Thursday 28 February 2013

Sony sells Tokyo office for $1.2 billion

Shit. Last time I said Sony was just selling all it's stuff to make finances look good I was kind of joking...

Sony sells Tokyo office for $1.2 billion: Sony lets go of an office building as it consolidates assets

Playdemic appoints Eidos Life President as Chairman

I heard Ian Livingstone's actually a sith lord who will one day proclaim himself 'Emperor for Life' of the whole industry.

Playdemic appoints Eidos Life President as Chairman: Games industry veteran Ian Livingstone becomes Playdemic's chairman

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Physicist Builds Machine to Remove Cream from Oreos, Changes EVERYTHING

This guy is hilarious!

Physicist Builds Machine to Remove Cream from Oreos, Changes EVERYTHING:




Physicist, artist and copywriter David Neevel is all business, which is to say he's all about the cookie. Neevel so abhors creme filling, he built an Oreo Separator Machine (OSM) to first split the tasty sandwich in twain, and then flay its frosty white coating by way of a carefully calibrated CNC machine.*
"I don't have a catchphrase for my machine," says Neevel, "but if I did have one I guess it could be something like 'Let's Get That Creme Outta There,' or like, 'This Creme's No Good Get it Off the Cookie,' or something."
We may not agree with your taste for de-cremed Oreo cookies, David. But dammit if we don't respect your sheer mechanical ingenuity.
*We are well aware that David Neevel built his machine as part of Nabisco's "Cookie vs. Cream" campaign. We're not even mad. In our mind, all that matters is that Neevel loves cookies enough to build a complicated de-creme machine — and that much, I think we can all agree, is abundantly clear.

The BBC's new series In the Flesh highlights the troubles of being an ex-zombie

The BBC's new series In the Flesh highlights the troubles of being an ex-zombie:




Zombies? Played out. Ex-Zombies? Now that's where the drama's at — at least according to In the Flesh, BBC Three's new series about Keiran, a young ten who just so happens to have died four years ago and turned into a zombie. Now he's been "cured." and is ready to return home — with the guilt of the people he ate weighing on his mind, and the less-than-warm reception waiting for him by those who fought zombies (and lost loved ones to them) during the brief zombie uprising. Here's the official synopsis:
Now known as PDS sufferers (Partially Deceased Syndrome) - and since the passing of the PDS Protection act - the government have set an agenda of acceptance and tolerance, one that is at odds with the communities abandoned at the time of the rising, and the bloody battle between zombies and humans that ensued.
A cauldron of brutal anti-zombie sentiment and the source of the 'rotter' hating Human Volunteer Force (HVF), Kieren returns to his home in the rural village of Roarton. Here he is forced to confront his family, the community that rejected him and the flashbacks that continue to haunt him of what he did in his untreated state.
Maybe you don't have room in your heart for yet more zombie entertainment — I don't think anyone could blame you — but this seems like a pretty intriguing way to look at how society accepts (or doesn't accept) its monsters once they've been "rehabilitated." The series premieres next month.
[Via Twitch]

THQ auctioning remaining IP on April 1 | GamesIndustry International

Quick whip-round so we can make Homeworld 3?

THQ auctioning remaining IP on April 1 | GamesIndustry International:

'via Blog this'

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Transplanted Brain Cells Can Outlast The Body's Biological Clock

I think this says I can put my flesh-brain in a robot body and it'll live forever. Huzzah \o/

Transplanted Brain Cells Can Outlast The Body's Biological Clock:
Transplanted Brain Cells Can Outlast The Body's Biological Clock The problem with cells is that they have an expiry date. They can only replicate so many times before they hit a biologically predetermined limit and sputter out. But a recent study by neuroscientist Lorenzo Magrassi from the University of Pavia in Italy shows that mammalian neurons are not subject to this kind of replicative aging and, when introduced into a longer-lived organism, will keep on living long after the expected expiry date. The maximum lifespan of these brain cells is still not known, but Magrassi's discovery could have serious implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases — and possibly even life-extending therapies as well.
Working with Ketty Leto and Ferdinando Rossi (both from the University of Turin), Magrassi devised a rather creative experiment. The short version is that precursor brain cells were taken from mice and transplanted into rats (which is incredible unto itself), resulting in the doubling of the expected lifespan of the neurons.
Transplanted Brain Cells Can Outlast The Body's Biological Clock In terms of the details, the researchers transplanted cerebellar precursors that were pulled from embryonic mice into the brains of young — but longer-living — rats. The scientists did so by inserting a glass microneedle through the abdomens of anesthetized pregnant mice. And to track the neurons, the team injected green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the precursors (thereby allowing them to differentiate mice and rat cells at the end of the experiment).
As the young rats matured, these donor cells differentiated into their various neuronal types and integrated themselves quite nicely within the rat's cerebellum. Interestingly, these cells retained the unique physical characteristics indicative of their mice origin (they were smaller) — but it didn't prove to be a problem for the rats.
Magrassi paid particular attention to Purkinje cells (PCs), of which 40% tend to die off in mice long before they die of old age. The Wistar rats, on the other hand, only lose about 10% at the same stage.
And here's where the experiment got interesting. Normally, all of these brain cells would die once a mouse reaches the 18-month mark (which is the average lifespan of this type of mouse); as their bodies start to senesce and fail, so too do the neurons (the conditions in the microenvironment are no longer conducive to neuronal health). Subsequently, Magrassi and his team were curious to see what was going to happen after this critical 18-month mark.
And indeed, these mice neurons — now firmly embedded in the cerebellum of a midlife rat (a "longer-living host") — continued to function normally. In fact, they remained healthy for the entire 36-month lifespan of the rat.
This led Magrassi to state in the ensuing paper that, "in the absence of pathologic conditions, [neuronal] lifespan is limited only by the maximum lifespan of the organism." There is no "predetermined genetic clock," he concluded.
The ensuing question is an obvious one: Given a healthy body (i.e. a fully healthy microenvironment), just how long can these neurons keep on living? Magrassi and his colleagues don't have an answer to this question, but it would certainly make for an interesting follow-up study (for example, transplantation to even longer-lived rats or other mammals).
The experiment also shows that neurons are a special class of cells — cells that aren't subject to the same replicative limits imposed on other types of cells. Consequently, as long as the microenvironment is healthy (which could be maintained by other external interventions), the neurons could conceivably remain healthy for an extended period as well. This bodes well for the development of therapies treating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and for life-extending interventions in general.
The entire study can be read at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Images: Lorenzo Magrassi.

10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time

10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time:
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All TimeBoard games are great way to prove your intellectual superiority to your friends. But aren't they even better when they involve a sprawling science fiction premise? It's no fun to wave fake money in your friend's faces at the end of Monopoly when what you could be doing is waving the most powerful starship. If you're going to bother conquering Earth as it is in Risk, why not conquer Earth as it will be in 2210? Clue is fun and all, but you could be solving a murder while also dealing with the conflict between your robot coding and your fascination with humans.
Here are 10 of the greatest board games with high-tech and futuristic premises.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 10. U.S. Patent No. 1

Who doesn't want to play a game that combines the excitement of time travel with the fascinating world of patent law? In U.S. Patent No.1, players race to be the first to put together a time machine. Once that's built, you use the machine to get the first patent. Not the first patent on a time machine, but you travel back in time to the day the United States opened the patent office and you get the first ever patent. It's the only game on this list that ends with you winning by getting to be the first to fill out paperwork.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 9. Risk 2210 A.D.

In 2002, Risk 2210 A.D. won the Origins Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game of 2001, and it's pretty easy to see why. The game combines the an already classic board game with a futuristic conceit. How often have you thought that what Risk was missing was the chance to occupy the moon? Or the sea? For added hilarity, you can conquer the Southern Anarchist Control Zone in Antarctica. The game adds complexity to the original Risk by adding commanders, who have access to decks with cards with special attacks and strategies. So if you've ever wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on Australia, get a Nuclear Commander and go for it.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 8. Pandemic

Pandemic, its second edition, and its expansion are interesting because players don't compete against each other, they work together to beat the game. The game starts with global extinction pending as four diseases threaten to wipe out different regions. Each player is randomly assigned a role, with different skills and strengths, and the players all have to work together to save the world.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 7. Galaxy Trucker

In the future, not everyone can have a glamorous job. Some people have to haul materials for a sewage company. The game has three rounds, and each round has three stages: ship building, checking everyone's ships, and the actual race. A lot of the fun in Galaxy Trucker comes from your attachment to your newly built ship. First, you curse your friend if they get the component you want. Then you curse your own stupidity when you discover that you incorrectly attached a component, and it falls off. Then you curse when your ship gets hit by an asteroid. The purpose of the game is to have the most money at the end, but a lot of the time, you'll just be thinking about making to the end of the round, much less the game.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 6. Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Encounter falls into a pretty common category for science fiction board games: galactic conquest. Every player starts with a five-planet home system with the goal of occupying five bases in other systems. In each turn, they are dealt a card indicating which other system they have to attack. Players negotiate alliances and make deals to try to get to their goal. So far, pretty typical. What makes this game really stand out is that players get an "alien power," which is basically a special characteristic of their race that allows them to bend a critical game rule.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 5. Android

Android is a cyberpunk noir game. The goal is to solve a murder, Clue-style. Or the goal is to figure out the conspiracy also taking place. Or the goal is to resolve your character's personal problems. Or a combination of the three. The winner is the player who has the most "Victory Points" at the end, which are determined by success in the categories above. So, for example, if another player is obsessed with solving the murder, you can focus on some other problem and still win. As for the cyberpunk elements, the game takes place in "New Angeles," which is pretty much future Los Angeles with a space elevator, and "Heinlein," a moon colony. It also allows a player to not only be a standard noir-ish characters (crooked cop, bounty hunter, P.I.) but also an android having trouble with his code or a psychic clone.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 4. Star Trek: Fleet Captains

This is a game that allows players to live out their fantasies of commanding a Federation fleet or a Klingon fleet. Each player starts out at opposite sides of a brand new, unexplored sector of space, and moves through it hoping to uncover planets with resources and not ones with hostile lifeforms. Eventually, of course, players will end up pitting the Enterprise against a Bird of Prey, but even that battle may not determine a winner.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 3. Roborally

Who doesn't want to play a game where the premise is that a bored supercomputer has decided to race a robot against those of other bored supercomputers? A lot of game play is based on the idea that, as a computer and a robot, the player isn't making up-to-the-minute decisions. Instead, at the start of each round, each player reveals five commands it has given to his robot. With those locked in, players could end up watching in horror as their robots collide and end up right in the path of the obstacles they were trying to avoid.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 2. Twilight Imperium (3rd Edition)

Word of warning: this game is long. And complex. And long. However, if you and your friends stick it out, Twilight Imperium is a really satisfying galactic-conquest game. The game takes place in a galaxy suffering from a power vacuum, since the fall of the previous ruling race. Players each represent a race trying to take that throne. But the goals here are not just militaristic conquest ones, but can be diplomatic or trade related. Depending on the cards a player's dealt, he can be trying to get enough resources to upgrade his planet's technology, while another player is trying to get a certain law passed.
10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time 1. Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

Anyone else remember playing Mafia when they were kids? A small number of players were "the Mafia," and each night they murdered someone, and during the day, everyone tried to figure out who they were and murder them right back? Well, Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is like that on steroids. The humans are working together to solve crises and reach Kobol, and the undercover Cylons are trying to sabotage that. Of course, unlike Mafia, even if the humans find and airlock the Cylons, they just resurrect on a Basestar. Then, instead of sabotage, they just try to blow the fleet out of the sky. Humans win by making it to Kobol, while Cylons win by destroying the Galactica or getting the humans to run out of resources. In that respect, the ending of the game is much more logical than that of the show.

Friday 22 February 2013

The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5

The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5:
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 February 22, 2013, marks the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Babylon 5: The Gathering, the pilot film for what would eventually become the Babylon 5 television series. The show arguably changed the way narrative television works, and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski also changed the rules for TV creators by actively engaging his fanbase online during the show's production.
Straczynski's online discussions reveal how drastically Babylon 5 changed from its initial pilot to its actual premiere a year later. Archived and broken down by thread at JMSNews.com and by episode at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, these discussions offer a rare and fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day evolution of an innovative television series. Indeed, Straczynski's diary of Babylon 5's inception is almost as triumphant, tragic, hope-filled and heartbreaking as the show itself.
And So, It Begins
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5
"For the fans: no cute robots, no kids." (JMSNews 12/4/1991)
Frustrated with the stagnation of science fiction television, Straczynski had set the following criteria for his show:
1) It would have to be good science fiction

2) It would have to be good television (rarely are scifi shows both)

3) It would have to take an adult approach to scifi and attempt to do for scifi television what Hill Street Blues did for cop shows

4) It would have to be affordable

5) It would have to look unlike anything ever seen before on TV

6) It would present not just individual stories but present those stories against a much broader canvas

(JMSNews 11/20/91)
While science fiction literature had long ago matured into a genre fit for adults, science fiction television had stalled in a state of suspended adolescence, dominated by cleanly defined heroes and villains, simplistic plots and storytelling that wrapped everything up neatly at the end of each episode.
Years earlier, television police dramas had found themselves in a similar predicament. Speaking of the evolution of police dramas and their relation to Babylon 5, Straczynski wrote: "[Hill Street Blues] was about the redefinition of heroes; the hero as bureaucrat (Furillo), the hero as ordinary man (Hill and Renko), the hero as psycho (Belker), the hero as sleazebag (Buntz), and that genuinely struck me as the core of that show... that heroes aren't always what we think they're supposed to be, and that there is that spark that can be found in the unlikeliest of places." — (JMSNews 9/28/1992)
More than anything else, the idea that heroes are found in the most unlikely places is what distinguished Babylon 5 from its forebears. But who were these unlikely heroes? And how did their story evolve in the early development of the show?
The Trapdoors
"A destination may be fixed on the horizon... but sometimes the most fun you have is getting lost from time to time on the way there." (JMSNews 1/16/1995)
Babylon 5 was to be a "novel for television" (JMSNews 1/13/1993) with a defined beginning, middle and end to be played out over multiple seasons.
"The trouble, of course," wrote Straczynski, "is that unlike writing a novel, where characters exist only on a sheet of paper, actors... can get sick, they can get into contract disputes, they can get hit by meteors... Consequently, in drafting the story for Babylon 5, I made sure... there is a ‘trap door' built into the storyline for every character." (JMSNews 5/19/1994)
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 A "trap door" is a character who may fill in for another and keep the story moving forward. A number of trap doors are set off between The Gathering and the premiere of the main series a year later: Doctor Benjamin Kyle is replaced by Doctor Stephen Franklin, Lt. Commander Laurel Takashima is replaced by Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova and telepath Lyta Alexander (left) is replaced by telepath Talia Winters. When Andrea Thompson later left the show to join NYPD Blue, Patricia Tallman reprised her role as Lyta and finished off the telepath storyline, making her the only character on the show to execute the difficult "double trap door" maneuver.
Additional trap doors in the form of assistants and attachés were added for each of the core ambassadors: Lennier of the Minbari was Delenn's trap door, Na'Toth of the Narn was G'Kar's, Vir of the Centauri was Londo's. Since each ambassador was on a diplomatic mission and subject to bureaucratic oversight, this scheme made it plausible to continue the storylines should any of the ambassadors leave the show. Thankfully, none did, and as a result the show had a rich stock of supporting characters to carry it forward.
Of all the trapdoors, the trickiest one was the door that was never meant to open: Jeffrey Sinclair, or more specifically, Jeffrey Sinclair's love interest. One of the major plotlines on Babylon 5 involves the discovery of Za'ha'dum, the homeworld of an ancient and malevolent race known as "the Shadows." Originally, this discovery was to be made by Sinclair's on-again-off-again romantic interest, planetary explorer Carolyn Sykes (Blaire Baron.) When Baron didn't return to the show, her character was retconned over with Catherine Sakai, also a planetary explorer, also Sinclair's love interest. When Sinclair was ultimately replaced with John Sheridan, the planetary explorer becomes Sheridan's wife, Anna.
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 By the time the role of "commander's love interest who discovers Z'ha'dum" fell to Anna Sheridan (left), there simply wasn't time for that aspect of the story to unfold at a natural pace. We only hear about Anna's disappearance retrospectively, with most of the creepy Shadow-inspired dialogue having fallen to Mr. Morden, one of Anna's colleagues who becomes errand boy to the Shadows.
Had Catherine Sakai or Carolyn Sykes remained on the show, the story may well have unfolded very differently. By transferring this storyline to a character who is not seen until she returns corrupted by the Shadows (except in a brief video log), Straczynski put the entire emotional burden of this storyline on John Sheridan and Delenn, with whom Sheridan had fallen in love. The audience had no relationship with Anna Sheridan, so we could only feel the horror and loss of John's predicament through Bruce Boxleitner's performance, not through anything we'd seen Anna endure.
This made the casting of Bruce Boxleitner's wife Melissa Gilbert in the role of Anna a particularly nice touch. Knowing that we are watching a real-life married couple helps restore some of the emotional impact lost by not making Anna a regular character.
Delenn
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 "[The Minbari ambassador's] name is Delenn. And he stays very close to Commander Sinclair." (JMSNews 12/31/91)
Delenn (Mira Furlan, Lost) is the ambassador of the Minbari, an ancient, secretive and mysterious race against whom the humans had fought a long and bloody war. That war ended ten years earlier with the surprise surrender of the Minbari right at their moment of victory.
Delenn was originally intended to be male but was always going to be played by a female. The intention was that he would transform into a female in the episode "Chrysalis," where he takes on human characteristics in order to act as a bridge between our two species.
"What we have, basically, is a female actor playing a male character. Women simply *move* differently than men do; the gestures, the tilt of the head, the smile, it's just a shade different... When you look at the finished product, you are looking at a male, but there's something wrong about it somewhere, and it makes you a little uncertain... that sense that your eyes and your brain are in conflict somewhere about what you're seeing." (JMSNews 8/9/1992)
Sadly, what the left hand of darkness gives, the right hand often takes away. For purely technical reasons, what would have been a groundbreaking moment in transgendered science fiction was not to be. The voice alteration technology needed to make Delenn sound male simply wasn't up to the task and Straczynski ultimately chose to make Delenn unambiguously female when the series premiered: "We've now gone through about every possible electronic alteration, and frankly, none of them sound as convincing as I'd like. Many of them sound *okay*, but we've taken a hard and fast position on this show that ‘okay' is simply not sufficient. So we've decided to leave Delenn female." (JMSNews 12/14/1992)
The remnants of "male Delenn" can still be seen in The Gathering. Delenn's facial prosthetic extends around her jawline and down her nose, giving her face a more pronounced masculine quality. Delenn's gender is never mentioned in The Gathering. In the premiere episode a year later, her jaw and nose are unmodified, her features more distinctly female and her gender is explicitly referenced as female.
The effect of this change can be seen most profoundly at the start of the second season, when Delenn emerges from the Chrysalis with human characteristics. The transition from Minbari to human feels less radical than it may have been, had she been the more androgynous Delenn of The Gathering.
G'Kar
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 "I have a strong hunch that Londo and G'Kar are going to be real break-out characters." (JMSNews 8/13/92)
G'Kar is the ambassador for the Narn, a proud race of warriors whose homeworld had until recently been occupied by the Centauri, an aristocratic race of imperialists represented on Babylon 5 by Londo Molari. The evolution of G'Kar, whose name was originally spelled "Jackarr" (JMSNews 6/17/1992) went a bit more according to plan than Delenn's.
While it's clear that Straczynski was getting a good deal of traction with his "Hill Street Blues... in SPACE!" premise, it's also true that TV executives like easily defined heroes and villains. G'Kar represented a kind of a false flag, a comic villain who would initially provide some easy shenanigans but would over time evolve into something more.
Speaking of the role that G'Kar plays in the story, Straczynski said: "We've all seen the SF standard of The Villain Who Chews Scenery... I wanted to take that and use it just long enough to get folks comfortable with the convention... then pull the rug out from under them." (JMSNews 5/1/92)
G'Kar was set up in The Gathering to be the scenery-chewing villain Straczynski describes. When negotiating with telepath Lyta Alexander for the use of her DNA to breed Narn telepaths, he cannot resist offering her additional money for a "natural" mating. You stay classy, G'Kar. And tasked with investigating the poisoning of the Vorlon ambassador, Kosh, G'Kar uses the assignment as an opportunity to grandstand and build alliances against the Centauri.
As the conflict between the Narn and Centauri becomes the key proxy war with the rise of the Shadows, G'Kar transitions from self-serving political player concerned with doing well to a beleaguered military commander concerned with doing good and ultimately to a respected spiritual leader concerned with doing right. It is the best and most touching character arc on the show. There is little evidence in The Gathering of the soulful, introspective warrior of peace whose monologue closed Babylon 5's peak dramatic episode, "Za'ha'dum": "no one knows the shape of [the] future... we only know it is always borne in pain."
The Other Show
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 "Honestly... you people get worried by the damndest things sometimes...." (JMSNews 9/30/1993)
We cannot end our discussion of Babylon 5 without bringing up the wormhole in the room, Star Trek: Deep Space 9.
In the midst of Babylon 5's development, Paramount began production on their second next generation Star Trek show, Deep Space Nine. DS9 was to be a grittier Star Trek with more emphasis on long-form storytelling, more nuanced, conflicted characters, deeper exploration of a smaller number of regular alien races and fewer "alien of the week" episodes.
Similarities between the shows not only in general theme but also in specific execution led some partisans to accuse Paramount of outright stealing Babylon 5's production plan after passing on the project some time earlier. For his part, Straczynski never goes so far as to accuse Paramount of theft, writing "I have never, *ever* felt, or believed, or thought, that Berman or Pillar (sic) EVER saw or knew about the B5 information. Had anyone suggested anything of a less than straightforward nature, they would have refused; of that I have no doubt." (JMSNews 6/19/1995)
His annoyance seemed to stem more from Paramount's refusal to alter the details of Deep Space Nine once the similarities became apparent. Straczynski felt that the similarities between the shows would generate confusion among fans and Paramount's stubbornness stemmed from an arrogant sense of entitlement that the Star Trek franchise "owned" the television space opera market: "I know full well that even if the Warners PR machine got working 24 hours a day on this, half of all viewers will see this show, coming out after DS9, and think it's just a last-minute knockoff or ripoff of DS9". (JMSNews 9/27/1992)
The Strange, Secret Evolution of Babylon 5 It's one of the worst nightmares a writer can face: struggling for years to develop an idea only to be scooped, whether out of theft or innocent coincidence, by a more established name, and the raw emotion it stirred up clearly took its toll on Straczynski. His message dated September 23, 1992, begins: "I am trying very, very, *very* hard not to lose it as this moment" and is followed by an itemized list of the similarities between the shows: DS9 takes place at a port of call for business people, smugglers and diplomats, has a Promenade that resembles the Babylon 5 Zoculo (then called the Bazaar), has a casino, a bar, a brothel, is situated near a hyperspace jump point, features a shapeshifter, a female second in command and an unmarried commanding officer struggling with war trauma.
As for whether Straczynski succeeded in his mission to not "lose it," the prosecution offers his sign off: "Hey, Paramount! Phthpfttttt!"
Two days later, he seems to be more optimistic about moving past the superficial similarities and allowing the two shows to evolve on their own: "the other show is about a space station at which stories take place;" he writes, "ours is a show about one particular story, one saga, which happens to take place on a space station." (JMSNews 9/25/1992)
In the end, both shows were successful on their own terms and an armistice was reached when Majel Barrett-Roddenberry aptly appeared on Babylon 5 as the widow of the Centauri emperor, a man dedicated to peace and reconciliation. Addressing concerns raised by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry about conflict between the shows, Straczynski reassured: "Majel should have no reason to be frightened; as I said, it would be only wonderful for me (and, I suspect, viewers) if both shows were around and healthy five years from now." (JMSNews 11/9/1992)
If Deep Space Nine was an obstacle to Babylon 5, it was only because of the very prejudice Straczynski set out to confront in the first place, namely that no one competes with Star Trek for the TV science fiction audience. Ultimately, he was right that the superficial similarities between the shows were just that: superficial, and that given time to evolve along their separate paths, those similarities would become decreasingly important. By succeeding right alongside "The Other Show," Babylon 5 ultimately achieved more than it set out to: it proved that not only can good science fiction make for good television, but it also doesn't have to be Star Trek to do it. As the old Vorlon proverb goes: understanding is a three edged sword, your side, their side...and the truth.
Jason Shankel is a writer and creative developer who ran to the rock to hide his face, but the rock cried out "no hiding place."
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Scottish independence movement leader inspired by Ghosts of Mars

WTF?
Scottish independence movement leader inspired by Ghosts of Mars:
Scottish independence movement leader inspired by Ghosts of Mars First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, who is also chief of the separatist Scottish National Party (SNP), has confessed to being a huge Marvel comics fan and a slightly ironic admirer of so-bad-it's-awesome movie Ghosts of Mars. At a Scottish Film Fest event hosted by comic book writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass), the First Minister said:
Growing up I bought Marvel comics - which was far from cool at the time. My mother was just glad it wasn't Playboy!




After watching a screening of Ghosts of Mars, the John Carpenter flick about (among other things) a lesbian military that runs Mars, Salmond said the movie was one of his favorites, though he did have some criticism:
It could've been great but it wasn't. The film had a lot going for it, although John Carpenter, the director, gave up movie-making for nine years after this . . . In the first ten minutes, a leading man and a leading lady come on to Natasha [Henstridge]'s character. But there's no sex for the rest of the movie. And in the trailers, they could only show the very end scene because she's in a hospital with virtually nothing on.
Completely true.
Finally, Salmond finished his weird public appearance by telling Millar that the one superpowers he'd like to have are the ones that independence would bring to everyone in Scotland. So . . . Scottish independence means superpowers for everybody? That's a pretty good platform.
Read more at The Sun

Jetpack

Jetpack:
jetpack

Thursday 21 February 2013

PS4 Announcement - Abridged Version - YouTube

This is horrible and mean, but I am actually crying with laughter so I had to share.
PS4 Announcement - Abridged Version - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm Makes Replays Playable

Shared for the helpful and accurate definitions :D

StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm Makes Replays Playable:

The latest trailer for Blizzard’s StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm focuses on eSports and multiplayer. eSports are like regular sports, except it’s playing videogames in a chair, and not sports. Multiplayer is when other people spoil your game for you.
(more…)

No online requirement for PS4

""Yes, you can go offline totally. Social is big for us, but we understand there are some people who are anti-social!"

Yeah! Fuck you, other humans!

No online requirement for PS4: Yoshida confirms "if you don't want to connect to anyone else, you can do that"

New PS4 A PC: RPS DECLARES VICTORY

New PS4 A PC: RPS DECLARES VICTORY:

At Sony’s interminable live conference revealing the PS4, it was announced that it’s built on an x86 CPU, includes an “enhanced PC GPU”, along with a local hard drive (although no mention of SSD). And it comes with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. Also announced are other features that have that nagging sense of familiarity, including live streaming of games, and the ability to stream yourself playing games. It’s a PC!
So, we say welcome Sony! Glad you’ve decided to join us.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Watch the first episode of Robot Combat League in all its rock 'em, sock 'em glory

WTF?

Watch the first episode of Robot Combat League in all its rock 'em, sock 'em glory:
Watch the first episode of Robot Combat League in all its rock 'em, sock 'em glory SyFy just put the first full episode of its Real Steel-esque, robot-fighting/reality/game show online for your viewing pleasure before it premieres on February 26th, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. The robot fighting rigs are much more elaborate than I had supposed, the contestants are interesting, and the fights are genuinely cool. One thing, though, SyFy — I know you think $100,000 is a big deal, but you really negate the power of the prize announcement when you make it immediately after mentioning George Lucas' MMA-fighting daughter Amanda is one of the contestants. $100,000 is what she probably tips at Starbucks.
[Via Nerd Bastards]

Kittens Vs. Tiny Sock Stealing Ninjas!

Kittens Vs. Tiny Sock Stealing Ninjas!:




In the battle between kittens and tiny sock stealing Ninjas we all come out winners. This music video "Wildstyle" by Savant uses the latest technology to what it would look like if tiny thieves were adorably batted to death by kittens. Death by cuteness!
Video created by Corridor Digital.

New Consoles, Same Old Story

New Consoles, Same Old Story: The console cycle rumbles on, but the biggest threat to Sony and Microsoft is the consumer's right to choose

Sony sells off M3 shares as part of reorganisation

First the US HQ, now this. Is Sony's strategy now to just always make a profit by selling it's stuff?

Sony sells off M3 shares as part of reorganisation: Will boost Q4 operating profit by $1.23 billion

Counter-Strike: GO mapper threatened with legal action by Montreal transit authority

LOL WTF?
Counter-Strike: GO mapper threatened with legal action by Montreal transit authority:
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community mapmaker is being threatened by the Société de transport de Montreal after creating map based on the Berri-UQAM Metro station. Diego Liastis recreated the Canadian underground station with some friends, but came to the attention of the transit authority when he requested permission to use the location. The STM have reportedly issued a cease-and-desist, threatening a $50,000 fine plus legal fees if the map is released to the public.
The STM told Liastis that they didn’t want their “copyrighted metro network” to appear in the game. “[The STM] told me that they feared the game could create panic among the city’s public transit users,” Liastis said. Presumably they’re worried about the hopefully tiny portion of Metro users who are not only aware of CS’s mod community, but are also inexplicably terrified of digital representations of places they know.
Despite the STM’s initial refusal, Liastis continued with the project, claiming he doesn’t believe he can be legally blocked from recreating a public space. Map programmer Frédéric Denis called the STM’s response “ridiculous,” saying that potential terrorists could learn about the subway in the same way that he did: by going there and riding it.
Did the existence of this map constitute a terrifying threat? Judge for yourself with the below preview video.

Thanks, Le Journal de Montreal (via The Escapist)