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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A Mystery 'PS4' Project Revealed? Plus: Other Gaming Secrets Involving XSeed, Remedy And More

January 22nd, 2013Top Story

A Mystery 'PS4' Project Revealed? Plus: Other Gaming Secrets Involving XSeed, Remedy And More

By by Superannuation

A Mystery 'PS4' Project Revealed? Plus: Other Gaming Secrets Involving XSeed, Remedy And More

In mid-November, Quantic Dream registered the domain singularityps4.com, suggesting a title and system for the second of two games the Parisian developer is said to be developing for Sony. Despite Cage declaring a lack of enthusiasm for the next generation of consoles, it's been evident for a while his company is eyeing future platforms.

"Singularity" is a rather curious and possibly revealing title. David Cage acknowledged futurist Ray Kurzweil's recent book The Singularity is Near as a chief influence on Quantic Dream's "Kara" tech demo, and Kurzweil's exploration of the synthesis of man and artificial machine is very much up the wheelhouse of what Cage likes to focus on in his games. When asked in an interview about whether he would elaborate on Kara's themes and milieu in a future game, Cage delivered a rather evasive non-answer. And Cage's games do sometimes have titles that are rather on the nose.

The singularityps4.com domain falls very much in line with past Quantic Dream domains heavyrainps3.com and beyondps3.com, and mirrors SCEE's general preference for domains that indicate a game's platform. Given these domain trends and Quantic Dream's status as a valued second-party Sony developer that would presumably privy to the overall strategy of their publishing partner, "singularityps4" could perhaps indicate that Sony will opt for the name of PlayStation 4 for their next console (a surprise to probably no one)—and the current codename of Orbis will vanish.

It is, however, quite unlikely that the game will come to market simply titled "Singularity." Singularity was, of course, the title of Raven Software's commercially unsuccessful time-travel-themed 2010 shooter, and Activision holds the "Singularity" trademark in multiple territories. ("Singularity" was also, oddly enough, the name of an apparently now-scrapped big-name action film at Sony Pictures about nanotechnology that Roland Emmerich and Kurzweil were collaborating on in late 2011 — something that makes me wonder if Cage possibly consulted with Kurzweil for his project.) In order to use the name in commerce, Sony and Quantic Dream will have to add some sort of subtitle or additional words to make sure their name doesn't infringe on Activision's already existing mark, assuming "Singularity" is anything more than a working title.

* * *

According to Remedy Entertainment's recruitment page, the studio is now working on an "unannounced iOS project" alongside the previously known "unannounced AAA project for future generation consoles," which many believe to be a full-fledged sequel to Alan Wake.

This new iOS project is quite possibly a sequel to Remedy's first mobile release, a remake of their 1995 combat racer Death Rally that broke even in three days. Last August, Remedy's Oskari Häkkinen told VentureBeat that his studio is "going to be doing more Death Rally."

Häkkinen hinted that Remedy hopes to bridge the gap between Death Rally and the company's other franchises by placing a greater emphasis on cinematic storytelling as to "bring more life to the cars and the drivers." In terms of gameplay, he also hopes Remedy can tailor the next Death Rally with "user-generated content" in mind to allow players to realize "the craziest cars and the craziest weapons." (Additionally, a publicly accessible sitemap for Remedy's website reveals a page with the URL "death-rally-2.")

But a few weeks later, Häkkinen said in another interview that Remedy had not yet decided what its next mobile title will be. And despite the commercial imperative for a Death Rally 2, he said Remedy still wants to "create new themes and franchises" that suit its creative ambitions.

* * *

It appears XSEED is the American publisher for Suda 51's recently-revealed PS3 and Xbox 360 action title Killer Is Dead. Last week, the niche publisher registered the domain killerisdead-game, as well as presumably marketing-related sites killandlove.com and
loveandkill.com.

The game is yet to be confirmed for release outside of Japan, where it is slated for release in the summer. If one wants a very iffy suggestion for a possible American release timetable, the domains are set to expire in about a year.

Also of note: XSEED seemingly almost dipped its toes into the mobile free-to-play market last year. The company very quietly put up a site, trailer, and Facebook page for a "free to play action RPG for iOS and Android" that was intended for release last summer. The game, which was developed by Japanese mobile studio Blockbuster, seems to have been a fusion of Infinity Blade-esque touch and slash gameplay and a JRPG aesthetic.

* * *

Finally, amid THQ's troubles, Alex Peters, who was the studio head at THQ subsidiary Relic Entertainment, states on his CV that he left the Vancouver developer this month to join Activision. Peters was at Relic for two years, and prior to joining the studio, he served as game director on the ill-fated RPG Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned and chief operating officer at DICE.

superannuation is a self-described "internet extraordinaire" residing somewhere in the Pacific Time Zone. He tweets, and can be reached at heyheymayday AT gmail DOT com.

Top photo: It's not a screenshot! It's a futuristic-looking dentistry robot. Photographed by David Guttenfelder | AP.

Read more Assorted Scoopery! Secrets lurk within.

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Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC Media Center in Under 30 Minutes

January 22nd, 2013Top Story

Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC Media Center in Under 30 Minutes

By Whitson Gordon

Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC Media Center in Under 30 MinutesClick to view The best home theater PCs are small, quiet, and inexpensive—so the bite-size, $35 Raspberry Pi is the perfect choice. Here's how to turn this little DIY board into a cheap, silent media center in just a half hour.

Check out the video above for a quick demo of what the project entails, and what you'll get at the end. Music in the video by Revolution Void.

It's Raspberry Pi week at Lifehacker, and all week we'll be showing you some cool DIY projects you can put together with this little miracle of a device. If you haven't bought one yet, check out our introduction to the Pi to learn more about what it is, what you'll need, and the cool stuff you can do with one. If you aren't familiar with XBMC, our favorite media center software, check out our complete guide to creating a kickass play-everything media center for more info (then come back here).

What You'll Need

Getting XBMC up and running on the Pi is easy, but first you need to gather up your materials. Getting the right ones can be the difference between a 30 minute media center and a 30 hour headache, so here's what you'll want to pick up (though you may have most of it already):

  • A Raspberry Pi: If you're not sure where to buy one, check out our introduction to the Pi for more info.
  • An HDMI or composite video cable: You'll need this cable to connect your Raspberry Pi to your television or monitor. You can get these cheaply at Monoprice if you don't have one already.
  • An 8GB Class 10 SD card (or better) and a card reader (if you don't have one built into your computer): You can go smaller or slower, but an 8GB Class 10 card will get you the best performance, and they're pretty cheap. Most SD cards will work, but some aren't compatible and will therefore cause issues. You can find out which cards are compatible, or locate a place to buy a compatible card with an operating system pre-installed, on this page.
  • A USB keyboard and mouse: Any standard USB keyboard or mouse will do. Wireless (non-Bluetooth) peripherals worked for me, but I had to unplug them and plug them back in after the Raspberry Pi booted. You'll have fewer issues with fully wired keyboards and mice.
  • An ethernet cable: Any standard ethernet cable will do.
  • A good quality, micro USB power supply that can provide at least
    700mA at 5V
    : Most modern smartphone chargers supply 700mA at 5V, but not all do. Check the bottom of your charger and look for a block of text. You'll see its output values in that text which may read 0.7A instead of 700mA). If it offers at least that much power, you're probably good to go. Just don't use a poor quality charger or you may run into problems.
  • A remote control: If you don't want to use a mouse and keyboard to control your media center once its set up, you'll need a remote. Check out Raspbmc's list of supported remotes as well as our guide on choosing a remote for more info.
  • A USB hard drive (Optional): If you don't want to stream videos from your other computers, you'll want a USB hard drive to hook up to the Pi to store your videos.
  • A case for your Raspberry Pi (Optional): If you don't want your Pi's bare board sitting out in your entertainment unit, we recommend grabbing a case like these ones from ModMyPi to put it in.
  • A 3.5mm stereo audio cable (Optional): You only need this if you're using analog video and want to connect your Raspberry Pi to a set of external speakers or internal ones on your television or monitor. If you're using HDMI, you can skip this.
  • The Raspbmc Installer, which will put Raspbmc—the Raspberry Pi-optimized version of XBMC—on your SD card. You can get this for free on Raspbmc's web site.

What You Will (and Won't) Get

The Raspberry Pi makes a dandy media center, especially for the cost. When you're done, you'll have an XBMC box that can play 720p video like a champ from other computers on your network or from a locally connected USB drive. It'll be tiny, so you can fit it anywhere, and completely silent, so you don't have any noise competing with the sound from your movie.

However, compared to other more powerful builds, there are some things the Pi does not do. It will not stream content from the internet (like Hulu), and you may experience stuttering with 1080p videos. This depends a bit on what kind of audio you have on your videos, as well as where they're stored—if you stream them over the network, they'll be more likely to stutter than if you're playing them directly from a USB hard drive. These things may improve as the software improves, but right now they're not quite there enough for us to guarantee flawless 1080p playback.

The Raspberry Pi's menus will definitely feel a bit slower as well, and it won't load high-res fanart as well as more powerful builds—so if you're looking to have a particularly tricked-out, gorgeous XBMC skin, you might be out of luck here. However, as a secondary media center for a smaller TV, or as a media center for simple 720p playback, it's a force to be reckoned with.

Step One: Put Raspbmc On Your SD Card

Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC Media Center in Under 30 MinutesBefore you even hook up your Raspberry Pi to your TV, you'll need to get the Raspbmc installer on your SD card. So, to start, insert your SD card into your computer. If you're using Windows, download the installer from this page and run it on your desktop to put Raspbmc on your SD card. Mac and Linux users will need to run a few terminal commands, but it's nothing too difficult. Once you've got the installer on your SD card, eject it and move onto the next step.

Step Two: Hook Up Your Raspberry Pi and Install Raspbmc

Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC Media Center in Under 30 MinutesNow it's time to hook your Raspberry Pi up to your TV. Everything should be pretty self-explanatory here: plug the HDMI cable into your TV, plug the ethernet cable into your router, insert your SD card into your Raspberry Pi, and plug the Micro USB power cable into your wall. When you plug it into the wall, it should turn on and boot up from the SD card, beginning the installation process.

You shouldn't have to do anything during this step. Just make sure the installer does its thing and come back in 15 to 25 minutes when it's finished. When its done, it should automatically reboot into XBMC.

Step Three: Tweak Your Settings for Optimal Playback

Surprise! You're already most of the way there, and it barely took any work. Now that you've got XBMC booted up, all you need to do is tweak a few settings to make sure everything runs smoothly. Here's what we recommend:

Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC Media Center in Under 30 Minutes

  • Resolution, found under Settings > System > Video Output. If you're only going to be watching 720p videos, you should change this to 720p. It should help the system and menus feel a little snappier.
  • Overscan, found under Settings > System > Video Output > Video Calibration. If you find that the XBMC interface stretches beyond the edges of your TV screen, you'll want to calibrate your video using this wizard to fix it.
  • System Performance Profile, under Programs > Raspbmc Settings > System Configuration. This is a Raspberry Pi-specific setting that basically allows you to overclock the device, making everything run a little bit faster and a little bit smoother. I recommend trying the "Fast" setting, which will speed everything up without sacrificing stability. The "Super" setting will be significantly faster still, but voids your warranty and introduces the possibility of instability. You can also perform more advanced overclocking tweaks if you're familiar with overclocking.
  • MPEG2 Codec License, which you'll need to buy from the Raspberry Pi store and enable under Programs > Raspbmc Settings > System Configuration. This allows you to play MPEG-2 videos, which the Pi cannot play out of the box. If you don't have any MPEG-2 Videos, you can skip this.

When you're done with that, you can jump right on over to our Complete Guide to XBMC to see how to add videos to your library, install add-ons, and customize your setup from head to toe. If you really want to dig in your heels, check out the other XBMC builds for the Raspberry Pi, like OpenELEC or Xbian. They take a bit more work to install, but may be a bit faster in some cases, although they're also a little less feature-filled. Give each a try and decide which you like best!

Title image by Denise Kappa (Shutterstock), maymak (Shutterstock), Pakhnyushcha (Shutterstock), Anan Kaewkhammul (Shutterstock), and Elena Terletskaya (Shutterstock).

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Can Huge Man-Made Lakes Fix Our Rising Sea Levels?

January 22nd, 2013Top Story

Can Huge Man-Made Lakes Fix Our Rising Sea Levels?

By Hamilton Nolan

Can Huge Man-Made Lakes Fix Our Rising Sea Levels?Welcome to an important new Gawker feature, "Hey, Science," in which we will have our most provocative scientific questions answered by real live scientists (or related experts). Never let it be said that reading this blog is not the educational equivalent of sitting in a Ph.D.-level classroom, not paying attention. This week, experts answer the question: Can we fix the problem of rising sea levels by constructing massive man-made lakes on useless land?

THE QUESTION: Rising sea levels caused by global warming threaten the future of American civilization. Coastal cities, including many of our greatest metropli, could be inundated and destroyed. How to address this seemingly intractable problem? I (not a trained scientist, but a respected "free thinker") had a bright idea: What if we dug canals from the coastline and funneled water to massive, man-made inland lakes, which we located in relatively unpopulated areas? In this way we could relocate seawater away from where it threatened us most (the coast) and towards inland areas that we weren't using much anyhow, like Kansas. Sure, it would require a lot of effort and expense—but better to turn Kansas into a great lake than to see New York, Miami, and L.A. flooded, right?

Could this brilliant idea work? We turned to real live experts to find out. Hey, science!

Kevin Haas, Associate Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources, Georgia Tech:

You have an interesting idea for dealing with sea level rise. [Ed.: thank you, yes.] A couple of points that you would need to consider. Relative sea level rise, which is the change of the water level relative to land, is not just from the rising ocean but also can occur in places where the land is sinking. The New Orleans area is one such example. In other areas it is not a problem, where the land and sea are both rising so there is no relative change.

However, the rising seas is a global ocean issue from the release of the water from ice in the polar regions as well as an expansion of the water due to the temperature rise. So the volume of water that must be stored to make an impact is immense. To quantify it you should consider the total surface area of the oceans around the globe compared to the surface area of the land (around 3 to 1). So to reduce the sea level rise by only 1 ft, you would need 3 ft of water on all the earth's land. The most effective defense is probably to build on higher elevation and further inland.

Another issue is storm surge which occurs when storms push water ashore acting as a more regional effect. Although as Superstorm Sandy demonstrated, that region can be extremely large. Hence the volume of water associated with storm surge is also immense. Trying to divert the water to temporary storage would be extremely difficult because of the large required volumes. To date the most effective defenses have been some sort of barrier system which keeps the water out. The Netherlands have built such systems.

Matthew Huber, Director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center and Professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue:

I've thought about this kind of problem for several years now and I can say that some aspects of the idea are completely crazy and easily discounted, but other aspects are only slightly crazy and not easily discounted.

As a solution to sea level problems this is a completely crazy idea that should be discounted out of hand. Assuming the necessary canals could be built, one would need to connect the ocean to basins that were below sea level (other options require water flowing uphill, which is difficult). The total area (and volume) of dry land that is below sea level is rather small.

It is on the order of thousands of cubic kilometers, whereas the volume of the oceans is 1.3 billion cubic kilometers. If we call that 1 billion (1e9 km^3) and the total volume of land which is below sea level and dry 10,000 (1e4 km^3) (this is an overestimate) then you can begin to see the problem. The total amount of land to cover is about 1e5 of the ocean's volume, or .001%.

The surface area of the oceans is ~3.3e8 km^2 and if you imagine adding 1m of sea level evenly over that area you have a cube of .001km*3.3e8 km^2=3.3e5 km^3 of water, but the area we have to fill on land is at most 1e4km^3, so the ratio is 1/33 or 0.03. So maybe, at best, with a huge amount of effort we could do something about 3cm of sea level rise.

Then there's all the other problems: like putting salt water on an aquifer will guarantee a lack of useful water in a region for generations to come; the cost and difficulty of building all the canals and finding the required amount of space that isn't already used; the loading of the continents will locally depress the lithosphere there potentially raising relative sea level nearby and self-gravitation effects (adding mass onto the continents drags water toward the shoreline) will also raise relative sea level along the nearby coasts.

Generally it's a bad idea for sea level issues, but under the right circumstances there might still be uses for the general concept. [Ed.: thank you]

Phillip Roberts, Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources, Georgia Tech:

Hamilton, yes I'm afraid that the idea is wacky and completely impractical. Apart from the huge expense of such a project, the volume of the oceans is so (relatively) vast that it is not possible to build a lake large enough to have any significant effect. For example, if the Great Lakes were drained of freshwater and replaced with seawater, the ocean water level would drop by only about two inches!

Hermann Fritz, Associate Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources, Georgia Tech:

The idea is basically not new, but not to counter sea level rise. The relieve volumes involved are just not of relevance.

However there have been projects to turbine seawater into large desert depressions in Northern Egypt to generate power.

Hence it would be feasible to fill up desert depressions which are below sealevel and send in seawater which would however mostly evaporate again. Therefore mainly for power production. [Ed.: our idea has many potential benefits, you see.] Other such areas could be the Dead sea or the Desert Valley in the US.

Whether any of this makes economical sense is a different story.

John Dracup, Professor of Environmental Engineering, Berkeley:

Dear Hamilton, Do the Math. [Ed.: no.] The earth has a surface area of 510,100,000 km^2. The oceans are 70% of the earth's surface area. If the oceans rose 1 km, that would be a volume of water equal to 357,070,000 km^3. The surface area of the U.S. is 9,827,000 km^2. If you tried to store all of this sea level rise in the U.S., you would need a lake that covered the entire U.S. and had a depth of 36 km.

THE VERDICT: The idea is not practical, due to the sheer volume of water out there. But you have to salute the dynamic, creative mind that came up with it.

[Thanks to all of the experts who lent us their expertise. Do you have a provocative question, idea, or theory for "Hey, Science?" Email me. Image by Jim Cooke.]

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Slatest PM: The Texas college shooting, the GOP's questionable debt plan, and more.

Trouble viewing this email? View these recent stories in your browser.
 
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Your daily PM briefing from The Slatest (@slatest), your daily news companion.

By Josh Voorhees (@JoshVoorhees)

Shooting Sparks Lockdown at Houston-Area College: Associated Press: "A shooting on a Texas community college campus wounded three people Tuesday and sent students fleeing for safety as officials placed the campus on lockdown, officials said. Harris County Sheriff's Maj. Armando Tello said authorities had detained a person of interest. Authorities also thought there could be a second shooter ... Aerial footage from local television stations showed police cars and ambulances parked on the Lone Star College System campus about 20 miles north of downtown Houston. Emergency personnel could be seen tending to people on stretchers, while others ran from a building led by officers."

Two Gunmen; Motive Unknown: Houston Chronicle: "Officials said two gunmen appeared to have been involved in the shooting. One of them was taken into custody a short time later. The other man is on the run. Law enforcement officials were searching the area near the campus, using tracking dogs. The Houston police SWAT team is also on campus. Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked the gunfire."

Eyewitness Account: CNN: "An unidentified Lone Star College student who says she witnessed some of the shooting told CNN affiliate KHOU that an argument between two people preceded the gunfire. A gunman, she said, told someone: 'I don't want to fight you; I'm not trying to go to jail.' The witness appeared to reference only one gunman; it wasn't clear whether she saw a second gunman. She said he 'actually turned away from the situation' at first but eventually pulled a gun out of a backpack. She said she heard about nine shots. 'I think it was a bunch of crap that could've been resolved and never should have gone that far,' the witness said."

Latest Official Word From Local Police: "The school is under control but still under evacuation."

Lone Star Gun Laws: Huffington Post: "[I]t's worth noting the role that state laws play in instances like this. In particular, the movement to expand concealed-carry laws seems likely to be the subject of some scrutiny, especially if the initial reports turn out to be true, and the Lone Star College shooting was the result of an argument that got too heated. Texas already has lax gun laws. But there are lawmakers in the state who have tried to loosen them even further. As a reader pointed out, just last week, a state senator introduced a bill that would let public college students, faculty and staff carry concealed firearms on campus for protective purposes provided that they had a proper license."

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to The Slatest PM, where we think/hope Friday's technological hiccups are behind us. Follow your afternoon host on Twitter at @JoshVoorhees and the whole team at @slatest.

News Flash From Israel: New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu performed far worse than expected in Israel’s national elections on Tuesday, according to exit polls, and while he remained likely to serve a third term, a surprise surge by a new centrist party indicated he would be under pressure to form a more moderate governing coalition. As polls closed at 10 p.m., Israeli news channels reported that Mr. Netanyahu’s rightist Likud-Beiteinu list would win 30 or 31 of Parliament’s 120 seats, and the new party, There is a Future, would take 18, followed by left-leaning Labor, with 17. More important, the polls showed a significant tightening between the bloc of right-wing and religious parties, with a razor-thin majority of 61, and 59 for the center-left factions."

Ignoring the Debt Limit ... For Now: Washington Post: "Forget about raising the federal debt limit. House Republicans are proposing to ignore it altogether — at least until May 18. The House plans to vote Wednesday on a measure that would leave the $16.4 trillion borrowing limit intact but suspend it from the time the bill passes until mid-May. The declaration that the debt ceiling 'shall not apply' means that the government could continue borrowing to cover its obligations to creditors until May 18. This approach — novel in modern times — would let Republicans avoid a potentially disastrous fight over the debt limit without actually voting to let the Treasury borrow more money."

Replacing Ken Salazar: Washington Post: "Add another name to the possible candidates for Interior secretary, a post that will be vacant when Ken Salazar departs the agency in March: Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) We hear Salazar suggested Udall as a potential replacement, and that his name has been sent to the White House for consideration. Of course, he wouldn’t be the first Interior Secretary named Udall. The senator’s father, Stewart Udall, was a legendary environmental champion who served as Interior Secretary under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson."

Instant Analysis: Weigel: "Salazar jumped to the Obama administration from the Senate, and Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter got to pick his replacement—Michael Bennet. The new senator endured a strong primary and a narrow general election, so I guess, if that's your sole basis for the decision, it all worked out. But if Udall jumped, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez would pick his replacement. That would kick the Democrats down to 54 Senate seats, which boost overall GOP optimism for winning the upper House in 2014. (They've got the candidates they want in West Virginia and South Dakota already.) The effect, for liberals, would be comparable to the effect of promoting Gov. Janet Napolitano to the cabinet in 2009—a decision that gave Arizona the glory of Gov. Jan Brewer."

More Popular Than Ever: Wall Street Journal: "Seven in 10 Americans believe Roe v. Wade should stand, according to new data from a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll .... That is the highest level of support for the decision, which established a woman's right to an abortion, since polls began tracking it in 1989. The shift is mostly the result of more Democrats backing the decision—particularly Hispanics and African-Americans—and a slight uptick in support from Republicans. But the poll showed a consistent tension in Americans' attitudes toward the decision. Almost seven in 10 respondents say there are at least some circumstances in which they don't support abortion."

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