Toyota Pushes Hybrid Models, Scales Back Plans for EV ...

Home???Toyota Pushes Hybrid Models, Scales Back Plans for EV

September 25, 2012

Toyota Pushes Hybrid Models, Scales Back Plans for EV

Toyota will roll out 21 hybrid vehicles by the end of 2015, while scaling back plans for widespread sales of its new all-electric compact in a decision that signals the company?s growing confidence in its hybrid strategy and its tepid view of battery-powered vehicles.

Toyota predicted its sales of hybrid models will likely surpass 1 million this year ? nearly double what it sold in 2011 ? and expects to maintain this level of sales through 2015. Despite its confidence in the hybrid vehicles, Toyota acknowledged the need to cut costs to increase profitability and spur sales, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Toyota will release its all-electric eQ on a limited basis in December to local governments and selected users in Japan and the US, a decision that marks the company?s conservative outlook of the market for battery-powered cars. Toyota said a lack of demand for the technology prompted the automaker to drop its plan for widespread sales.

Early demand for EVs has fallen short of projections, according to a Lux Research report that recommended EV manufacturers focus on strategies other than scaling up production to lower Li-ion battery costs and boost flagging sales.

In 2010, Toyota had announced plans to sell several thousand of the all-electric eQ vehicles per year when it originally unveiled the compact EV.

The eQ compact, which is based on the iQ Scion, features a new high-output lithium-ion battery that uses a minimum amount of space, and boasts an improved electric power consumption rate of 104 Wh/km.

Toyota also announced its sedan-type fuel cell vehicle is scheduled for launch around 2015. The vehicle has a power output density of 3 kW/L, more than twice the density of the fuel cell stack currently used in the fuel cell hybrid prototype, but is about half the size and weight. Toyota also developed a high-efficiency boost converter, which increased the voltage, making it possible to reduce the size of the motor and the number of fuel cells.

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Source: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/09/25/toyota-pushes-hybrid-models-scales-back-plans-for-ev/

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Invent your monsters sparingly: a conversation with Ned Vizzini ...

I sat down with Ned on a Saturday. He was feeling rough, having consumed something gnarly at a dinner party the night before in an incredibly storied Hollywood Hills house. Soon after this interview, he was struck with food poisoning. Ned?s a busy guy: his book, The Other Normals, comes out today, and the TV show he writes for with Nick Antosca, Last Resort, premieres in two days. He?s also working on a movie with Nick called Woogles, and writing a series of middle grade novels with Chris Columbus (of Harry Potter fame). And he?s a relatively new dad. Below is a transcript of our conversation, Ned drinking down gut-calming tea?

I?ve known you since you first came to LA, and I wanna know if there was any event in particular that coincided with you starting this book.

Yeah. There were two things about a decade apart. One was towards the end of high school. I was out with some friends, hanging out in the park. And I hung out with a lot of Russian kids in high school. And I had a shorter, more wily Russian friend, who?s in my first book. His name is Owen. I also had a taller, bigger, more militaristic?

A Dolph Lundgren?

In that vein. He ended up joining the military. He?s the person who told me that the US military still trains against the Russians, that when you?re doing an exercise in the military, you?re still?

Fighting the commies.

Yes. And I asked him why, and he said, ?Because we?re the baddest motherfuckers around.?

That?s awesome.

Anyway, these two friends and I were in the park. I had been into Dungeons & Dragons and Magic cards in high school, and I had this realization that if we were in the fantasy world, my smaller friend would have like the dagger, and my big friend would have the two-handed axe?

They?d be the thief and the barbarian respectively.

Right, and I?d be the warrior! I?d be the leader, I supposed.

You?re the leader and the generalist.

The generalist, right. Sometimes, you just end up staying the generalist long enough to be the leader. But I realized in this group I?d be the one with the sword. And that got me thinking what it would be like to write about someone that finds themselves in a fantasy world. And I?ve always loved narratives that had that moment where the rabbit hole opens and there?s no turning back.

Fast forward to the late 2000?s. After I wrote It?s Kind of a Funny Story, I spent two years working on a book. It had the working title Urban Renewal Renewal. It was about Brooklyn gentrification, specifically about someone that tries to reverse gentrify their neighborhood ? bring in homeless people, drive down property values. It?s one of those ideas that sounds kinda good, and I think that?s why I stuck with it for awhile, and it was my attempt to write a big, adult, literary novel.

Trying the Lethem thing?

Sure. I loved Fortress of Solitude, I love Motherless Brooklyn. There?s a book called The Landlord from the late 60?s [by Kristin Hunter, 1966] that covers some of this ground, that was turned into a film. I wanted to do a book like that. When I started writing, writing for teenagers wasn?t something anybody was proud of or happy to do. Except for those of us who did it ? but even we got asked at parties, ?When are you gonna write a real book??

Oh Jesus Christ.

And I think I had to try to do that, and this was that book. And it was very hard. It came out very long, and ultimately?

How long?

The first draft was maybe 580 pages. But ultimately my agent told me, ?This doesn?t feel like the right thing right now.? It was actually a really big relief to be told that by someone I trusted ?

You don?t have to be that guy.

Yeah. And literally the same day that I got that news, I started thinking, ?What about this kid that gets trapped in a role-playing world?? And I started working on The Other Normals. It wasn?t easy, either, but it was definitely closer to what I?m comfortable with, and even what I like to write about. I mean, if you?re not having any fun at all?

What the fuck?s the point.

You?re not supposed to have fun, because it?s work. But you need to have a little fun.

?Oh jesus, I have to go try to write my masterpiece now.? That?s a little silly.

I think so, yeah. My body reacts physically to writing that I don?t enjoy doing. If I?m sitting in front of a computer screen trying to write something that I hate, I?ll kind of shut down and go into a weird torpid state that?s half-depressed and half-asleep. So I have a built in feedback mechanism.

I mean, this other book exists. And maybe some day I?ll go back to it. I think I could get something out of it. It covered a lot of ground.

You think you could take the same conceit and move it into the domain you?re really good at?

It?s an interesting idea. The thing that attracts me to young adult novels is? No kid really cares about a scheme. Kids care about love and death and art. A lot of adult novels have a main character who is going to pull off something really great ? he?s trying to sell his company, or she?s trying to convince her friend that she?s carrying their surrogate child, when really, it?s the nanny, or whatever. Those sorts of plots are? I don?t think that they?re contrived, it?s just that I can?t see a teenage character trying to pull off a crazy real estate scheme.

It?s weird because, and you may balk at this, but I think you and Dennis Cooper are working toward the same place, just doing it by different methods. You?re both trying to capture that non-bullshit zone, that also can feel packed full of the most toxic bullshit, but the overly complicated feelings of being a teenager. You?re just doing it by different methods. It obviously is a domain that is vital because? we?re our better selves! Well, we?re more obnoxious, but we?re more honest. You know what you want to do or don?t do at 17, and you know exactly why.

I don?t wanna quote Pearl Jam lyrics, but I will: the idea on Vitalogy that ?all that?s sacred comes from youth / you?ve got no power, nothing to do / I still remember, why don?t you?? My father says it?s the most Technicolor time in your life.

Besides being a baby.

That novel has yet to be written. That?s a damn good idea.

?See In Pure Color?.

I love it.

There?s your big novel. That?ll fetch you the Nobel. See In Pure Color by Ned Vizzini.

The stock title I always have for ersatz literary work is ?The Shadow In My Shoes.? But Technicolor ? the highs are very high in adolescence; the lows are very low; everything is remembered. You?re going through your firsts: your first love, your first date, your first kiss, your first car accident. I honestly think that one of the big things that happens in adulthood is phone calls to customer service. I think there?s something deadening about the amount of time you spend on them. That?s something you don?t do as a kid.

It?s the bullshit. You get wedged in the beauracracy. Have you seen Barry Lyndon? It?s like when he starts doing paperwork. After fighting and loving and being a rapscallion. Then he starts signing bills. It?s the most terrifying ending in all of Kubrick?s movies, including The Shining.

That reminds me of the end of Goodfellas. And in a way you can look at being in the mob as a kind of prolonged adolescence. And that?s one of the reasons maybe that it exists as a genre. Being a vampire is prolonged adolescence. Being a werewolf is prolonged adolescence. A lot of writing is about teenagers, even if it?s not specifically about teenagers. And then a lot of literary fiction these days is about teenagers, even it?s not young adult fiction. Which I think is a trend.

Write your big ?real? book and just change the label. But then you sacrifice a great audience. I remember reading A Confederacy of Dunces at 13 or 14 and being blown away, and I think that?s what pushed me down the rabbit hole of being weird and liking art, and liking weird art. It would be kinda sad if you did that, in a way. But I also say this because I?m a big fan of your writing. I read The Other Normals and enjoyed the shit out of it. And not only that, the thing that I immediately got is that your attention to language is gorgeous. There were sentences that were as good as anything in ?Literary Fiction? fiction. But you don?t sacrifice the stuff that your dad taught you is important: you ?deliver the goods.?

?Deliver the goods? is a phrase that my father used to say when we left a movie. When we saw Jurassic Park, he said, ?That movie delivered the goods.? And what it meant was? In writing, it?s very hard to find absolutes or objective judgments that people can agree on. What is a great book? What is a great sentence? With very few exceptions, it?s all debatable. But when you?re reading a book like Jurassic Park, and a lawyer gets eaten by a T-Rex, it?s hard to debate the viscerally positive reaction that you have as a reader. Now I?m sure some people will debate it?

Lawyers.

But for me ?the goods? always meant that it doesn?t matter how that film we just saw (my father was always more into film than novels) was constructed, who the actors were ? in terms of delivering a story that made you sit up and feel something, it delivered. That?s the sort of thing I was aiming for in this book.

When you were in high school and playing D & D, did you ever have an experience with a particularly excellent dungeon master where you felt like completely zoned into somewhere else? Or was there always a background process running of, ?Goddamn I hope no one sees me playing this and I?m getting hungry for Stouffer?s lasagna.?

Dungeons and Dragons was a sort of mythological experience, because it was never as good as the books made it seem. It was always two hours of figuring out what your character was, then somebody?s mom said they have to go home? It takes a long time to get to the part where you actually play. And then it gets good, and can get great. But my experience with a good DM didn?t happen until later in life, while I was living in Brooklyn working the check out at the Park Slope Food Coop (which is a horrible place that I?m glad to be away from). I had a copy of the Monstrous Manual on my lap. What attracted me to Dungeons & Dragons was always these charts, and the data ? holy moly, there are sixteen types of dragons; and this one hordes this kind of treasure and that one hordes that kind of treasure.

The encyclopedia-type stuff.

Yes. Like people who collect baseball cards or play World of Warcraft ? same thing. I was looking at this book in my lap and a woman came up to checkout and said, ?Do you play?? And I said, ?Not really, I haven?t for a long time.? And she said, ?Well my husband runs games.? I was in my late 20s, and I started playing with these guys in their late 20s, 30s, in Park Slope. And they were mostly employed. One of them worked with little kids in a preschool. And he would say, ?Three-year-olds are dicks. Just dicks. All of them. Two-year-olds care about their poop, four-year-olds you can reason with, five-year-olds are great, but three-year-olds are dicks.?

Those games, in part because these were vets and had been playing together for a long time, quickly achieved the kind of interactive storytelling a role-playing game can have. We were all fighting a minotaur once, and somebody at the table farted, really badly, and the dungeon master goes, ?THE STENCH OF THE MINOTAUR WRAPS AROUND YOU!? That was a great moment. And in my work in television, I found that interactive storytelling is what TV writing is, too.

You take whoever farted in the room and Walter White is suddenly utilizing a noxious gas.

No, not like that. People fart very, very surreptitiously in television writers? rooms.

That doesn?t sound like the writers? room I want to be in.

Maybe there are some where people are farting away.

Sitcoms.

But when it?s cooking in the room, that?s what it feels like. Someone will be saying, ?This character?s gonna do this thing,? and you realize in your head, Oh, I know what this character can do! And you jump in, and you say it, and they go, ?Okay yeah great,? and you keep going and you build? it?s like Dungeons & Dragons. I was surprised by it.

And did you ever play DM with these guys? The pros?

No, I always wanted to. To me, to be a dungeon master? there?s so much preparation. It?s like a little sandcastle; it?s fun to build it. I liked making little charts and maps, but I was also a mimic as kid. I would play a video game and try to design a video game. I?d read a science fiction novel to write a science fiction novel.

I was the same exact way. Still am, I think.

I think it?s an important thing to hold on to. It?s the first step in crafting in your own work. And the people who are very good mimickers are very, very successful. I don?t think they?re hacks. I think it?s a real talent.

They have incredible pattern recognition.

Right.

Like I said, I was the same way, I was obsessed with fantasy novels. I read the Redwall series, the Eye of the World series, some of the George R. R. Martin stuff, the Scions of Shannara series, or every book in the series that was in my middle school library. I jumped series to series for years. When I was reading your book, I was like, ?Holy shit, my friend is doing what I?ve always wanted to do, which is write a fantasy novel.? But you come at it from a different angle. How did you keep that in mind while you were writing the book? Both, I gotta pay homage to this and this, or what I wanna do differently?

I love Redwall. I love Lord of the Rings, although to be honest when I tried to reread it, I was shocked by how much of it was just songs. I got a little tired of the songs.

In terms of writing The Other Normals, I learned that proper nouns are dangerous. That if you invent a lizard monster called the ?Ya?treez,? and they?re three feet long, and they?re on leashes, and they?re like guard dogs but giant lizards? Having made them up, they have meaning for you. But your reader is never going to have the same connection to the word ?Ya?treez.? So you really have a limited number of proper nouns you can invent. Once you?ve built a really big world, in multiple books, you can sneak in as many as you want. But if you flood those in there, you?re going to lose readers.

What I liked about it too is the conceit that alternate universes then joined up. You buy it because it?s just off enough. But at the same time the characters in the other world are jaded, and there are business men, and abuses of power. It?s all that fun shit that obviously we?ve all got a taste of, especially when we?re teenagers. I bought it. Including little dog boys that run around and are overzealous and get eaten alive. I bought it.

Thank you. The conceit of the book, the idea that we live in a multiverse that is constantly splitting into alternate realities, and that two of those realities came back together after splitting and developing separately? That was something I spent way too much time reading about. I probably spent 100 hours on that stuff.

Get your Brian Greene down?

I actually liked Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes by Alex Valenkin. I also spoke to a professor at my college. I went to Hunter College, and I talked to this guy when I did Be More Chill too, when I was interested in the idea of a quantum computer. His name is Professor Mark Hillery. He looks like a badass too:

He is a quantum computing researcher. His background is in physics; his specialty now is quantum computing, and he?s actually doing this stuff. The practical applications of quantum computing are a ways away because you have to have a computer that basically operates at absolute zero, without ever interacting the world outside, but from a theoretical standpoint?

Doable. And has been done, right? Transferring the tiniest tiniest tiniest bit of information?

The things that have been demonstrated with real practical value are quantum entangled states, where two particles that have no reason to be talking to one another, and are separated by long distances, effect one another because they?ve been previously paired. And I got really into books about that. And I interviewed Professor Hillery; and I have this crazy notebook filled with quantum physics notes ? it?s in Florida, I donated it to the The Ted Hipple Young Adult Literature Collection. So it?s there now, not that it would really mean anything anyway; it meant very little to me. But the thing I really gravitated towards was the idea that when you remove information from a quantum system, it can come back together.

That information is a ghost.

Yeah. And then I tried to look up great losses of information in history, and I found that in 1258, when the Mongols sacked Baghdad, they went into the Bayt Ul-Hikma, the library of Baghdad that kept all of the recorded works from the golden era of Baghdad. Prior to the Renaissance, when great work in mathematics and astronomy was being done there. And they threw it all in the Tigris River. And the river ran black with ink, according to legend. And I thought maybe that moment could be the moment when so much information was lost in our universe ? and coincidentally, a whole bunch of information was lost in another universe ? that the two came back together and became connected.

I geeked out over that stuff because I was the incredibly obnoxious twelve year old kid reading Brian Greene and trying to teach my theater class about string theory.

I think that?s another example, as a teenager ? that?s another version of baseball cards, or Dungeons & Dragons, learning real science. I had an appetite for science when I was that age that I don?t have anymore.

Same.

I also got into The Golden Bough by Frazer. In many ways it?s the seminal Western anthropology text. It was made by this guy James G. Frazer in the early part of the 20th century. He also looks like a badass:

Everybody reads The Hero with a Thousand Faces, but in that book I found Joseph Campbell referring to this guy Frazer, and referring to him as if obviously I, as a reader, should know who he was. So I looked him up. Frazer traveled to a lot of societies that are now gone from the Earth. Their way of life is gone. And he recorded everything from aboriginal beliefs in Australia, to Papa New Guinea, and he lived with hundreds of societies. And he tried to come up with rules for how humans interact with the idea of ?magic.? And he found that magic had common threads in all societies. And one of them was the ?principle of contagion.? Magic works on the idea that once I attach some of your hair to this voodoo doll, if I poke the voodoo doll, you will feel it, even though you and the doll are a hundred miles apart?

Everything has an unseen spectral connection.

Things are connected in ways that we can?t see. And I thought there was something very fascinating about that, that it was similar to the entangled states in quantum physics. So The Golden Bough book was a real eye opener for me. And it?s not hard to read; they just put out an illustrated version on Kindle; it?s fun stuff.

There?s a guy named David Graeber who?s an anarchist anthropologist?

Is this the Debt guy?

Yeah, but he wrote a little book called Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. And he says that the most peaceful societies have the biggest spectral world. That they have the most ominous border. That essentially they have to behave because if you don?t, you?re going to have a blood debt for a million years and ghosts are going to eat your fucking baby and so on and so forth. It?s that same idea ? if you want to have peace here, you have to have these massive looming presences of doom. But also in war with each other, constantly at war with each other. And very diffuse ? it didn?t seem at all like good/evil, God/Devil. It was much more like this cabal of invisible witches that pop up when you steal a neighbor?s chicken. But it?s that idea.

So I was obviously thinking, Ned?s gonna follow this book up because it?s going to sell a bajillion copies, that?s the hope, right?

I haven?t written a sequel yet to any of my books. I enjoy The Other Normals and every time I read it and get to the end, I feel a little bit of the excitement that I felt when I finished it. When I finish a book, I have this feeling come over my body that?s the opposite of the torpid feeling I get from working on a bad book. I feel electric all over. Right now I don?t have any plans to do a sequel to it, though, because I have other things going on, and because in my mind sequels are always a little cheap. They are. Show me the sequel that?s really really great.

Godfather Part Two.

Well that?s a film.

You?re right.

I liked Imperial Bedrooms. That seemed like the right way to do a sequel: wait a long time and come back to it. I don?t particularly like Michael Crichton?s The Lost World, which is just, ?We?re back on the island! Dinosaurs!?

?It?s happening AGAIN!?

I feel that he was at his best moving from project to project.

Although you could have so much fun with the multiple universes.

There could be a lot of? As I heard Seth Grahame-Smith say after a screening of Dark Shadows when someone asked about a sequel, ?Let?s let the market speak.? Anything?s possible, but it?s not something I?ve planned right now.

While writing this book did you have any difficulties separating in your head the different languages of screenwriting and book writing? Because I know you?re doing both pretty simultaneously.

No. I think I learned from screenwriting. I think there?s an assumption that if you write a book you can write a screenplay, and that?s totally bogus. Screenplays are not easy; they?re a different beast. But just living in LA, I learned a lot about story. And I?d like to think that story is story.

Sure. Story is the totem, here. You must worship at the idol of story, and then you?ll be bestowed riches from the heavens.

One funny thing is in Adaptation, when Donald Kaufman is reading that book that helps him write, it?s Robert McKee?s Story. I thought it was an invented book from the movie, but it?s a real book! Hundreds of thousands of people read and revere? I haven?t read it. I think sometimes it?s good to keep away from that stuff because you end up sounding like everybody else.

You start pumping out the pattern. Fill the slots, cobble it together, here?s your thing. I think you get these people trying to replicate these patterns, not realizing the whole reason these patterns exist in the first place is because it comes from one? You do it naturally. Every minute we walk around and look at the sun in the sky, we?re constantly pasting experience into that form.

Yeah. We have an innate desire to create narrative. I think it?s what makes fiction work. One of the most dangerous things that can happen to you as a writer is when you start questioning your narrative sense, in the positive or the negative. You really have to be able to say, ?Oh, there?s a reason this isn?t working. Now I have to go find it.? It?s always a pain in the butt. But if you convince yourself, ?I?ll just keep going, no one will notice that part doesn?t work, because something cool happens later??

Insert explosion.

Or a love interest ? then you?re screwed.

The converse can be bad too. Sometimes you really love a turn in your story, but you don?t wanna go there because it?s not how you planned to do it, or it?d be hard to write what comes next, so you stick to your plan. That?s how you get books that don?t work.

Do you feel yourself, with this book, fearful that, in the grandest way possible, you?ve mined the young adult territory? Do you feel a pressure to go, holy shit, how do I go attack this again?

No, that?s not something I worry about. The thing that I?m worried about with this book is that it?s very different from my last book, and that it?s the first time I?m doing something with a fantasy element. It?s been good to me so far. I had sold the book and was editing it when I got the opportunity to co-write House of Secrets with Chris Columbus. I don?t think that would?ve arisen had my agent not been able to say, ?Well, Ned can write this stuff.? So it opened doors. I?m not interested in doing the same thing over and over. I?m not interested in doing It?s Kind of a Funnier Story. I think there?s plenty more in the young adult book world for me to do. My next project is going to be more realistic, and? I don?t really wanna say anything else about it, except that it?s going to hinge on the relationship between a kid and his uncle.

I remember you mentioning that years ago.

It?s still gonna happen, it?s been delayed by House of Secrets and?

Having gigs.

Having gigs. But I think that?s good too, because I?m collecting material for it. And I want it to be about the artistic impulse, about how as a teenager you don?t realize the power that you have when you say, ?Hey I wanna make a comic book.? You can up and do that kind of stuff. When you?re in your 30s, everybody just ? unless you?re an artist already ? they?re think you?re weird, and not just weird, stupid and irresponsible. And even if you are an artist, they think you?re stupid and irresponsible. And a lot of young people don?t realize the freedom they have as artists, and I?d like this book to explore that a bit. That?ll be a young adult book, and after that, I don?t know. I?d like to write lots of different things, and I didn?t die in my 20s, so I?m going to be alive for a long time now.

You say that like it?s a curse. Somedays it feels like a curse.

I really revered young romantic death as teenager. I don?t think I was alone in that. I also fell prey to picking up artistic heroes and thinking that I had to live like them. Not realizing that I can be my own person and I?

Don?t have to blow your brains out.

Yeah, and not just that, also? You don?t have to live like a person because you love their books. But the blowing your brains out, that?s part of it.

We?re ending there.

Tags: chris columbus, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, house of secrets, interview, last resort, max landis, ned vizzini, nick antosca, the other normals, tv

Source: http://htmlgiant.com/author-spotlight/invent-your-monsters-sparingly-a-conversation-with-ned-vizzini/

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What Is Going On? (talking-points-memo)

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Israeli defense chief proposes West Bank pullout

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 17 2011 file photo, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak attends a press conference in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Barak calls for a broad unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank if peace talks remain stalled, saying "practical steps" are needed to breathe life into the diplomatic process. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 17 2011 file photo, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak attends a press conference in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Barak calls for a broad unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank if peace talks remain stalled, saying "practical steps" are needed to breathe life into the diplomatic process. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2012 file photo, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan. in an interview published Monday, Sept. 24, 2012 Barak called for a unilateral pullout from most of the West Bank if peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled.(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's defense minister on Monday called for a broad unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank if talks with the Palestinians remain stalled, saying in published comments that "practical steps" are needed to breathe life into the stalemated peace process.

The proposal drew attention to the dire state of affairs with the Palestinians, which has been overshadowed by Israel's focus on the Iranian nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, convinced that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons, says the Islamic Republic must be stopped and has devoted his 3 1/2 year term to rallying international support against the Iranians. At the same time, he has largely ignored the Palestinian issue.

In an interview with the Israel Hayom daily, Defense Minister Ehud Barak implied that the deadlock with the Palestinians cannot be sustained indefinitely.

"It's better to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, but if that doesn't happen, we must take practical steps to start a separation," he said. "It will help us not only in dealing with the Palestinians, but also with other countries in the region, with the Europeans, and with the American administration ? and of course (will help) us."

Barak's proposal is unlikely to be implemented, at least in the short term. Netanyahu has shown no interest in one-sided concessions, and his governing coalition is dominated by hard-liners who would be reluctant to embrace the plan. Netanyahu's office declined comment.

The 12 million people who live in Israel and the Palestinian territories are divided roughly equally between Jews and Arabs. Most experts believe the Arab birthrate is higher, and that if Israel does not give up control of the West Bank, Jews will no longer be a majority in areas under Israeli control. That would threaten Israel's twin goals of being a democracy and a Jewish state.

Dovish Israelis have cited this demographic argument for years as a key reason to pull out of the West Bank, which is home to 2.5 million Palestinians. Even Netanyahu, head of the nationalist Likud Party, has raised concerns about the demographic issue.

But on the ground, Netanyahu has continued to build up the settlements. More than 300,000 Israelis now live in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, in addition to 200,000 Israelis in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim both areas and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for their future state.

The Palestinians believe the continued construction on occupied lands is a sign of bad faith and say they will not return to negotiations without a settlement freeze. Netanyahu has rejected this demand, and says peace talks should resume without any conditions.

Barak has previously floated the idea of unilateral action, most recently in May. But in Monday's interview, he was far more detailed.

"We have not been a year or two in Judea and Samaria, but 45 years," Barak said, using the biblical terms for the West Bank. "The time has come to make decisions based not only on ideology and gut feelings, but from a cold reading of reality."

He said Israel would keep heavily concentrated settlement "blocs." These blocs, home to most of the settler population, are mostly located near the frontiers with Israel proper, though one of them, Ariel, is located deep inside the West Bank. Barak also said Israel would need to maintain a military presence along the West Bank's border with Jordan.

The remaining settlers would be given financial incentives to leave, or be allowed to remain in their homes under Palestinian control for a five-year "trial period," Barak said.

"It's time to look at Israeli society honestly and say: 'We succeeded in keeping 80 to 90 percent of settlements,'" he said. "It would be a great accomplishment if we succeed in bringing them into Israel's permanent borders."

Barak, who was out of the country on Monday, did not explain why he decided to unveil his proposal now. A full version of the interview was to be published on Tuesday.

Barak, a former prime minister who led failed peace talks with the Palestinians a decade ago, may have been motivated by domestic politics to float his proposal now. Netanyahu is widely expected to call early elections in the coming weeks, roughly a year ahead of schedule. Barak, who leads the small centrist Independence Party, could be positioning himself for centrist voters ahead of the campaign season.

But the strategy is risky. The idea of a unilateral pullout is widely scorned in Israel following the experience of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

The pullout cleared the way for Hamas militants to overrun the territory two years later, leaving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in control of only the West Bank.

Gaza quickly became a launching pad for rocket attacks on southern Israel, prompting a three-week Israeli military offensive in 2008-2009. Many Israelis fear a repeat in the West Bank, which could place Islamic militants just miles away from Israel's largest cities.

The Palestinians also rejected Barak's proposal, since it falls short of their demand for a full withdrawal from the entire West Bank and east Jerusalem. They also say a continued Israeli military presence in the West Bank is unacceptable.

Sabri Sedam, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said continued Israeli control of the settlement blocs and east Jerusalem would make the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible.

"These settlement blocs are not isolated populations. They are connected communities, passing through the Palestinian land, which kills any geographical contiguity for a Palestinian state," he said.

Barak's plan would also face resistance from settler groups, who wield significant political power. Extremist settlers might also violently resist any attempts to uproot them.

Settler leader Dani Dayan called the plan a "nonstarter" motivated by Barak's "electioneering." He said the experience of unilateral pullouts had been discredited by the experience in Gaza, as well as an earlier withdrawal in southern Lebanon that strengthened Hezbollah.

"It is regrettable that the minister of defense engages in petty politics on the most crucial issues," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-24-Israel-Palestinians/id-4f3d95c79dac401f8d8727c0253572f0

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SAVAGE PIXELS #14: Get Gaming Again? plus Stay+ and ...

Writing in issue 99 of Retro Gamer, columnist and previous Savage Pixels interviewee Iain Lee asks: ?Was there a point where you gave up on computer games??

There was for me. Sometime between the PlayStation?s launch and the Dreamcast?s demise, I just? fell out of love with gaming. Sure, sports games were okay; and I?d often steal a turn on Resident Evil 3 or Grand Theft Auto 2, just to keep a toe dipped in the contemporary scene. But the best part of a (golden) generation of games passed me by, and I can?t even really explain why. I?m playing catch-up today, having bought Metroid: Prime for the GameCube and Shenmue 2 for the Xbox since the last of these columns.

And I can?t wait to get stuck into them because, at 32, I don?t think I?ve ever been more enthused by gaming. Perhaps it?s because the real world I know now, compared to that of my late-teens and early 20s, is so very different: and as responsibilities increase, so the lure of escape into wonderful worlds of pixels and polygons becomes that much more irresistible. When the wife and kid are in bed, I?m blistering thumbs working my way through the games you see reviewed below, and so many more besides.

Which leads me to: you, assuming you?re in a situation where, right now, games are strange, alien constructs, the playthings of terrible geeks, dorky losers and spotty loners. I frequently see comments on The Guardian?s games coverage from readers basically saying: if you?re into this sort of stuff, there must be something wrong with you. I picture them all wearing Liam Gallagher masks, for some reason. But this oddly black and white attitude ? one where people either like games, or don?t, with no middle ground (for those who love Tetris, but aren?t so taken with Tekken) ? robs its ?owner? of some magical, memorable experiences.

So, below I?ve highlighted eight games ? really fantastic, breathtaking, beguiling pieces of high-definition art ? which, I hope, will tempt readers currently using their 360 exclusively to play FIFA, or the occasional triple-A release that?s made its way into Tesco at a price you can?t refuse, into investigating rather more esoteric, innovative and downright amazing titles. These games will, given the opportunity, get you back into gaming with a bump. And from there? well, it?s not so far to hello eBay, goodbye savings.

Some of these have fallen victim to poor sales, leading to job losses and developer closures; some have been knocked by a couple of reviews and landed a Metacritic average that might put the casual gamer off taking a punt. But to these eyes, ears, fingers and thumbs, they?re essential cornerstones of any current-generation console collection.

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Get Gaming Again: Part One

Blur
(Bizarre Creations, Activision Blizzard; 2010)
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

Racing games today are tremendous simulators. Codemasters? F1 series is the closest the likes of you or I will probably ever come to emulating the successes of those multi-millionaires in their (as good as) flying machines; and the Project Gotham and Gran Turismo titles have traded in car porn for years now. But they?re all a bit? serious, aren?t they? Wouldn?t it be awesome if a game came along that combined amazing visuals, real-life vehicles and recognisable locations with the kind of gameplay that one used to be wowed by on the likes of Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing? In 2010, Bizarre Creations delivered just that title in Blur ? and were subsequently let go by Activision as their brilliant product sold bugger all copies. Today you can get Blur for around a tenner. Please, do. And then marvel as your Mustang launches a missile from its grill, and your Hummer releases a mine from its rear axle. No other racing game of this generation is this much fun. Serious.

Bayonetta
(Platinum Games/Nex Entertainment, Sega; 2009/10)
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Trying to remember that last game that had me sweating through button-mashing and crying tears of laughter? Oh, yeah, Bayonetta. With Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya at the helm, the action?s never less than frantic; and so easy is the game to simply pick up and play, combat as refined or as chaotic as your own digital dexterity allows it to be, that this rightly celebrated release leaves a considerable first impression. Bayonetta has a real arcade feel to it ? Sega?s role as publisher feels right, as there are certainly elements of Golden Axe and even Altered Beast at play here. The supernatural storyline is almost impenetrably bonkers ? but it doesn?t matter, as understanding the ?why? behind what?s unfolding is a distant second in one?s enjoyment of this to dishing out the ?how?, with fists, heels, guns and hair. Yes, hair. The accolades in the video below: Bayonetta deserves them all.

Dear Esther
(thechineseroom/Robert Briscoe, Steam; 2012)
Platforms: Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux, OnLive

My choices so far have been high-speed affairs requiring quick reactions to really get the most out of them. Dear Esther is something? else. Like Limbo, detailed later in this column, this is a game that leads its players to ask: is this a game? And like Limbo, it?s faintly unsettling, characterised by an elegant eeriness. But unlike Limbo, which plays as a puzzle-platformer at its core, not a great deal happens ? not like it does in most games, anyway. The player ? the explorer, the narrator (?) ? constructs their own plot from a series of scattered letters, fleeting insights into what may have happened on Dear Esther?s beautiful, and haunted (again, ?), Hebridean setting. One is left to wander (albeit via subtle prompts, tugging at today?s gamer?s appetite for exploration), viewing the landscape from a first-person perspective, accompanied only by the sound of the surrounding sea, occasional interjections of dialogue, and a score that wonderfully underpins the slow-reveal of Dear Esther?s secrets. It?s not a game that will take you long to ?complete?, but this is one that?ll stay long in the memory, and perhaps the strongest argument yet that ?games? are very capable of qualifying as ?art?. Utterly unique ? and as compelling to watch as to play.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
(Ignition Tokyo, UTV Ignition Entertainment; 2011)
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
(Briefly mentioned in Savage Pixels #3)

Well received critically but a commercial non-event, El Shaddai?s elementary mechanics (in other words: it has easy controls that one can pick up within minutes) and repetitive combat might have marked it as a makeweight title. But the 3D/2D hack-and-slash (and run and gun) gameplay came wrapped in some of the most (divisibly, admittedly) beautiful visuals to ever grace an action title. Also: it?s fun. It might sound like a simple enough element in videogames, but it?s amazing how many developers seem to put enjoyment some places behind perceived innovation and aesthetic frills in their priorities (read: list of gamer demands). El Shaddai?s plot is inspired by the Book of Enoch, but you need not have encyclopaedic knowledge of ancient Jewish texts to make sense of what?s happening; and, brilliantly, if you want to you can just sit back and let the game?s amazing visuals teleport you somewhere entirely new. It?s like? it?s like? if Roger Dean and Jordan Mechner made a game together, after pulling an all-nighter on the God of War series. And if you?re after a final stamp of quality assurance, members of the team behind this (including its art director) worked on the PlayStation 2 classic Okami, one of the Best Games Of All Time.

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Fantastic Five ? Homeboy Sandman

Queens-born and Stones Throw-signed MC Homeboy Sandman (his most excellent real name is Angel Del Villar II) has been actively releasing material since 2007; but it?s only now, in 2012, that he?s attracting the attention that his inspired rhymes and laidback beats have long deserved. Following a couple of EP releases this year, his first long-player for Stones Throw, First of a Living Breed, was released in the UK on September 17 to positive reviews (Check out the BBC Music verdict here).

Asked for his five favourite videogames of all time, here?s what the one-time law student turned full-time rapper had to say?

?Due to financial constraints I ain't really get Nintendo until it was kinda played out. Yet, even still??

Bill Walsh College Football
(Multi-format; Wikipedia)
?Bill Walsh College Football on Sega Genesis? I used to play this in high school. I ain?t have it, but this kid Bolduc had it. I would use Auburn ?83 and would be unstoppable running with Bo Jackson. It wasn?t even fair.?

Contra
(Arcade, multi-format for home conversion; Wikipedia)
?I know Contra is a clich? but obviously there?s the 30 lives code, and then I was also feeling the gun assortment. The lazer I felt, but obviously the spread was the most practical.?

NOT Zelda
(N/A)
?I hated Zelda, sun. How could cats love playing Zelda so much? So boring.?

R.C. Pro-AM
(NES, Mega Drive; Wikipedia)
?I used to smoke cats in R.C. Pro-AM.?

Mike Tyson?s Punch Out!!
(NES; Wikipedia)
?I never beat this game. But I used to get to Mike Tyson a lot, but then he'd bust me. My timing punching Bald Bull in the stomach when he'd charge though was mad precise.?

Homeboy Sandman is on this internet thing here, Facebook here, and First of a Living Breed can be purchased direct from Stones Throw here.

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Review ? Sleeping Dogs
(United Front Games, Square Enix)
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

A chimera of an offering with a tumultuous development history spanning four years, Sleeping Dogs has no right to be as good as it is. Borrowing ? to be polite ? from a succession of preceding titles, originality at a premium, it should be a muddled proposition swiftly dispatched to the rising pile of middle-tier titles only usually picked up when found for a fiver. Yet I found myself exploring every square inch of its wonderfully presented Hong Kong, chasing collectibles and even caring about the fate of a few characters. That wasn?t in the brochure.

A third-person sandbox affair set in the aforementioned former British colony, or at least an exaggerated vision of it, Sleeping Dogs is immediately aesthetically reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto IV, and its combat ? mostly melee-style ? is unashamedly based on Rocksteady?s Batman games, Arkham Asylum and City. The island can be explored via a wide variety of vehicles; taxis can be hired to fast-travel to a desired destination; and the player-controlled protagonist, undercover cop Wei Shen, acquires more impressive homes as the game progresses. There are echoes of the PlayStation 2?s Yakuza and its sequel, likewise the two Shenmue games. It all sounds too familiar to comprise a hit, too second-hand to encourage several-hour sessions of play. But a hit this has been, topping the UK chart on its first week of release; and my 24 hours spent in its company before writing these words is suggestive of a few late nights and foggy mornings.

The success of Sleeping Dogs lies not in any singular feature ? unlike, say, the Max Payne series, which makes such a USP out of its bullet time mechanic (successfully appropriated here, actually). It?s the whole package that leaves a distinct impression. It?s not the prettiest game to look at; cars aren?t as responsive as those found in comparable releases; the shooting sections can be clumsy and, generally, Sleeping Dogs doesn?t go out of its way to challenge its player. Yet everything?s done to a high-enough standard; and more pertinently is successfully gelled into a complete experience that never feels like a series of set-pieces ill-balanced with downtime distractions.

The plot ? Shen is undercover within a Triad gang, with the aim being to bring them down from the inside ? is predictable enough, but it?s well fleshed and the main characters around Shen, on both the criminal and crime-fighting sides, feel more three-dimensional than your usual suspects. Worthy of applause for his wicked voicing of Police Superintendent Thomas Pendrew is Tom Wilkinson, one of a handful of US/UK actors involved with some impressive credits to their name. Also voicing roles are Lucy Liu and Emma Stone, though both US film stars are arguably underused. Will Yun Lee impresses as Shen ? an experienced TV actor in the States, this role could open more doors for him than Thief or Bionic Woman ever could.

The game is broken into ?missions? ? much like the structure of the sandbox GTA games. Police cases can be taken on in addition to the main plot ? four in total, and completing these increases Shen?s police experience ? while favours can be performed for more shady sorts, like stealing vans and aiding getaways. These criminal acts increase Shen?s Triad experience ? and both this and his police experience unlock abilities as they build. Shen can earn extra experience by dressing a certain way, and a separate Face meter measuring his overall reputation goes towards some pretty handy perks like having a car delivered to (near enough) any location, and improved combat performance.

Collectibles are scattered around Hong Kong, to be found both as the main plot unfolds and as side pursuits to the game?s narrative backbone. Health shrines boost (yup) Shen?s overall health, ultimately doubling the punishment he can take if all are discovered; and Jade statues, when returned to the dojo they were stolen from, unlock new martial arts techniques. If you?re willing to put the story of Sleeping Dogs aside for a while, ticking off these ?extras? will give you a distinct advantage over the harder opponents encountered in the game?s final few hours. Lock boxes contain money and clothing, and sometimes firearms, and are scattered all over Hong Kong ? play through enough, and eventually all of them become marked on your map, for easy discovery.

Exactly when one completes Sleeping Dogs will depend on how much time is spent building up Shen?s offensive and defensive capabilities. It?s possible that one could breeze through in something like 15 or 16 hours (I?m not sold on the claims by some magazines that the game can be beaten in 12), but it?s more likely that a figure around 20 will be reached, allowing for a smattering of side-quest completion (as achievements are available for completing certain percentages of optional police cases and Triad activities).

On the topic of achievements, some are easily met ? drive around the island and you?ll score one for exploration; change your whole outfit in a single wardrobe visit and you?ll unlock another; win $50k on a single cockfight gamble and, yup, another one. But some are incredibly tough ? 100% completion isn?t something that the average player is going to get out of Sleeping Dogs. It?s actually amazingly difficult to drive for a full two minutes, at speed, without scraping another vehicle or bumping a traffic light. (As, yes, there?s an achievement available for doing just that? don?t try for it while driving a stolen bus.)

A handful of irritations do present themselves. Shen is an athletic fellow (a couple of small side-missions have him completing free-run courses for a drugged-up cameraman), but despite being able to scale pretty sizeable piles of bricks and mortar, some comparatively small hops are inexplicably beyond him. Also, there are parts of the city where street lights are near walls, with enough of a gap between them for a man to slip through easily; yet an invisible barrier stops Shen in his tracks, which is a pain indeed when one is being pursued by gun-wielding assailants. Waypoints aren?t always clear, and Shen has to be stood in just the right place to open car doors and lockboxes ? again, frustrating under pressure. These bugs (quirks if you prefer) shouldn?t really be present in a game that?s spent as long as it has in development; but they don?t spoil the end product particularly, never provoking rage-quit fits.

One question presents itself upon completion of Sleeping Dogs: Did I enjoy that because it?s a genuinely good game, or because it?s the first halfway decent effort to follow a seasonal desert devoid of digital treats? Some from A, some from B, I suppose ? but United Front must be proud of their achievements here, not least of all because there was once a very strong possibility of Sleeping Dogs not even reaching release. That is has is the greatest triumph; that the end product is an engaging, accessible game that uses established mechanics in a way that doesn?t feel like shameless robbery, and tells a convincing tale of twists and turns, affections and deceptions, in a style unexpected from titles realised under stress, is a superb bonus.

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Fantastic Five ? STAY+

Matt Farthing is the musical muscle of Stay+, a Manchester-based (or are they?) duo whose electronic fare manages to feel both familiar and envelope-pushing, the latter impression aided in no small part by their predilection for dynamic, innovative visuals.

Matt?s no stranger to the videogames world, and evidently enjoyed listing his Fantastic Five?

Team Fortress Classic (HL 1 Mod)
(Windows; Wikipedia)

?From quite a young age I was heavily into the idea of online gaming. I'd install demos of Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem and Doom and ? full of wide-eyed childish hope and the belief that everything to do with computers was somehow magical ? I'd try to connect to multiplayer servers. Even though we didn't 'have' the internet.

?When we finally 'got' the internet, technology had left us behind. The family's shit old Pentium 90 didn't have a 3D card so my online gaming experience was restricted to trolling chatrooms and getting into message board flame wars for sport. I'd hang at my mate's houses playing Quake 2 CTF for days at a time, marvelling at the coloured lighting, almost believable curved edges and rocking out to Sonic Mayhem.

?Then Half Life came out. No 3D card necessary. I'd play the living shit out of Team Fortress Classic (haven't got the fine motor skills/patience for CS). Joined a 'clan' [UKD], played as an engineer on a screen the size of a postage stamp. That game was pure class.?

Pok?mon Red
(Game Boy; Wikipedia)

?I think that this franchise, alongside Final Fantasy VII, was like a gateway drug to the depraved world of RPGs for a lot of people I know. This was digital crack in a little red cartridge. From that all important first decision in Prof. Oak's laboratory, to the unbridled tension when you fight that Red Gyarados or the glitched-out MissingNo (you only got one chance in the entire game to catch them), it was un-put-down-able. Then factor in the trading system, the cards, the TV show... us kids didn't stand a chance.

?But the really amazing thing is that, under all the pomp and media assault, this is actually a fantastic game. A rich world to explore, great art style, a good story, 151 individual Pok?mon to collect and a well fleshed-out combat system.?

DayZ (ARMA 2 mod)
(Windows; Wikipedia)

?This is a weird choice as it's the only game to make my 30-plus long shortlist that I haven't actually... played. What I have done, however, is watch 20-something hours of gameplay of it on YouTube. What I absolutely love about this game is what it represents. There's a lack of recent games on my list, because games are getting stupider. The Call of Duty franchise reaches new depths of stupidity with every iteration. Partially through catering for the casual, backwards-cap wearing, jock crowd and partially through this 'blockbuster' cinematic bullshit experience that everyone seems to think they crave that, in reality, just snatches the controller out of your hand every time something interesting happens.?

?DayZ is an incredibly unforgiving first person zombie survival simulator modded off the back of an incredibly unforgiving realistic modern war simulator. This game is fucking hard. If you charge into the field, you're gonna die. If you make too much noise, you're gonna die. If you get injured - you're gonna bleed out and die. You might crawl towards another player (finding them is rare, the closest a lot of people come to interaction being the sound of far-off and desperate gunfire) with the hope that he/she will take pity and toss you a blood bag. Most likely they'll stave your head in with a pipe (ammo is scarce) and thieve all your shit. It's emergent gameplay that relies on real people to provide the drama, not pretty cut scenes.?

?It's... amazing, and cold-hearted, and it plays into the worst sides of human nature. Watch "The Days Ahead" play through videos on YouTube. You'll get addicted.?

Doom 2
(Nightmare difficulty co-op over serial link, running Simpsons.wad, at 3am when you're 12-years-old)
(Multi-format; Wikipedia)

?Doom 1/2 is an obvious choice. A defining experience for any 90s gamer. Doom 2 running the Simpsons.wad in your PJs on nightmare difficultly with you and your cousin's computers all linked up with serial cables, whilst not particularly good, was pretty much the most fun I've ever had playing a computer game. You had to roll your sleeves up and type some pretty complicated shit into DOS but they were some good times.?

Minecraft
(Multi-format; Wikipedia)

?A game with no point. A developer with no publisher. On paper, niche at best; in reality, one of the most popular games of all time. This game is more than the some of its parts, of which there are many. This game makes you feel vulnerable, and sad, and lonely; but also gives you the most amazing sense of achievement and freedom. Much like DayZ the gameplay is emergent. Most of the time you are reacting to situations of your own creation, or random chance. Only, with purist Minecraft, there are no other people rolling the dice along with you. You just, sorta, live in it for as long as you want. It's a startlingly beautiful game. Without it I probably would have written about six albums by now.?

Matt?s found some time away from Minecraft to crack on with some music-making. A new Stay+ single is (or soon will be!) available via Black Butter, and they?re working on an AV EP, details of which will be posted at their Tumblr.

Stay+ link action:
Facebook
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Soundcloud

?

Review ? Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
(High Moon Studios, Activision)
Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

High Moon?s 2010 Transformers game, War for Cybertron, was something of an anomaly amongst games featuring the seemingly never-ending conflict between (the heroic) Autobots and (the evil) Decepticons: it was (very) good. The official games of the Michael Bay movies? Terrible, awful things. But War for? successfully captured the spirit of fun that should run through any game where you get to play as a huge transforming robot with a massive gun or some at your disposal, and also delivered a storyline which fans of the 1980s comic and cartoon could enjoy with guilty pleasure-like relish. It was the best TF game since Melbourne House/Atari?s 2004 effort for the PlayStation 2.

And Fall of Cybertron is even more impressive than its predecessor ? and, like it, is presented as an over-the-shoulder third-person shooter. As its title implies, the situation on the Transformers? home planet has become desperate, and the race is on between the warring factions to escape their dying world for a new start somewhere across the galaxy. Hey! Guess where they?re headed!?

Yup, as Cliffjumper discovers during his stealth mission ? the player gets to control a variety of characters, each with their own special abilities; the small, red Bumblebee-alike can turn invisible, allowing him to sneak past most enemies ? the hulking metal ?bots are off to Earth. Albeit an Earth that appears to be in a Mesozoic-like continental arrangement (0.55 on the launch trailer, embedded below) ? didn?t they crash land four million years ago, rather than 250 million?

Such a small aesthetic oversight can?t take anything away from a game that, at times, stuns with its graphical presentation. Even when stationary, parts of each Transformer whirr and buzz, always on the move. Transformations themselves are great ? there are few third-person gaming moments as great as running along as a character like Starscream or Vortex, shooting down an opponent before leaping into the air, transforming and soaring skywards to rain fire down upon more adversaries. It?s a very geeky variety of digital poetry in user-controlled motion. Jazz is great fun to play as, switching between speedy car-like mode and a robot form with the use of a Bionic Commando-like grappling gun.

If it wasn?t clear from the above words, I?m something of a TF aficionado. And Fall of? certainly plays its fan service card with gleeful regularity. Characters, well-voiced throughout (Ironhide aside ? where?s the grumpiness?) quote lines from the 1986 animated movie ? Grimlock and fellow Dinobot Slag, here renamed Slug, argue the toss over ?caesium salami? and ?beryllium baloney?, with Wheelie mercifully nowhere to be seen or heard; Megatron gatecrashes a crown-topped Starscream?s leadership party and reels off Galvatron?s movie line: ?Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy.? (Find it at 0.38 here.) And to print any more examples is to ruin the fun to be had spotting the references yourself.

But even if Transformers was never a part of your childhood, this is still a really enjoyable, at times incredibly challenging action/adventure game. Each player-controlled Transformer has access to two weapons at any time, a regular one and a heavy weapon (less ammo, more power), plus a close-range melee attack. Every Transformer can attack in vehicle mode, but naturally tanks pack more of a punch than sporty hatchbacks.

Environments are (pleasingly) more varied than the winding corridors of War for? ? a particularly great level has the player controlling an airborne character as he attempts to bring down a bridge, while late on a session as Starscream has the Decepticon air commander attacking a multi-levelled installation run by Shockwave, necessitating both nifty flying and close-quarters combat. Controls aren?t the most intuitive amongst games of this type, but any who?s played War for? will feel at home, and newcomers should click with it after 20 minutes or so. As there?s a lot of clicking to be done (the right stick on a 360 pad melees; the left transforms).

If you?re really after holes to pick at? Identikit enemies are a drag, but what is High Moon expected to do? Invent a raft of new Transformers and then kill them off three seconds after each has made an appearance? Save points are regular enough, but not always where they might be expected, which can hinder progress on occasion. The collision detection isn?t always perfect, and a couple of times it wasn?t clear, at all, where I was supposed to point my Transformer at in order to proceed.

Particularly annoying was a moment, or two, with Grimlock. To get through a half-open door a switch had to be struck on the other side, by hurling a barrel at it with amazing precision. Get the throw wrong, the door closes, and you have to start again (by hitting a switch on your own side of the barrier first). This comes after it?s been made clear, when Jazz and Cliffjumper track the AWOL Dinobot, that Grimlock can basically carve through whatever?s put in front of him. High Moon, please? If I miss the switch three times, can I please just kick the bloody door in? The ending?s a bit of an anticlimax but it sets up a third game in this series well enough. Hey! Guess where that?ll be set?

But really, I?m nitpicking. If you?re a TF fan, Fall of Cybertron is about as important to your 2012 as your Soundwave duvet cover was your 1987. And if you?re simply a fan of immersive, inventive and (and this is important!) entertaining third-person shooters, it?s got a load to offer you, too.

Sideswipe is in it. Wheelie isn?t. ?The Touch? plays over the credits while Jazz does a loose-hipped Cybertronian version of Peter Crouch's robotic dance moves. Excellent.

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Get Gaming Again: Part Two

Back to Iain Lee. Closing his Retro Gamer column of issue 99, he writes: ?I suspect a few of you out there have, at some point, turned your back on gaming. But we are back now, and I guess that?s all that matters.? Certainly eyes have been opened in recent times to the potential of games ? to the depths they can explore, the emotions that they can stir. Yet it?s rare indeed that a title of ingenuity, integrity and against-the-grain extraordinariness tops the sales charts.

And it?s perhaps always been this way, certainly for the past couple of hardware cycles. Back in April 2003 Edge ran a cover feature titled, Bored to death of videogames?, examining the gaming world?s ?mid-life crisis?. Then like now, sports simulations and awful (but) licensed games were amongst the most successful releases ? the likes of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, FIFA, WWE and James Bond were big sellers. But the magazine offered alternatives to these box-tickers, listing 10 releases ?capable of rekindling that old gaming passion?. In no particular order, they were: Pikmin, Ico, Super Monkey Ball, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (yes, really), Metroid Prime, GTA: Vice City, Luigi?s Mansion, Vib Ribbon, Halo: Combat Evolved and Rez.

As you can probably guess, this feature was the main inspiration for my Get Gaming Again list. Which continues?

Limbo
(Playdead, Microsoft Games Studios; 2010)
Platforms: OS X, Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

A puzzle-platformer like no other puzzle-platformer you?ve ever played, or will do again, Limbo is a beautiful, shocking, invigorating, distressing, enthralling and utterly original piece of? well, if this isn?t art in videogame form, I don?t know what is. Monochromatic, hazy visuals and extremely minimalist audio unsettle the player; devious puzzles lop our tiny hero?s head off, split him in two, crush him, splat him, impale him? Death is instant, and way more brutal than what?s seen in games quite obviously aimed at ?mature? players. The story is what you choose to make of it ? all that?s clear is that the boy, the wide-eyed, blindly-fumbling-onwards protagonist of this exquisite piece, must continue from left to right until, finally, he reaches his goal. And then: blackness, nothing. A perfect rainy day game, Limbo can be beaten in three hours. But the emptiness it leaves on ?completion? lasts far, far longer.

Mirror?s Edge
(EA Digital Illusions CE, Electronic Arts; 2008)
Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

It?s hard, some years after completing it, to remember the frustration that accompanied a play through of this innovative, if deeply flawed, first-person platformer. For a start, making leaps from A to B in such a perspective could be a nightmare; add to that level designs not always conducive to elegant parkour-style traversing, and cops with guns doing their utmost to bring you down mid-jump, and? Oh, there you go. The red mist has descended again. So why highlight Mirror?s Edge as a game that stands out as one of this generation?s very best? Because it?s got balls. Nobody had made a game like it before, and nobody has since ? albeit for very good reasons, as not everything worked. It rewards avoiding conflict. And because it looks stunning, the bleached-white buildings of its high-rise playgrounds contrasted by flashes of bright blues, reds and oranges. Quoted in issue 126 of Games TM, Half Life 2 and Dishonored art director Viktor Antonov called this game ?an example of pure design? It?s about experiencing a city and its architecture in a meaningful way, rather than having it as a backdrop to the game?. The environment is the game, and that in itself is a pretty radical concept.

Child of Eden
(Q Entertainment, Ubisoft; 2011)
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Say the word Rez to a certain breed of gamer and you?ll be stuck with them for a good 10 minutes. If you?ve ever played Tetsuya Mizuguchi?s unprecedented rail-shooter-cum-rhythm-action classic, released for PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast in 2001/2 (and in HD via Xbox Live Arcade in 2008), you?ve got plenty to say about it. Only, getting the words out doesn?t come easily. It?s a simple thing ? line targets up in your sights, shoot them, proceed to next stage. Easy. Pure. And Rez is both of these things. Its packaging was inspired, though. As visually arresting over a shoulder as when you?re playing the thing, Rez also harnessed the emotional connect of electronic music, embellishing it with player-determined sound effects, to result in an experience unrivalled in 21st century gaming. Until Child of Eden came along, anyway. It might not be a big-seller, but Child of Eden is the best Kinect-compatible title available for the 360, and it works well enough with the PlayStation Move set-up, and with regular controllers too. Like Rez, there?s no plot to speak of; but if it?s complete immersion in a fantastical digital world you?re after, this is your game.

Batman: Arkham City
(Rocksteady, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment; 2011)
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Wii U (forthcoming)
(Reviewed in Savage Pixels #5)

Yes, I know. Rocksteady?s second sandbox Batman adventure was a huge commercial success, reaching sales of two million in October and over six million by February 2012, and was one of the highest-rated games of 2011. So why is it here? Because? Around Arkham City?s release I somehow managed to have two copies in my possession. Being the kind-hearted soul I am (and because you can?t sell PS3 promos to a certain high-street chain trading in second-hand games) I gave a copy to my then-neighbour. I moved house in January, but returned to my old haunt a few months later, meeting said neighbour-of-recent-past for a drink or some in what was once my local. I asked him if he?d played this yet, as I?d done so and loved every second. No, he told me. He really only bought his PlayStation 3 for the driving games. I?m sure I didn?t spill my pint, but in my mind?s eye my jaw was certainly detached and rolling about the pub?s garden. So! If you see your own attitude to gaming reflected in this story, reader, do please take a chance on something different. Take a chance on Arkham City! Over six million players can?t be wrong. And they?re not.

There are more. Way more. Please do list your own examples of contemporary games capturing that ?old gaming passion?. Rayman: Origins? Little King?s Story? Vanquish? Maaan, I love Platinum Games. Maybe I need to run a Developers Special, soon.

?

Next time! Resident Evil 6 and the decline of survival horror. And some other stuff. Maybe Dishonored. Probably Dishonored. Can someone send me a copy of Dishonored, please?

I?m on that Twitter.

Homeboy Sandman photo by Eric Coleman

Source: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4145527-savage-pixels-14--get-gaming-again-plus-stay-and-homeboy-sandman-sleeping-dogs-and-transformers

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Report: Mobile 'significant' development for low-income diabetics ...

Calling mobile health ?one of the most significant health IT developments of the past five years? in terms of treating chronic diseases, a coalition of health IT advocates sees strong potential in mobile and wireless technologies to address the diabetes epidemic, even in ?socially disadvantaged? populations.

The eHealth Initiative, a Washington-based group representing a wide range of healthcare interests, may not have broken a lot of new ground in the first of three planned issue briefs about how technology can improve diabetes care in low-income communities, but it summarizes more than a hundred findings from elsewhere.

?Research shows that the majority of patients, including those who are disadvantaged, have access to a mobile device or smartphone.?These patients have tools at their fingertips to help manage their diabetes more effectively,? eHealth Initiative CEO Jennifer Covich Bordenick says. ?The use of mHealth tools provides a straightforward way for all populations to access information that assists in reducing risk factors.?

The issue brief, produced with financial support from the California HealthCare Foundation, reviewed 107 articles published since 2005 that evaluated how e-health tools in four domains ? mobile health, telehealth, patient Web portals and social media ? help patients with diabetes monitor blood glucose and weight in order to keep glucose, systolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check. The articles covered everything from old-school pagers to sophisticated monitoring systems linked wirelessly to medical professionals via smartphones.

?This study shows the potential for mobile applications to improve disease management among all populations and how patients can play a central and active role in effectively managing their health,? Dr. Sophia Chang, director of CHCF?s Better Chronic Disease Care program, says in a press release.

Mobile health represents the fastest-growing part of what the eHealth Initiative calls the ?patient-centered tools? industry.

?These technologies represent an evolution of telemedicine from the desktop to wearable technologies, which may improve the accessibility of treatment for diabetes as well as the ability of patients to actively engage their providers. Additionally, the innovations and functionality of mHealth, such as text messaging, smartphone applications and wireless sensor technology, can improve the speed, accuracy and convenience of diagnostic tests; improve medication adherence and test result delivery; improve interactive, two-way communication; and provide a simple methods for data collection, remote diagnosis, emergency tracking and access to health records,? says the report.

Literature studied covered systems such as the PDA-based DiaBetNet, WellDoc?s DiabetesManager coaching system and the 3G-enabled Telcare BGM wireless glucose meter, as well as a range of smartphone apps. According to the paper, the number of smartphone apps has grown by almost 400 percent in the past three years.

?The use of mHealth applications and devices may encourage patients to adhere to their monitoring regimens by encouraging self-monitoring efforts with reminders and alerts, and serving as simple repositories for information generated by the patient, which can then be shared with the patient?s care team,? the issue brief says.

The report was particularly optimistic about the prospects of home-based telehealth, including remote monitoring and live videoconferencing, where there is significant crossover with mobile health. A wireless home monitor showed sustained improvement in systolic blood pressure after 12 months, for example.

Predictably, patients in otherwise underserved rural communities reported higher satisfaction with telehealth technologies than those who only received traditional forms of care.

Source: http://mobihealthnews.com/18518/report-mobile-significant-development-for-low-income-diabetics/

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Sympathy for the veal (Unqualified Offerings)

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Buying the Proper Online Site Hosting Offer for The Business ...

This article has been viewed 15 times.

Getting taken a fast consider the different kinds of shared internet hosting which can be applied by purchasers to provide an internet blog towards relaxation of your environment, the 2nd installment in this particular couplet introduces a couple alternate alternate options which can will need marginally more substantial budgets.

Committed Internet hosting

This kind of internet hosting is sought after with much larger opportunity shoppers whereby functionality and protection are paramount and therefore the finances is set up to perform purchase it, due to the fact that it provides finish regulate, higher safety and uncompromised bodily methods.

Benefits:

Customer rents a whole solitary server
Web page has accessibility to all bodily useful resource and connectivity
Sometimes includes managed internet hosting

Features:

Scope for finish management around server configuration
No opposition for bandwidth useful resource
No levels of competition for processor useful resource
Accessibility to overall server?s disk room
No protection threats from other sites/partitions in the server

Negatives:

Price tag of leasing complete server
Likely for squandered potential if larger spec equipment is rented compared to the page needs

Clustered Internet hosting

Clustered internet hosting employs a lot more than a person server to lessen the danger of downtime for purchasers who cannot manage to pay for their website to go offline.

Characteristics:

Website is hosted throughout many different servers
Can utilise shared or committed servers
Can provide back again up techniques and cargo balancing

Added benefits:

No solitary stage of failure ? an individual server failing fails to get the website offline
Load balancing makes it possible for page views to generally be dispersed somewhere between servers lessening the desire on every single and increasing all round general performance

Downsides:

Expenses if utilising focused servers
Insufficient customisation if making use of shared servers

Colocation

In certain cases termed as Co-location or just Colo, this manner of internet hosting enables valued clients to enjoy the main advantages of an information heart position but nonetheless keep possession with the equipment.

Functionality:

Customer purchases and owns server(s)
Servers are housed in the details middle
Shopper rents place for servers

Many benefits:

Bodily stability of knowledge heart area
Bodily basic safety of details centre position
Accessibility to superior bandwidth connections
Retained price for the equipment as corporation belongings

Negatives:

Preliminary expenses of buying servers
Significantly less scalability stemming from price of changing components
Prospective for squandered potential if huge spec components is ordered to future-proof the system

Managed Internet hosting

Managed internet hosting can be a model of internet hosting just where the elements make reference to the aid the customer gets instead compared to the form of server it includes and thus it may well include any kind of hosting/server put together that include shared or devoted. A totally managed system is appropriately the deluxe offer for clientele with larger sized budgets along with a scarcity of skills in-house.

Capabilities (sometimes):

Specialist guidance and recommendations
Specialists around to build configuration adjustments
General performance checking
Regularly a devoted server

Positive factors (dependent over the sort of assist):

Obtain with the know-how and understanding of internet hosting supplier
Spherical the clock assist in the event that of overall performance concerns or downtime
Proactive and reactive guidance for modifications within the site or site use
Enable to appropriately scale and configure system

Negatives:

Will are typically high priced compared to self-managed packages

Be sure to refer to Buying a Web Host: Why Webhosting Is Surely An Entrepreneur?s Necessity, since the story gives you additional information to the subject matter.

Source: http://www.gotarticles.com/buying-the-proper-online-site-hosting-offer-for-the-business-enterprise-2/

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