make are directly tied to your effectiveness in battle. You don’t get the sense that you’re making decisions based on the route you’ve chosen for your character, instead it’s just selecting an option that may spare you a fight or not work and is essentially the same choice presented differently.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/gaming/~3/FiSO6c8bPKo/1

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamingRipplesWeb/~3/rubBwp6eW28/

Alive Without Breath: Three Dimensional Animals Painted in Layers of Resin by Keng Lye

June 18th, 2013 · 14 Comments · ART, BLOG

Singapore-based artist Keng Lye creates near life-like sculptures of animals relying on little but paint, resin and a phenomenal sense of perspective. Lye slowly fills bowls, buckets, and boxes with alternating layers of acrylic paint and resin, creating aquatic animal life that looks so real it could almost pass for a photograph. The artist is using a technique very similar to Japanese painter Riusuke Fukahori who was featured on this blog a little over a year ago, though Lye seems to take things a step further by making his paint creations protrude from the surface, adding another level of dimension to a remarkable medium. See much more of this series titled Alive Without Breath over ondeviantART.

See more photos at the SOURCE.

1,414 views

Article source: http://jaredleto.com/thisiswhoireallyam/2013/06/18/alive-without-breath-three-dimensional-animals-painted-in-layers-of-resin-by-keng-lye/

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nicolaus Mills.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/opinion/mills-jfk-berlin-speech/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/PClsSCRhtE8/ich-bin-ein-berliner-speech-defined-jfk

NOTES FROM THE OUTERNET PHOTO: The White Horse

June 18th, 2013 · 9 Comments · ART, PHOTOS

655 views

Article source: http://jaredleto.com/thisiswhoireallyam/2013/06/18/notes-from-the-outernet-photo-the-white-horse/

During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama said, of the approximately 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, more than half — 34,000 — will come home in the next year and the country’s war in Afghanistan would be over by the end of 2014.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was sheltering al Qaeda when the terror network launched attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. The next month, the United States cranked up military operations that led to the toppling of the Taliban government.

Ever since, international forces have been fighting radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

What does this news mean for Afghanistan and the United States? Here are some key questions that will be asked in the coming months:

1. Are the Afghan troops up to the task?

There are certainly doubts.

A Pentagon review in December found that only one of 23 Afghan army brigades was capable of functioning on its own.

Meanwhile, literacy rates are low, desertion rates are high, and many deserters have joined the insurgency. There also have been a troubling number of “green-on-blue” attacks: Afghan troops attacking their American comrades.

But then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke positively about the progress Afghans had made in growing their army, reducing violence and becoming more self-sufficient. At the time, Afghan forces were leading nearly 90% of operations across the country.

“We’re on the right path to give (Afghanistan) the opportunity to govern itself,” Panetta said.

Karzai has said he welcomes the U.S. troop withdrawal and insists his army can defend the country against the Taliban.

“It is exactly our job to deal with it, and we are capable of dealing with it,” Karzai said during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

2. What are the biggest challenges?

The main fear among Afghans is that the country could revert to another civil war once the United States withdraws its combat troops.

“Some people we’ve spoken to sort of take it for granted that there’s going to be a civil war when the United States leaves,” said CNN’s Erin Burnett on a trip last year to Afghanistan. “It happened before when the Soviet Union left (in 1989).”

Above all, Karzai said the Afghan army needs the tools to battle the insurgents, namely more equipment and firepower. He came to the Pentagon in January with a wish list asking for more helicopters, drones and other hardware, according to a senior defense official.

“We need an air force. We need air mobility,” Karzai told Amanpour. “We need proper mechanized forces. We need, you know, armored vehicles and tanks and all that.”

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, once America’s top commander in Afghanistan, said the Afghan people are “terrified.”

“They’re terrified because they think they have something to lose,” McChrystal said. “There has been progress made. There is a better life. There are girls in school. There are things that are better than they were and opportunities potentially ahead.

“But they’re afraid that if we completely abandon them in 2014, as they perceive we did in 1989, (things) would all go back.”

And in Washington, there are worries that the wrong move could put the United States right back where it started, with nothing to show for a bloody conflict that started in 2001.

3. How big a threat does the Taliban still pose?

The Taliban are still “resilient and determined,” according to a recent Pentagon report, and pose a major security threat.

The Taliban continues to carry out high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, even targeting the Afghan Supreme Court during a suicide attack in June. Another strike targeted a building near Kabul airport.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber attacked the convoy of Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a member of parliament, killing three people and wounding 21 others. Three bodyguards were among the injured. Mohaqiq — a Shiite and an ethnic Hazara — is a member of Afghanistan’s political opposition.

Despite the ongoing insurgency, Karzai seems eager to resume stalled peace talks with the Taliban and include them in the political process.

The High Peace Council of Afghanistan will go to Qatar and participate in talks with the Taliban, Karzai said Tuesday.

The move coincides with the Taliban opening an office in the Gulf nation of Qatar. The council is a body that Karzai appointed to work toward ending the fighting and seeking peace with militants.

“With the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar, we hope peace talks will start soon,” Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

The Taliban pulled out of talks last year, but Karzai said in January that they “are very much conveying to us that they want to have peace talks. They’re also people. They’re also families. They also suffer, like the rest of Afghans are suffering.”

Javid Ahmad, a Kabul native now with the Asia Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said he believes revitalized peace talks are essential to Afghanistan’s future and to the legacy of America’s war.

4. What support will the United States and allies provide?

American forces, now at about 66,000, are expected to dip to 32,000 by the end of the year and further throughout 2014.

The plan is to withdraw all combat troops but keep a residual force in the country to help train Afghans and carry out counterterrorism operations when needed.

The size of that force is still being discussed.

Gen. John Allen, the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, recommended between 6,000 and 15,000 troops. But that figure was lowered to a range between 2,500 and 9,000, according to a defense official.

The United States and NATO have pledged to continue to support and train Afghan forces in what Rasmussen deems a “new relationship,” starting in 2015.

Acknowledging that there is still much to do in the interim 18 months, Rasmussen said, “Today, our shared goal is in sight.”

CNN’s Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/world/asia/afghanistan-handover/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/AXtTYGJCgHU/afghan-forces-take-over-now-what

During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama said, of the approximately 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, more than half — 34,000 — will come home in the next year and the country’s war in Afghanistan would be over by the end of 2014.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was sheltering al Qaeda when the terror network launched attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. The next month, the United States cranked up military operations that led to the toppling of the Taliban government.

Ever since, international forces have been fighting radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

What does this news mean for Afghanistan and the United States? Here are some key questions that will be asked in the coming months:

1. Are the Afghan troops up to the task?

There are certainly doubts.

A Pentagon review in December found that only one of 23 Afghan army brigades was capable of functioning on its own.

Meanwhile, literacy rates are low, desertion rates are high, and many deserters have joined the insurgency. There also have been a troubling number of “green-on-blue” attacks: Afghan troops attacking their American comrades.

But then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke positively about the progress Afghans had made in growing their army, reducing violence and becoming more self-sufficient. At the time, Afghan forces were leading nearly 90% of operations across the country.

“We’re on the right path to give (Afghanistan) the opportunity to govern itself,” Panetta said.

Karzai has said he welcomes the U.S. troop withdrawal and insists his army can defend the country against the Taliban.

“It is exactly our job to deal with it, and we are capable of dealing with it,” Karzai said during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

2. What are the biggest challenges?

The main fear among Afghans is that the country could revert to another civil war once the United States withdraws its combat troops.

“Some people we’ve spoken to sort of take it for granted that there’s going to be a civil war when the United States leaves,” said CNN’s Erin Burnett on a trip last year to Afghanistan. “It happened before when the Soviet Union left (in 1989).”

Above all, Karzai said the Afghan army needs the tools to battle the insurgents, namely more equipment and firepower. He came to the Pentagon in January with a wish list asking for more helicopters, drones and other hardware, according to a senior defense official.

“We need an air force. We need air mobility,” Karzai told Amanpour. “We need proper mechanized forces. We need, you know, armored vehicles and tanks and all that.”

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, once America’s top commander in Afghanistan, said the Afghan people are “terrified.”

“They’re terrified because they think they have something to lose,” McChrystal said. “There has been progress made. There is a better life. There are girls in school. There are things that are better than they were and opportunities potentially ahead.

“But they’re afraid that if we completely abandon them in 2014, as they perceive we did in 1989, (things) would all go back.”

And in Washington, there are worries that the wrong move could put the United States right back where it started, with nothing to show for a bloody conflict that started in 2001.

3. How big a threat does the Taliban still pose?

The Taliban are still “resilient and determined,” according to a recent Pentagon report, and pose a major security threat.

The Taliban continues to carry out high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, even targeting the Afghan Supreme Court during a suicide attack in June. Another strike targeted a building near Kabul airport.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber attacked the convoy of Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a member of parliament, killing three people and wounding 21 others. Three bodyguards were among the injured. Mohaqiq — a Shiite and an ethnic Hazara — is a member of Afghanistan’s political opposition.

Despite the ongoing insurgency, Karzai seems eager to resume stalled peace talks with the Taliban and include them in the political process.

The High Peace Council of Afghanistan will go to Qatar and participate in talks with the Taliban, Karzai said Tuesday.

The move coincides with the Taliban opening an office in the Gulf nation of Qatar. The council is a body that Karzai appointed to work toward ending the fighting and seeking peace with militants.

“With the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar, we hope peace talks will start soon,” Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

The Taliban pulled out of talks last year, but Karzai said in January that they “are very much conveying to us that they want to have peace talks. They’re also people. They’re also families. They also suffer, like the rest of Afghans are suffering.”

Javid Ahmad, a Kabul native now with the Asia Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said he believes revitalized peace talks are essential to Afghanistan’s future and to the legacy of America’s war.

4. What support will the United States and allies provide?

American forces, now at about 66,000, are expected to dip to 32,000 by the end of the year and further throughout 2014.

The plan is to withdraw all combat troops but keep a residual force in the country to help train Afghans and carry out counterterrorism operations when needed.

The size of that force is still being discussed.

Gen. John Allen, the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, recommended between 6,000 and 15,000 troops. But that figure was lowered to a range between 2,500 and 9,000, according to a defense official.

The United States and NATO have pledged to continue to support and train Afghan forces in what Rasmussen deems a “new relationship,” starting in 2015.

Acknowledging that there is still much to do in the interim 18 months, Rasmussen said, “Today, our shared goal is in sight.”

CNN’s Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/world/asia/afghanistan-handover/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/AXtTYGJCgHU/afghan-forces-take-over-now-what

Rock zapping laser not included.

(Credit:
Stephen Pakbaz)

Here’s another accomplishment that NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover can add to its resume: the Mars-trotting robot will soon become an official Lego model.

Lego recently announced Curiosity’s new gig after wrapping up its formal review process of creations that passed 10,000 votes on Lego’s Kickstarter-esque Web site Cuusoo. Ironically, mechanical engineer Stephen Pakbaz, who worked on Curiosity for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, created the design for the 1:20 scale Lego version of the rover.

“The product aligns well with the Lego Group’s mission to “inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow,” including those who will build our future in outer space,” Lego community manager Tim Courtney said in a statement. “Like the Back to the Future Time Machine, which was approved in the Summer Review, the model presented in this project is built very closely to the Lego Group’s design standards and so the final product will be very close to Perijove’s original design.”

For those wanting to build the Rover now, feel free to check out these step-by-step instructions (PDF) provided by Pakbaz.

Lego didn’t state any price or availability for the official brick version of Earth’s latest visitor to the Red Planet, but the Danish company did promise an update “in the coming months.”

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/EzXiiXASbpU/

Rock zapping laser not included.

(Credit:
Stephen Pakbaz)

Here’s another accomplishment that NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover can add to its resume: the Mars-trotting robot will soon become an official Lego model.

Lego recently announced Curiosity’s new gig after wrapping up its formal review process of creations that passed 10,000 votes on Lego’s Kickstarter-esque Web site Cuusoo. Ironically, mechanical engineer Stephen Pakbaz, who worked on Curiosity for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, created the design for the 1:20 scale Lego version of the rover.

“The product aligns well with the Lego Group’s mission to “inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow,” including those who will build our future in outer space,” Lego community manager Tim Courtney said in a statement. “Like the Back to the Future Time Machine, which was approved in the Summer Review, the model presented in this project is built very closely to the Lego Group’s design standards and so the final product will be very close to Perijove’s original design.”

For those wanting to build the Rover now, feel free to check out these step-by-step instructions (PDF) provided by Pakbaz.

Lego didn’t state any price or availability for the official brick version of Earth’s latest visitor to the Red Planet, but the Danish company did promise an update “in the coming months.”

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/EzXiiXASbpU/

NOTES FROM THE OUTERNET PHOTO: Shannon in Berlin

June 17th, 2013 · 16 Comments · GERMANY, MARS, PHOTOS

1,982 views

Article source: http://jaredleto.com/thisiswhoireallyam/2013/06/17/notes-from-the-outernet-photo-shannon-in-berlin/

Anonymous Confessions

June 17th, 2013 · 16 Comments · ART, BLOG

As they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – but what if we could share with full discretion? Everyone of us has his own little secrets and ‘Confessions’, a public art project by american artist Candy Chang, invites people to anonymously share their confessions and see the confessions of people around them in the heart of the Las Vegas strip. Chang lived in Las Vegas for a month and turned her P3 Studio gallery into a contemplative place for people to share their confessions and being fascinated by the secrets others hide inside themselves. Inspired by Post Secret, Shinto shrine prayer walls, and Catholicism, people could write and submit their confessions on wooden plaques in the privacy of confession booths.

Read more at the SOURCE.

1,333 views

Article source: http://jaredleto.com/thisiswhoireallyam/2013/06/17/anonymous-confessions/