Monthly Archives: April 2015
DARPA Steerable Bullet Tech Repeatedly Hits Evading Targets
DARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program, self-steering bullet technology designed increase hit rates for long-distance shots, underwent a successful round of live fire tests.
Completed in February and revealed this week, the live-fire tests involved an experienced shooter and a first-time user repeatedly hit evading targets. The video below demonstrates how the EXACTO rounds successfully manoeuvred in flight to hit accelerating targets.
The EXACTO program, initially demonstrated last July, was developed to improve the range, accuracy and efficiency of snipers in challenging environments, such as “high winds and dusty terrain commonly found in Afghanistan.”
Hamill Shares His Personal Photos From Jedi
35 years since they were taken, Luke Skywalker has shared his family photos from the set of Return of the Jedi.
Hamill's (frankly adorable) photos show himself, his wife Marilou and son Nathan kicking back in The Emperor's throne room, Yoda's hut, surrounded by Ewoks and more. They paint a friendly, fun and very welcoming set; head to Starwars.com for the full album.
via Starwars.com
Golan the Insatiable Moves from ADHD to FOX Primetime
Animated comedy Golan the Insatiable is making the jump from Animation Domination High-Def to FOX primetime on May 31.
Here's a brief summary of the series provided by FOX:
"The comedy follows a mighty godlord from an alternate dimension who arrives in Oak Grove, MN, where his only friend is a macabre, nine-year-old girl named Dylan, who constantly urges him to wreak havoc on her town."
The titular character is voiced by 22 Jump Street's Rob Riggle, while Park and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza voices Golan's pal Dylan. Other members of the cast include Ken Marino (Childrens Hospital) and John DiMaggio (Futurama).
Originally airing as fifteen-minute episodes on FOX's late night Saturday programming block, Golan the Insatiable has become the first ADHD series to land a primetime series order.
James Cameron Has a Script for Avatar 5
Avatar composer James Horner has revealed that James Cameron is currently juggling four screenplays in the quest to create three sequels to his 2009 sci-fi film.
"Right now Jim has... four sequels script-wise, and he’s trying to make it into three," Horner told HeyUGuys. "And that is where his effort is going right now, to keep it to three sequels. Because he’s got so much going on…trying to keep it from expanding into a fifth movie".
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Cameron's ambition to shoot his sequels back-to-back will see a delay in production. The next installment will hit theaters Christmas 2017, a year later than originally planned.
Fast and the Furious Ride: Why the Cast is Psyched
On the heels of the absolutely massive success of Furious 7 -- currently the fifth biggest movie ever, worldwide, and likely to end up number three of all time before it ends its run -- the Fast and the Furious franchise will expand yet again on June 25th when Fast & Furious: Supercharged opens at Universal Studios Hollywood. The new theme park ride features several actors from the Fast and the Furious films, including Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson and Luke Evans. A new behind-the-scenes video has debuted, with the cast and the team behind the ride discussing what went into making the attraction. Check it out above!
In addition, Universal have released a poster for the ride, which you can see below and which indicates how the attraction will be incorporated into the popular Studio Tram tour at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Duct Tape is Used to Help Astronauts Suffering a Breakdown
Despite NASA's elaborate psychological testing astronauts must undergo, there's always still a risk that one might suffer a psychological breakdown while hovering in the vast expanse of space. So, what are the others supposed to do when this happens?
The Associated Press discovered NASA's plan back in 2007, after an instance of one astronaut becoming homicidal toward another person after returning from a mission.
According to the plans, crew members of a person exhibiting homocidal or suicidal behavior have been instructed to carry out a three-part procedure. First, they are to bind the person's hands and feet using duct tape to ensure safety on everyone's part. Then, the person is to be tied down using a bungie cord and injected with tranquilizers, if necessary.
Your Reactions to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Trailer
Last weekend, Activision released the first gameplay trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. The new entry in the series showed off what we all know and love about Call of Duty, plus a few new tidbits of info about the upcoming game.
There's a lot to take in from the trailer for Treyarch's new game. Between new technology and a glimpse of zombies, we wanted to know what excited you most about the trailer. So, we took to Twitter and asked for your feedback. Here's what you had to say:
@IGN @CallofDuty for me where the robotic hand switched to a mini gun
Ziggurat Review
It's tough being a neophyte wizard in the world of Ziggurat. If spending two decades learning the fundamentals of magic and spellcasting isn't hard enough, you must now put those skills to the test in the infamous, multi-leveled ziggurat, where creatures from myth and fantasy eagerly wait to snuff out your very existence. Ziggurat, a first-person, dungeon-crawling roguelike, won't overwhelm you with its brief length. But as short as your victory run may be, the brisk combat flow and compelling sense of progression will keep you transfixed despite some minor problems.
You will face many challenges as you leap and sprint through the labyrinthine ziggurat. It features procedural level design, which means you get a different adventure every time you play. Like The Binding of Isaac, levels are constructed of a series of linked rooms, and the doors slam shut in the presence of dark minions, sealing you in with your prey…or your hunters. Lurking in the dark passageways you find the usual smattering of fantasy archetypes, such as necromancers, sword-wielding skeletons, and impish goblins--along with some exceptions, such as evil mushrooms and crab-clawed demons. Oh, and killer carrots. Yes, carrots, which are almost too adorable to put back into the ground--but what else are you to do against vegetables that turn evil?
Some rooms contain traps you must overcome, or modifiers that change how you approach a fight. The latter can include increasing enemy size or quadrupling damage given and received; you can also get something more aesthetic, such as the always-amusing big pixel mode, which gives the game the look of a mid-90s shooter.
Every quest into the ziggurat's recesses has a humble beginning. At first, you are armed with only a simple wand and a slowly regenerating mana pool. But your arsenal steadily increases to include three other magical tools and powers, including spells of ice and poison and staffs that rapidly fire glowing bolts of energy. Weapons and spells are scattered throughout the ziggurat's many rooms and floors, either floating in the air or stored in chests, just waiting to get plucked and added to your hotbar. Each come equipped with an alternate attack that changes their attack speed or potency at a higher cost to your mana pool, which is replenished by picking up colored gems that fallen enemies occasionally drop. It won't be long until you find your favorite tools of the mystical trade. The magma rifle, with its incredible range and powerful explosive slug, is always a top choice. But the one I will always make a mad dash for is the scarab beetle staff, which fires red bugs that ricochet off surfaces. The staff works wonders at medium range, but in smaller rooms, those carrots don’t stand a chance!
Ziggurat is a fight for survival against some nasty foes, but the longer you persevere, the more chances you have at increasing your odds of survival. Gathering knowledge gems that are periodically dropped by your fallen enemies allows you to level up and choose one of several random perks, which come in the form of magical cards. Perks can also be acquired in secret rooms, their hiding places betrayed by cracks in the wall. An element of strategy is involved in picking the right perk, and your decision can have a huge effect on how long you last against the oppressive odds--in Ziggurat, you will find that long-term planning can lead to handsome rewards. Favoring the perk that instantly replenishes any lost health seems like a no-brainer. But you have a choice between said card and Bookworm, which allows you to choose among three cards on the next level instead of the default two, how would you proceed? You can also gamble with your fate in rooms where shrines to ancient deities rest. Sacrificing health or mana give you a chance to earn a divine favor if you're fortuitous or a penalty if you’re not. If you stumble upon the Oracle perk, which removes all divine punishments, fortune will smile upon you.
Movement and combat flow at a rapid pace, reminiscent of classic shooters of yore. There is no stamina to speak of, so sprinting from room to room goes unabated. It's actually quite common to fly through an entire floor in under 10 minutes. You're not slowed down by pools of water, and you can fall from precarious heights without taking any damage. You can adjust your position in the air as well, which is necessary for some of the challenge rooms. These rooms award you with a new perk, spell, or weapon after you dodge flying darts or nimbly hop across rocks and floating debris in stretching pools of lava. This degree of energetic locomotion keeps your heart pounding as you explore the ziggurat, often running backwards, Serious-Sam style, from approaching clutches of hungry foes, picking them off with shotgun blasts of arcane ice or blowing them apart with chemical bombs. Ziggurat's sweat-inducing velocity, combined with the satisfying feeling of growth brought about by its perks system, is, well, spellbinding, and it had me returning to its musty halls even late into the night.
But some issues will pull you out of the enchantment. There are graphical glitches and performance issues, such as frame rate drops and flickering shadows. In its defense, however, Ziggurat looks fantastic. The game dazzles with a charming, almost Fable-like quality, with sources of light emanating from burning torches or esoteric crystals sprouting from the floor to cast bright hues of purple, yellow, and green against grungy stone walls and floors. So it's a shame that on rare occasions, black smears damage Ziggurat's attractiveness. These smudges flicker as you look around, and they can be thin and amorphous, stretching across the screen. The worst smear I encountered covered a good third of the upper portion of my view. And let me tell you, when you have hulking foes to fight and projectiles to dodge, missing such a huge chunk of the screen is unacceptable. The blotches, oddly, only exist in a single room at random, and they seem to be triggered by minions. I couldn't make any sense of this phenomenon, which haunted several of my playthroughs.
Beyond that, I just can't seem to find any love toward Ziggurat's bosses, who guard the portal you use to ascend to the next floor. Some of the bosses are merely larger versions of existing enemies, but none of them, except the final boss, offer much of a fight. Most go down after a minute or two of circle strafing, while you only have to dodge the occasional flying projectile.
Ziggurat can be completed in just over an hour, but it's unlikely you will stop there. The game is challenging, engaging, and a whole lot of fun, despite its problems. There is an abundance of perks to discover and up to 11 characters to unlock, all of whom have a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. If you believe you have the mystical skills to conquer the mighty Ziggurat, now is your chance to prove your worth.
PlayStation Golden Week Sale Discounts Japanese Games
In honor of Golden Week, several Japanese-developed games are discounted on the PlayStation Store.
The sale inclues a variety of both indie and triple-A games at various discounts, including Resident Evil HD, Resident Evil Revelations 2, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, and Catherine.
The games on sale are available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable.
Sony's Golden Week sale will run until Tuesday, May 5.
Cassidee is a freelance writer for various outlets around the web. You can chat with her about all things geeky on Twitter.
Watch Stan Lee Teach Cameo School
Thanks to Stan Lee's abundance of cameos, he's decided it's time to share his wealth of knowledge in a new Audi commercial directed by Kevin Smith.
The commercial imagines Lee teaching a Cameo School, with Smith, Tara Reid, Michael Rooker, and Jason Mewes all in attendance to learn from the cameo master. Lou Ferrigno also makes an appearance, but not as a student, seeing that he's already adept at the art of cameo.
In the commercial, Lee climbs up on his soap box to explain the difference between cameo acting and regular acting. "I didn't get to be the world's greatest cameo actor overnight," says Lee. "It took years of hardwork."
Check out the video below.
The Audi commercial is loosely tied to the release Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, which hits theaters this Friday in the US.