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How the hell did Galak-Z hide a Gundam for three years?
Jul 24
// Steven Hansen
Let's recap for a second if you haven't been following along. Galak-Z is broken into five seasons each with five episodes. The fifth season will be added in for free post launch. This is one diversion from the typical roguelike set up, in that when you die, you don't start all the way at the beginning of the game, but rather at the beginning of whichever "season" you're on. "One of [Kazdal's] pet peeves with roguelikes" is that playing very beginning segments over and over can get boring, so this blends that death-based need to replay with earned progression. More typically, levels are randomly generated, and you get different fractions of story and dialogue every time. This way you won't hear the same repeated bits death after death, but slowly glean more information until you finally get through the season. The space shooting half we already knew about is not just a twin-stick shooter, either. The ship maps thrusters (and a boost) to the triggers. There's also a backwards thruster so you can shoot and flee, a dodge thruster, and a a barrel roll (square) that juts the ship "toward" you like it's coming out of the screen (and over incoming bullets on the 2D plane). You have your standard weapon and an Itano Circus missile salvo (limited, but you can buy more if you find the shop during levels). [embed]296589:59676:0[/embed] Ok, so the not-Gundam? You can morph the ship into the robot at any time with a smooth, Transformers-like animation and change up the playstyle completely. It has a beam sword, which can be charged for a stronger, wider attack, and a shield that has parry capabilities. Perhaps most fun, though, is the extending claw arm that can grab dangerous space junk and throw it at enemies, or grab enemies themselves, bringing them in close so you can start wailing on them with punches. Keeping the mech locked up this long is impressive. The feature was locked off in the many public shows Galak-Z has been demoed at and no one slipped up about it. Kazdal tells me there were plans for a third, stealth-focused character, initially, but that it made for too many mental hoops in dealing with all the other things that could be happening at any given moment. Galak-Z is smooth, feels great to play, and the mech is a welcomed addition, adding one more layer to the game. There are warring factions you can sometimes pit against each other, environmental hazards to be aware of (and sometimes use to your advantage -- thanks alien trapdoor spider who saved my ass!), and instant shifts between ranged and close-quarters combat. It's tough, gorgeous, encourages exploration (beyond mission goals, there are blueprints for new gear and other upgrades to find), and a ton of fun.
Spelunky by way of Macross...and Gundam
We've covered the "Spelunky by way of Macross" space shooting roguelike for a couple of years now and the follow-up from Skulls of the Shogun developer 17-bit is almost here, coming to PS4 August 4 and PC a few months down th...
Fish Fight
Educate yourself on Hemingway while arm wrestling a fish
This would have helped so much in school
Jul 23
// Laura Kate Dale
The Old Man and The Sea is a 1950's novel from renowned author Ernest Hemingway about excessive hyper masculinity and an unflinching determination to achieve success rather than accept futility in tough times. Having gone 84 ...
Submerged is kind of like Wind Waker if you only count the boat stuff
Forget all that fighting
Jul 22
// Brett Makedonski
It may not be the iconic King of Red Lions, but like Wind Waker, Submerged also has a boat that you will become very accustomed to. Sea travel is about the only way to get around, after all. What else are you suppo...
Porn Studio Sim
Run a porn studio in Triple X Tycoon
Yes, this is the game for me
Jul 22
// Laura Kate Dale
Games about managing a company creating a product and marketing it to the world, like Game Dev Story, were all the rage a couple of years back. I think I may have just found the game to revitalize my love in the genre. Triple...
Grrrrrrr, time to date some hot and manly orcs
Got to love some burly man chest
Jul 22
// Laura Kate Dale
As many of you who regularly read the Destructoid front page will know, I do love myself a good dating sim. Strong writing, unique dating options I don't normally have and the chance to understand what true love between a hom...
Ex-BioWare devs doing new Neverwinter Nights inspired RPG
Jul 21
// Steven Hansen
"Mooncrest is a single-player, story-based fantasy RPG, with a focus on real-time tactical combat, cinematic conversations, and challenging puzzles," so reads the official site set up by KnightMayor for its first game. The ...
Feist lives!
Hot damn! Feist hits Steam soon and it looks phenomenal
I had feared the worst
Jul 21
// Jordan Devore
"Feist isn't dead! Aiming for a 2011 release." That was a headline I wrote in January of 2011 and, no, I wasn't talking about the singer. I was referencing an enchanting, long-in-development game about a creature who must esc...
Her Story
Her Story creator doesn't plan on explaining that ending
He wants fans to debate the evidence
Jul 21
// Laura Kate Dale
Since Her Story released a couple of weeks back, many people have been debating the plot, the evidence they found and what they think really happened in the lead up to the game. With it's ambiguously ended plot splitting fans...
Steam Early Access
Remember Pang? The Bug Butcher sure does
Calling all Buster Bros.
Jul 20
// Jordan Devore
Capcom's good old bubble-popping shooter Super Buster Bros. (Super Pang outside of America) lives on as the inspiration for The Bug Butcher, a newly-released game on Steam Early Access. As the butcher, you'll avoid attacks an...
Review: The Magic Circle
Jul 20
// Nic Rowen
The Magic Circle (PC)Developer: QuestionPublisher: QuestionMSRP: $19.99Released: July 9, 2015 The Magic Circle (the aforementioned meta-game inside of this real life title) is Ishmael "Starfather" Gilder's brainchild. The long awaited sequel to his beloved fantasy game 20 years in the making, mocked as vaporware by detractors and seen as the holy grail by his fans. A monochromatic fantasy world (that was a Doom-like sci-fi game for the first ten years of development) and probably the worst game ever made. Until you come along that is. Inserted into the game as a nameless play-tester, you see the drama play out in front of you. A world made of patchwork fixes and temporary assets while the developers, represented as giant floating eyes, loom overhead, changing things by whim. If the project wasn't already doomed by constant redesigns, oversized egos, and feature-creep, things take a surreal turn when something reaches out to you. Something that lives inside the game. Something that seems vaguely sinister, with its own agenda, an axe to grind against "the gods" as he calls the developers. What is it? A rampant A.I. that's somehow grown deep inside the mess of code? A machine spirit? You don't find out its exact nature until fairly deep into the game, and even then there is room for interpretation. What's important is what it shows you, how to get elbow deep into the guts of the code and rewrite it to your liking. How to use a simple but powerful editor to take the legs off one creature and stick them onto another. How to turn an enemy into a friend into an enemy of your other enemies. How to remake the world to your design. Then he sets you loose, a poltergeist in the programming, hacking in features, resurrecting cut content. Sometimes you play the part of a technological necromancer, finding content in the limbo of vaporware and dragging it back into the game. More often, you're Dr. Frankenstein, ripping bits and pieces off of creatures and stitching them back together to make your own beautiful little monster babies. The result has a pleasing effect, satellite dishes and broken bits of star ships poking out of the cliched castle walls of Ishmeal's would-be opus, an army of weaponized mushroom men following at your heel. Once the tutorials are over and the rather unorthodox premise established, the middle chunk of the game opens up into a sandbox that has you solving puzzles and indirectly slaying monsters by breaking all the rules. The flexibility of the editor, what you can do with a few swapped abilities here, a slight behavioral shift there, is astounding. Many of the puzzles (such as they are) can be solved in so many ways that I was almost always unsure if I did it the "right" way, or if I just bent and broke things until the pieces all fell where I hoped they would. I love that feeling, it's beautiful when games that are confident enough in themselves to not only let that happen, but applaud the player for doing so. There is a light tone to the whole affair. The various developers are chatty, with some great performances turned in from James Urbaniak (better known as Dr. Venture from the Venture Bros.), Ashley Burch, and others. There are audio diaries to discover, developer commentaries from a defunct version of the game to collect, and change logs detailing the carnage of the development process scattered around, all of which reveal not only what a comedy of errors The Magic Circle has become, but also the various neurosis and flaws of the team members. The comedic tone of the writing and performances feed right back into the gameplay. Silly decisions abound, like the developers (the real ones) always went with the fun idea rather than the easy or clear one. For example, there is no upper limit on how many creatures you can have following around you at once, so things can, and likely will, easily devolve into chaos as you walk around with a fire-spewing zoo trailing behind you. Similarly, there are no limits on how you can swap abilities so it's easy to make truly ridiculous creatures, like a flying demon puppy with a railgun mouth. But aside from the obvious circus-show of zaniness, there are tons of small jokes and clever winks. Little details like picking up copies of your own avatar to increase your health (represented by placeholder art that looks like a cylinder with arms). Being able to re-name every creature you hack so you can make your own fun. At one point I ended up changing the name of the game to "Duke Nukem Presents The Magic Circle" and I giggled at my handiwork off and on for the rest of the night. It's just fun to tinker around in. The objectives of the game are purposely vague -- you need to wrest control of the title away from its current creators, how you're supposed to accomplish that as a disembodied phantom inside the game isn't clearly laid out – but they don't have to be. Exploring the half-built world of The Magic Circle, this pitiful thing, marked with the visible scars of development notes, vestigial remains of deleted content still clinging to it, concept art hastily plastered over the seams, is the meat of the experience. One you wouldn't want to rush through even if you knew exactly what you were supposed to do. And one, that even with a healthy amount of goofing around and experimentation, is over too soon. The sandbox is tiny, and once the game enters its final chapters there is no coming back to it. While The Magic Circle has a compelling third act and some neat surprises to throw at the player (sometimes with the intent of harm), it's hard not to feel like the game is a little thin on the whole. While the central conceit is fun, you don't spend as much time playing with it as you'd hope. The runtime is already short, and a good chunk of it is taken up with monologues that occasionally veer into full on lectures as well as multiple epilogues. For a game that is about grand ideas betrayed by shaky execution, it's tempting to explain the lack of substantive content as more sneaky meta-commentary, but while the idea makes me smirk, I don't think it's good enough to give the game a free-pass. But The Magic Circle isn't just about the gameplay, it has a message. A whole lot to say about what it's like to make games in the modern video game industry. The stresses it places on people, the incorrect assumptions creators have about their work, and the untamed expectations of a judgmental audience. Despite being a commentary on the industry, The Magic Circle isn't gauche enough to single out a specific target. Ishmeal is a composite of several flawed, egotistical developers who are big on hype, hazy on details, and always ready to blame someone else for their shortcomings. There are shades of Molyneux in the mix, flickers of Cage, a sprinkling of Garriot, and a heady musk of Romero to round it out. Coda, an ardent fan of Ishmeal's former works who worms her way onto the team, represents the new era of the participant fan; The streamer, the wiki editor, the super-secret pre-beta fan tester, and all the good and ill that's come along with that shift. Her passion and reverence for the virtual worlds she's dedicated her life to is engaging and even a little familiar -- we're all enthusiasts around here. But, her obsessiveness and the sheer gall of her skewed priorities quickly become unsettling. Beneath all the fan-girl glee is a shrewd, nasty sense of undeserved entitlement and ownership, the sort of overly-invested fan that will send shamelessly ego-stroking love letters to a developer one day and thinly veiled death threats the next. Less well defined is Evelyn Maze, a former eSports celebrity who is unwillingly tied to Ishmeal's sinking boat through contractual chains (a clumsy way of explaining her combativeness while dodging the question of "why doesn't she just quit?"). She represents the "games are for playing" kind of gamer who has no patience for cut-scenes and a thirst for competition. A philosophy which directly collides with the "Starfather's" vision of a story-heavy RPG yarn with no combat. As Maze is the unofficial second-in-command of the studio's disorganized hierarchy (that seems to work like a hippie-commune as run by Joseph Stalin) her and Ishmeal's constant bickering results in a lot of flushed efforts and confusion on the part of the team, right in line with some of the horror stories we've heard about the industry the real world. And somewhere in there is you, simultaneously gawking at the car crash while pouring more gasoline on it. Are you just another player in this world? A different sort of creator? Are you sabotaging this whole thing, or just giving it the sharp kick it needs? The problem with talking about a game that aims to surprise is it's hard to get specific without ruining the experience. But I guarantee, in the near future a lot of ink is going to be spilled about The Magic Circle. The final third of the game goes to some weird places that demand to be dissected. The message is a little muddled, with so many accusing fingers thrust in so many directions that I'm sure different people will come to radically different conclusions of what it all means. But it's a message worth hearing, and a world worth exploring, if you care about video games and the people that make them. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
The medium is the message
The Magic Circle is a game set inside of a game, where you bend and break the rules to make it another game entirely. This is all in service of makings a meta-contextual statement about the game making industry and the tension between the creator and the audience. Still with me after that? Then you're probably The Magic Circle's target audience.
Devastated Dreams
Devastated Dreams looks at the horrors of pregnancy
Baby's Day Out 2: Baby gets eaten
Jul 19
// Jonathan Holmes
Games about pregnancy are more popular than ever. Even the Minions are getting in on the act. Though most of these games are fairly disturbing, few of them are intentionally so. Devastated Dreams, a spiritual sequel to Never...
Sup Holmes
Sup Holmes answers the dark call with Joy Masher (Odallus)
Sup Holmes every Sunday at 4pm EST!
Jul 19
// Jonathan Holmes
[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.] [Update: Show's over folks...
Sterling in We Happy Few
Jim Sterling doing voice work for Compulsion's We Happy Few
Thank Joy for him
Jul 18
// Darren Nakamura
ScrewAttack Gaming Convention is going on right now, and some news relevant to longtime Destructoid readers has come out of it. Our old pal Jim Sterling put on Jimquisition Live there, and he made a few announcements during t...
Review: SlashDash
Jul 17
// Patrick Hancock
SlashDash (Xbox One)Developer: Nevernaut GamesPublisher: Nevernaut GamesMSRP: $9.99Released: July 17, 2015 SlashDash is a local-multiplayer only game. There is no one-player mode, no bots, no challenges, nothing. If there are not at least two players, it's impossible to play any mode. I just wanted to make that perfectly clear before anyone reads further. It uses a simple control scheme, but that doesn't make it a simple game. Players can slash with their sword, perform a small teleport forward, or throw a weapon forward. Hitting an enemy with a thrown weapon like a kunai will stun them for a brief moment of time, but slashing them will kill them, forcing them to respawn. It takes less than a single round of play for players to fully comprehend the controls, but the feeling of mastery is still a long ways off. The biggest quirk is that players cannot slash and move at the same time. It may sound like a non-issue, but in a fast-paced game like SlashDash, it makes a world of difference. It forces players to really think about their attacks, because a single missed attack might be the difference between victory and defeat. Everyone moves at the same default speed, so missing an attack and stopping is a huge setback. There are four modes available: Capture the Flag, Assassination, Deathrace, and Mirror Match. Capture the Flag (CTF) is easily the best mode available. It doesn't deviate far from what players would expect from a CTF variant. It's 2v2 only, and one player must grab the opponent's flag and return it to their base to score a point. The player carrying the flag is slowed, but their teammate can slash them and give them an extra boost of speed. It's incredibly important to master this skill, and forces players to think about what move would be better: boosting your flag carrier, defending them, or attacking the opponent who has your flag. Other than simply outplaying an opponent, mind games are a huge part of CTF. There's a deceivingly large amount of options at any given time, regardless of which role a player is filling. Of course, all of this happening with friends nearby or on the same couch is what really pumps the excitement into SlashDash. [embed]295953:59548:0[/embed] Assassination gives each team a Shogun to protect. The Shogun will blindly follow one player, and slashing your own Shogun will make it run to your teammate. It's important to know that the Shogun will run in a straight line to your teammate, and will get caught on any pieces of environment that are in the way. It's hard to find a good Shogun these days. The Shogun variant is interesting, but doesn't tend to provide the same amount of excitement as CTF. Having the Shogun generally forces the player to run away, and these matches can easily devolve into very defensive matches from both teams. Deathrace is a fancy way to say Deathmatch, with a slight twist on the formula. This is a free-for-all mode where each player has a bar that fills as long as they are alive. If a player is stunned or killed, the bar is slowed. The first player to fill their bar wins. The leader has a ring around them to indicate they are in first, but it's really hard to see by how much. The bar that fills for each player is a circle in the middle of the stage, and makes it near-impossible to see how close players are to one another. Mirror Match is the worst of the bunch. In this mode, every player gets five ninjas to control, each acting at the same time. It's possible to separate them by using the environment, but this mode is basically just chaos. There wouldn't be much wrong with this, except that the frame rate drops heavily while playing, even with just two people. I've even had the game crash on me on this mode. If it didn't struggle to run, Mirror Match could be a chaotic distraction from the other modes, but as it stands, it is unplayable. There are nine maps, and each of them are quite unique from one another. One map is made of ice with less friction, while another has spikes that rise from the ground that will kill anyone who steps on them. Map knowledge is an important skill, since it is crucial to know what the ninjas can and cannot teleport over. Being chased by an opponent and failing to teleport over a gap because it was too far can lead to some quick deaths. New throwing weapons can be unlocked, seemingly through games played. This is never made very clear, but considering all I have done is play matches, I think it's safe to say that playing more matches unlocks more throwing weapons. It's a shame, though, because there will be people who download the game to play with friends and only have a single throwing weapon, the Kunai, to use. It takes some decent playtime to unlock them, too, which seems counter-intuitive to the design of the game as a whole. The different weapons all have very different effects, and cater to multiple different playstyles. The smoke bomb, for example, creates a big puff of smoke around the ninja, making them impossible to see for a moment (warning: do NOT use in Mirror Match, for the love of frame rate). The Poison Kunai, on the other hand, stuns for a very small amount of time, but prevents the enemy from teleporting for a short time instead. Playing around with the throwing weapons is a blast, once they're all unlocked. One huge issue is the rematch button. Opting to rematch restarts the match, but every player is reverted back to the Kunai for a throwing weapon, regardless of what they picked. Originally this is fine, since it's the only weapon unlocked, but as people start to select different weapons, the button becomes useless. Despite incredibly polished visuals with a true homage to Japanese culture, there's a ton of gameplay hiccups, After playing a game and going back to the main menu, the "Instructions" option becomes invisible. It's still there, just invisible until the player selects it. Selecting rematch after "Random" is chosen for the stage brings players to the same level, instead of a new random one. I've encountered freezes multiple times, even outside of Mirror Match. And after a match, the options for rematch, mode select, and stage select can block a player's statistics if they accidentally hit a button too early, which is common when the end of a match is intense. I really do love SlashDash, but only when playing with four people. Currently, there's a lot of blemishes on the product as a whole, most of which seem like glaring oversights. There's also not a lot going on for people who don't regularly have friends over at their house to play multiplayer games. With no single-player and even lackluster two-player options, SlashDash exists for a certain kind of player. Hopefully all of the bugs can be fixed, because playing Capture the Flag with three friends is easily one of the best local multiplayer experiences out there. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
Bring your friends...or else
SlashDash first grabbed my attention at PAX East, where it easily soaked up a good amount of my time on the show floor. Also, I'm pretty sure Dylan Sprouse was working the booth. Or maybe it was Cole? I guess it could ha...
Year Walk
Wii U getting acclaimed, spooky Year Walk
Jesus Walks
Jul 17
// Steven Hansen
2013's peculiar hit about a man wandering the Swedish woods and encountering some kind of lake horse in a suit (and so on) made its way to PC in 2014, but if you've still not given it a go, the Wii U is a perfect landing spo...
Vestaria Saga
Fire Emblem creator's new strategy RPG is Vestaria Saga
A bit basic, or 'old school'
Jul 17
// Steven Hansen
Shouzou Kaga was last involved in the Fire Emblem series in 1999 announced in May he was working on a new turn-based strategy RPG that would be released for free when it is finished. This isn't some mobile turn, but maybe tem...
Rust soft launches female avatars, 'you never had a choice'
Admins first, then organic dispersal
Jul 17
// Steven Hansen
Back when I was telling you about how Rust automatically generates penis size based on Steam ID, a footnote to that article was that female player models were on their way to the survival sandbox, too. Well, this momentous ad...
PS4 / UE4 Ethan Carter
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter looks better on PS4 but runs worse
There are some frame rate issues
Jul 16
// Jed Whitaker
It hasn't been highly publicized, but the PlayStation 4 version of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter was rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 4. The current PC version runs in UE 3. Due to the new engine, this mysteri...
The Flock
The Flock will be removed from sale if players die too much
Either the best or the worst idea ever
Jul 16
// Joe Parlock
Indie multiplayer games are notoriously difficult to keep alive. Shattered Horizon, Lead & Gold, Cult of the Wind, Super Monday Night Combat, the list just goes on and on of games that have been pretty fantastic, only to ...
Review: Odallus: The Dark Call
Jul 16
// Jed Whitaker
Odallus: The Dark Call (PC)Developer: JoyMasherPublisher: JoyMasherMSRP: $14.99Released: July 15, 2015 Haggis's son has been taken by darkness, his village has been set ablaze, and his Gods have abandoned him, so he does what any father would do in this situation, brandish a sword and go on a killing spree. Along the way Haggis picks up axes, spears and torches to add to his arsenal of demon-dispatching weaponry; axes go in a straight line and torches ignite the ground much like throwing knives and holy water from Castlevania respectively. These sub weapons can be found and replenished via various chests along the way or at shops set up throughout the land in exchange for orbs enemies drop. Knowing when to use these sub weapons are key to success in Odallus, especially at the start of the journey as your sword is rather weak in comparison. Certain enemies and obstacles fall faster to sub weapons. A weapon bag dictates how many of each weapon can be carried, luckily it can be upgraded by finding upgrades hidden throughout the landscape. Health, sword, and armor upgrades can also be found hidden in hard to reach places. Odallus is anything but hard as I was able to breeze through it in just over four hours. Health is carried over between levels, only being refreshed by finding health pickups in chests or by purchasing them at shops. Lives can be purchased at shops but there is little reason to as running out only causes you to restart the current level at the beginning instead of the latest checkpoint. The only real difficult part of the game is the final boss whose attack pattern was seemingly random and extremely cheap: the only way I was able to defeat him was to be equally cheap and abuse the final armor upgrades and their ability to make myself invulnerable for a brief moment while spamming attacks. Bosses in general are pretty easy, having predictable patterns and falling quickly to sub weapons or upgraded swords which is a shame because they all look so cool, mostly like hellish H. R. Giger creations. I found myself purposefully not being aggressive in boss fights just so I could see what attacks the bosses had in their arsenals. Like the bosses, many of the levels look awesome, even if some of them rely on Castlevania tropes such as a burning village or a dark forest. Graphically Odallus looks like an NES game, which isn't a bad thing, as the game honestly feels like a spiritual successor to the NES Castlevania games. While there are some commonplace level locations for this type of game, there are also some that mix up the formula a bit such as underwater levels and even a mine cart level. Riding in a mine cart, ducking stalactites, and jumping over other mine carts and gaps in the track are just as fun as they were in Donkey Kong Country, albeit a bit easier. The underwater levels play generally the same as the other levels, though jumping gets a bit of additional height. Jumping higher underwater when wearing armor may not make much sense, but it doesn't take away from the experience. Each level has multiple paths to progression, though a lot of times they end up looping back to where they started in clever ways that prevent the need for backtracking. If you're like me and you always wonder which path you should go and worry about missing something, Odallus is pretty good about making sure you end up back in that area for one reason or another. One thing I've never liked about metroidvania style games is the tedious, boring backtracking that is forced upon you if you're a completionist. Luckily here you're able to use a Ghosts 'n Goblins-esque map to jump between levels. The level selection screen also provides details on how many secrets are left to collect, if the boss is alive, and if you've unlocked the alternate routes. No levels are really secret as they are marked on the map when you unlock the levels that they can be accessed from. I had to repeat a couple of levels maybe two times to clean up on some secrets I'd missed, but for the most part your time isn't wasted to try to artificially extend the playtime. Traversing levels at first feel mostly like a classic platformer; You have one jump, and getting hit knocks you back a bit, but unlike those games of old there are no bottomless instant-kill pits to be found. While cheap deaths plagued classic Castlevania games making them "NES hard," I was very pleased Odallus didn't follow in their footsteps. Another nice feature is the ability to grab ledges and pull yourself up; this leads to some interesting platforming and puzzles that I won't spoil here. Eventually you'll gain the ability to double jump, dash, and perform other actions to help you blaze through levels, though this is late into the game. Typically I'm team whip, but Odallus goes team sword and it feels great. Slicing enemies into pieces doesn't feel much different than using a whip, what is different though is the ability to parry an enemy's projectiles. Hitting a fireball or other projectile out of the air with a sword just feels awesome, Odallus definitely rewards aggressive play. The entirety of the story plays out in an opening cutscene, hidden collectible runes, boss dialogue, and an ending cutscene. There are a few instances where the localization seemed a bit off on grammar, but it wasn't unintelligible. Just like the visuals, the music is very much NES-inspired. While the chiptune music is all right it certainly isn't as catchy as the music found in actual games available for the NES. Sound effects are seemingly more Genesis-influenced, as they sound more realistic and are often times brief voice clips much like Splatterhouse's effects. Odallus does nothing extraordinary in the audio department but what it does do works well enough. Only lasting four easy-to-complete hours and having a few minor localization issues are really the only hangups I had with Odallus, which aren't all that bad. Though JoyMasher has promised that a harder veteran mode will be made available in a few weeks, I just wish it were included at launch as this was a rare case of game being a bit too easy. Regardless of a few minor gripes, Odallus: The Dark Call is a worthy addition to any metroidvania fan's library and is worth the asking price. Do yourself a favor and play it. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
The best Castlevania game in years
JoyMasher, the Brazilian team behind Odallus: The Dark Call doesn't have a ton of games under its belt, but that doesn't mean it can't produce quality content. Somehow the developer has done something Konami hasn't ...
Never Alone
Nuna and Fox have another Never Alone adventure in them
Foxtales, Woo-oo!
Jul 16
// Brett Makedonski
Last winter, Upper One Games introduced audiences to a piece of Iñupiat folklore through Never Alone. It told the tale of Nuna and her pet fox as they attempted to find the source of a relentless blizzard an...
The Swindle
The Swindle gets down with the sneaky sneaky
Here's a PC preview
Jul 15
// Zack Furniss
I've just spent a few hours with Size Five Games' (of Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! fame) newest offering, The Swindle. As a coalition of thieves in alternate-reality Victorian London, you&rsquo...
Chime Sharp
Chime sequel Kickstarter has already hit its goal
Looking sharp
Jul 15
// Darren Nakamura
I mostly remember Chime as a game that had one super easy achievement worth 50 Gamerscore. It did a thing where proceeds went toward charity, so just buying the game was enough of an achievement, I guess. I was pretty bad at...
Slimran Kagura
Wrangle adorable goo in Slime Rancher
This game sucks and blows
Jul 15
// Steven Hansen
Well isn't this just the cutest. Nostalgia needling from Dragon Quest "slime" and Monster Rancher, too. Per the official site, "Slime Rancher is the tale of Beatrix LeBeau, a plucky, young rancher who sets out for a life a t...
Dtoid Live Stream
Check out Vanishing of Ethan Carter PS4, and Castlevania-like Odallus on our Twitch!
Ethan Carter remastered in UE 4!
Jul 14
// Jed Whitaker
[Update: All done! Look out for my review of Odallus today. Spoilers: I liked it.] I've got some games and can't possibly play them without someone watching me, so won't you? The PS4 version of The Vanishing of Eth...
Review: The Fall
Jul 14
// Mike Cosimano
The Fall (Linux, Mac, PC, PS4 [reviewed], Wii U, Xbox One)Developer: Over the MoonPublisher: Over the MoonMSRP: $9.99Released: May 30, 2014 (PC) / July 14, 2015 (PS4) The Fall opens with style, as gravity slowly kicks in for a mysterious suited figure entering the dusky atmosphere of an alien world. This figure is Colonel Josephs, a soldier in a generic future army. But the good Colonel is in critical condition, leaving his life in the hands of ARID, the AI controlling Josephs' suit. Unfortunately, she's trapped in a decrepit android repair facility, packed with hostile security drones and run by a fantastically creepy caretaker. Her one ally is the facility's mainframe, who is understandably happy to see a friend after decades of loneliness. The character writing is fantastic. ARID doesn't know it, but every attempt to save the meatsack trapped inside her suit brings her closer to escaping her restrictive programming. At first, her determination appears to be a result of coding, but as Josephs comes ever closer to expiring, genuine emotion begins to push through her automated facade. Rogue artificial intelligence hasn't been this compelling since the Portal games. The same goes for the other characters. The caretaker's job is to designate malfunctioning units, but nothing is safe from its critical eye. Both malfunctioning robots and innocent humans are killed and literally crucified by its hand -- a result of overly rigid programming. The character is brought to life by some delightfully creepy animation and a holographic disguise gone horribly wrong. The mainframe, on the other hand, wants to be closer to humanity in the hopes of being treated fairly. ARID exists in a space between these characters; between rigid adherence to the rules (the caretaker) and simulated humanity (the mainframe). Without spoiling the game's killer ending, ARID does make something of a decision between the two. [embed]295646:59464:0[/embed] It's also worth noting that The Fall is not technically over, with two more parts supposedly on the way. The ending of Part One brings closure to the game's themes and ARID's character arc, so it's difficult to guess where the game could end. There's certainly something to be said for exploring characters after a major revelation, so I have faith in the future of The Fall. As long as the writing stays at this level, we'll be in good hands. If there's one area where the game could improve, it's the puzzles. ARID's suit has a series of abilities that can only be activated if her human pilot is in danger. In order to get through the facility and make it to the medical center, ARID has to find a way to manipulate both her environment and her programming. This leads to clever scenarios, where you transform a harmless security door into a death trap, all in the hopes of activating your cloaking mechanism. Unfortunately, most of the puzzles can be reduced to "use item on other item." In retrospect, they seem well-telegraphed, but they're frustrating in the moment. The bulk of the item-based puzzles take place in a domestic droid training center, which makes up for the frustration with atmosphere and some clever jokes. I imagine pumping up the game's brightness would also help a lot with finding interactive objects. Like a fool, I went with the default. Don't be like me. There's also combat, made more tactical by ARID's weak shields. Although the health bar is fairly sizable, both the shields and life support regenerate more slowly than a dead turtle. The real penalty for poor performance is having to sit around and wait. Or you could take a page out of my book -- I was able to make a quick sandwich, eat it, and clean up in the time it took for ARID to come back to full health. This doesn't matter after a certain point; once you get a certain gun upgrade, you can pop headshots like nobody's business. When you nail The Fall's combat, you feel like a badass. The Fall Part One's minor gameplay shortcomings don't even begin to tarnish the sheen on everything else. It's a seductive old-school sci-fi yarn, with characters that somehow manage to represent greater ideas and exist as fully-formed beings. Even though two more episodes have been confirmed, the game ends on an exciting conclusion that could function either as a cliffhanger or a definitive finale. If you're into books like The Martian Chronicles, there's no reason to let some potential head-scratchers keep you from a great experience. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
Fallen angel
The Fall's opening act is something out of a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories, where hard science leads to deeper questions of morality puzzled over by engaging characters. It's the right sort of science fiction,...
Building, crafting, crashing, and laughing in Crashlands
I am a poet
Jul 14
// Darren Nakamura
I'm fighting the urge to do the lazy blogger "if X and Y had a baby" thing, but I don't know if I can help myself. Crashlands looks like what would happen if The Behemoth (BattleBlock Theater) were to develop Klei Entertainm...
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Five Nights at Freddy's 4 trailer brings the horror home
Check under the bed
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1979 Revolution
1979 Revolution explores the Iranian revolution
And not from an American perspective!
Jul 13
// Steven Hansen
West Asia (the "Middle East") doesn't get great screen time in games. Mostly it's a setting for contemporary American war stories rather than for stories of the people who live there. 1979 Revolution changes that, setting yo...
Impress the dogs
Impress the gods in impressive hand drawn action game Jotun
Impress the dogs
Jul 13
// Steven Hansen
I'm not sure the percentage of my life spent trying to impress dogs, but it is big. I want all dogs to love me. They usually do anyways, because dogs love most things and because I am very easy to love. Even dogs antisocial ...
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Who would win? Morals on. Fight in Gotham. Win by death or KO.
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The Hood, far better h2h combatant.
Oliver Queen's got this..
Hey stop trolling. This is a legit question. Now who would win? Ollie or Mr. Queen? Don't tell me Oliver Queen would win without making an argument. At least tell me if his abilities are better than that of Oliver Queen. Because if you can't give me any arguments, I would most likely give this to Oliver Queen... Cause he's got a bow. And excellent marksmanship. What can Oliver counter that with?
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There costumes are basically the same but Smallville arrow was a better marksmen.
@ultrastarkiller: @the_stegman: So Smallville Ollie was the better marksman but Arrow Ollie was the better H2H combatant?
@shawnbaby: Did I just kill my own thread?
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IMO smallville GA had more trick and gadget arrows, iv not seen too many from the hood so far. Other than that really fail to see the difference.
i made this four months ago:
then someone else made it:
Arrow has better reflexes and fighting skills but green arrow has much better accuracy in the smallville episode were he fights the dark archer he's a lot more impressive than the arrow episode were he fights Malcom. I say GA wins due to superior tech.
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remember though smallville green arrow has more experience than the hood also you need to take into account green arrow only spent 2 years on the island whereas the hood spent 5 and the hood went through more.
@ssejllenrad: @shawnbaby: @ultimatesmfan: @allstarsuperman: @comicdude319: no Hartley can shoot him in his pupil before even he blinks
he has shot Zod while he's using his super speed and senses
he aimed at Moon from 2-2.5 miles far away and shot Daily Planet Ornamental Globe,not only did he hit the globe itself, but he was able to specify a location he wanted to hit in Borneo.
he shots speeding bullets in air to save citizens
He should shoot that soda for kissing Lois. Lois didn't realize that but he was able to aim his arrow inside of the hole of a pop tab of a soda can.
@dorukesin: dude I know. But if you took the time to read the thread you should have bump mine is the original
@dorukesin: dude I know. But if you took the time to read the thread you should have bump mine is the original
okay lol im going to bump
@clark_el: .Smallville is far better. He has shot bullets out of the air.
@allstarsuperman: Arrow's not bad though, he's shot a rocket launcher out of mid-air before.
Arrow- Better h2h
Smallville Green Arrow- Better tech
They are both equal marksman IMO
Smallville's marksmanship is much better
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@allstarsuperman: Arrow's not bad though, he's shot a rocket launcher out of mid-air before.
A bullet is like 3 times faster then a rocket at least. And Smallville Ollie has tagged kryptonians in combat.
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if I'd say, Small ville's green arrow is by far more cool than arrow. he's got the tech, he's fun you know and he's got style. arrow on the other hand acts like one cold blooded dush.
green arrow could have his vengeance and still give you hope, the arrow on the other hand would scare shit out of you ( if you're still alive)

subset: commoncrawl


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Manchester United have confirmed that the Barnsley midfielder Paul Digby is at Old Trafford for a trial ahead of a possible permanent deal.
With Filipe Luis' move back to Atletico Madrid finally done and dusted, a deal for his replacement is also being finalised.
Premier League winners Chelsea are moving towards signing Brazilian left-back Alex Telles, currently of Galatasaray, according to reports on Tuesday.
With their second straight FA Cup silverware firming planted in the trophy case, does Arsenal have what it takes to
Juventus are looking to take Chelsea outcast Juan Cuadrado on loan, but the Blues are looking to offload him permanently.
Imagine if Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Hades, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, Demeter and Ares all occupied the same hall at


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Haven't uploaded to MPORA in a while but I have a couple good edits in my bag of tricks.This one is a mix of footage filmed this year edited in reverse.I crashed and was off my bike for a month and was itching to ride and film and my friend "Bullwinkle" broke his leg at Highland recently so I made this one for us!!!Hope you like it.
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This story was great. I read it in one day. I just couldn't put it down.Published 1 month ago by Cody
It is boringly sexual, and not erotic just kind of twisted, for when it was written I guess it would have been beyond blacklist, but for now it is kind of childish.Published 3 months ago by Charles Burgett
A classic and fascinating piece of erotic literature. The imagery and symbolism Bataille uses is beautiful. Read morePublished 7 months ago by Amy
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Redknapp wants two world-class signings
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes two world-class new signings would make his team genuine contenders for the Barclays Premier League title.
The 63-year-old, who took over at White Hart Lane two years ago with Spurs bottom of the table on two points from eight games, last term led his side to a fourth-place finish and a Champions League spot.
And he thinks a couple more high-quality additions would help the north London club take the next step.
Quoted in several newspapers, he said: "I think Tottenham may be one or two big signings away from being a team that could win the championship.
"One or two players in the right positions - and I'm talking about two top, top players in the right positions.
"If we could go and do that I think Tottenham are a team that could win the championship in a couple of years.
"This squad is just so full of talent anyway, players who have made their mark and (chairman) Daniel Levy has done a great job backing my judgment and improving the squad and the club, that I really believe we're not far away from that level."
Redknapp's side will get a chance to see how they compare with Europe's elite when they take on Champions League holders Inter Milan at the San Siro this evening.
In-form Wales winger Gareth Bale and Holland midfielder Rafael van der Vaart - the latter unavailable tonight through suspension - have taken most of the plaudits this term but Redknapp believes he has quality throughout his squad.
"We've got a lot of players here who could play for any club," he added.
"There are an awful lot of them who could. You've seen their performances. That includes the left-back (Benoit Assou-Ekotto) who you don't hear much about but has everything to be as good a left-back as there is around.
"He's a fantastic player, Benoit. When he's on it he's an unbelievable talent. A night like this is the ideal stage for them, if course it is."
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Say It Right Parody
Posted by doremon313 on Mar. 25, 2007
Good morning Mr. Phelps. Relive the first four movies in the mega-action fr...
Blondes suck at math, pugs rock at climbing, and sharks rock at EVERYTHING!
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An ex-gang member just asked me out on a date via note. And spelled dinner wrong. Win?
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An ex-gang member just asked me out on a date via note. And spelled dinner wrong. Win?
Well, shes famous, an alcoholic, hillarious, and has big boobs.... Pretty much my only aspirations in life.
I feel like my whole life has been one big pre-game for Mexico.
when she said she was from California you started sobbing. You begged her not to melt your popsicle because you paid good money for it and you just wanted to eat it in peace.
I Never golf you the sypdu of andrew. The one o will marry. The one j plwgded my last breath up. The one I pledged everything I live forbworh to. I love him more than life itself
i remember getting really pissed off when you wouldn't let me sleep in the garage with your cat.
My contribution to the dinner party was a bottle of vodka and a bag of uncooked potatoes. I felt like a Russian serf.
I understand why they say don't drink the water in Mexico... I just saw 5 guys piss upstream of where the bar tender went to get the water
I'm giving you an age limit on the people you're allowed to hit on at steak n shake at 3 am. I can't see straight and I want a cheeseburger. You want dick. I'm sure we can't order at least one of those. But maybe.
I'm sure we could go all project runway on our diapers and create some flattering absorbent thongs. We could do it on the Boat. Call it project rumway.
Actually I more feel like I'm on a ship about to grab the holy grail off an island
The ship is me being high the holy grail is some profound idea I'm about to have
After 7 months of nothing.. shall we throw your vagina a party? as its reinstatement into society?
the reputation of my dick game is on the line. You're killing the team, here, G
he just sent me a dick pic, it highly resembled a cheese stick


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May 16, 2014
A Tiny Victory for Free Expression: Brothers Booted by HGTV for Expressing Adherence to Forbidden Bible Permitted To Keep Their Relationship With Their Banker, At Least
Well, in this new age of darkness, that is something. Not much, but something.
The Bentham Brothers' bank, Sun Trust, had decided to end their association with them due to their Forbidden Words about homosexuality. Given that they're businessmen, that's a big thing.
Or I assume this is a big thing. Frankly I don't understand what SunTrust did.
That's people pressuring a bank into basically saying that people don't even have the right to pursue an honest trade if they commit a Speechcraft crime, and the bank agreeing.
But Sun Trust has reversed that decision.
The beginning of this story is so convoluted I can't follow it -- and that convolution probably owes to Sun Trust deliberately convoluting the story of whose decision this was -- but they now say this:
While we do not publicly comment on specific vendor relationships, we dont make choices on suppliers nor base business decisions on political factors, nor do we direct our third party vendors to do so.
There are conservatives who continue to take the corporatist position that "If a business does it, it's okay."
I'm constantly seeing conservative say idiotic things like "Well, the bank/corporation/NFL/NBA had the right to fire/fine/assign to reeducation camp a person deemed to have committed Speechcraft, so there's no First Amendment implications."
And I'll continue to ask these lunatics: And in what other sphere of human activity to we ever stop the analysis at whether or not an organization or individual has the naked right to do something, without asking further if it is ethical or right-minded to do that thing?
Never, that's when.
Except in the case of corporations canning conservatives for speaking Forbidden Thoughts.
Then thousands of conservatives immediately just say, "Well, the business had to protect itself, didn't it?"
This is insane.
Have any of these Corporate-Rights-Must-Be-Defended-At-All-Costs people sort of noted that corporations are declaring open season on conservative political thought and no other?
I can only guess at the rationale for this: Some people are trying to remain consistent with their past claims that corporations were right to fire people for expressing forbidden progressive thoughts. This attempt at consistency requires them, they think, to bless each fresh corporate purge of a conservative speaker.
Consistency is good. However, if consistency is to be achieved, how about finding that consistency on the other side of the issue?
That is, instead of trying to be consistent by declaring that people can and should be fired for saying virtually anything conservative at all, how about attempting the opposite consistency of declaring that people generally should not be fired for their personal political beliefs?
I just find this insane. Not a week goes by without another business being pressurized by the hard left to fire a conservative, and not a week goes by without a business giving in to the demands of the mob for This Week's Purge.
If people wish to remain consistent, how about just saying "Maybe I was wrong to support this previously, but will support this no longer"?
I just don't get it. It now happens literally every single week, and conservative thought is always the target, and yet conservatives continue to hew to the corporatist line that Whatever's Good For Business Is Good For America.
Anon Y. Mouse Explains What Happens? Here's his explanation:
Ace, I think you have this a bit wrong. It is not that the bank closed the brothers' bank account. Rather, it is the properties that the bank had listed for sale with the brothers. The vendor they used to make the listings pulled all those listings from the brothers real estate business. The vendor told the brothers that the did so because the bank told them to. Now the bank reversed the decision, but placed the blame with the vendor.
Okay don't understand that either.
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Description: Four wheel drive auto factory, with a smokestack billowing. The four-wheel drive propulsion was invented by Otto Zachow and William Besserdich. Walter A....
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(This story first ran at PressConnects.com) BALTIMORE — At 26 years old, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones admits it is difficult even for him to realize he could soon be considered the best fighter in the history of mixed martial arts. But it's a reality (…)
Former Strikeforce welterweight champion and current UFC contender Nick Diaz is going to jail...for a day. The news comes from TMZ Sports, which has been tracking Diaz's legal troubles. Diaz was faci read news >>
Despite the previous relationship between former Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Fedor Emelianenko's manager Vadmin Finkelchtein, the Russian combat sambo champion is no more likely to sign with Bell read news >>
Douglas Lima knows he's one of the most destructive forces on the planet at 170 pounds, he just hasn't gotten much of a chance to prove it. Injuries and circumstance have waylaid the reigning Bellato read news >>
Former KSW champion Mamed Khalidov explains his decision not to sign with the UFC, Strikeforce or Bellator when given the opportunity. Chechen born Mamed Khalidov enjoys unheralded stardom in Poland read news >>
The UFC and Bellator are not the only United States MMA promotions making a run at Fedor Emelianenko. World Series of Fighting has thrown its hat in the ring as well. WSOF executive vice president Al read news >>
SAN DIEGO -- Frank Mir knew what everyone was saying. He was thinking it, too. The 36-year-old former UFC heavyweight champion lost a one-sided fight to Alistair Overeem at UFC 169, his fourth consec read news >>
LAS VEGAS – It seemed odd that Strikeforce and UFC veteran Jorge Masvidal would miss weight for The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale, considering he was fighting a weight class above his usual limit.Filed read news >>
Thomas Almeida will compete in Las Vegas for the first time in his MMA career, but he's not 100 percent confident going to Sin City. Undefeated in 18 professional fights, with 17 finishes under his b read news >>
Strikeforce and Bellator veteran Dominique Steele will have an opportunity to compete on the big stage of the UFC after Antonio Braga Neto was forced out of his UFC on FOX 16 bout with Zak Cummings.F read news >>
He even included that little fist emoji, so we know he's serious this time. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem, fresh off a "Big Country" beatdown in Dallas, read news >>


text:
Stick It Live, a five-song EP recorded live last summer during Slaughter's six-month American tour, will make a nice stocking-stuffer for all the teenage girls who made the band's debut album, Stick It to Ya, platinum-plus. For those who are interested in more than Mark Slaughter's all-American good looks, however, it has little to offer. This hard-rock group hits home with its solid musicianship, and its catchy singles — "Up All Night" and "Fly to the Angels" — certainly deserve their status as hits, but all this is apparent on album number one. This entry is a crass effort to cash in on Slaughter's newfound success. C
Stick It Live Stick It Live, a five-song EP recorded live last summer during Slaughter's six-month American tour, will make a nice stocking-stuffer...Stick It LiveRock Stick It Live, a five-song EP recorded live last summer during Slaughter's six-month American tour, will make a nice stocking-stuffer...1990-12-21
Stick It Live
Genre: Rock; Producer (group): Chrysalis
Posted December 21 1990 — 12:00 AM EST
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Mignon about Karabakh conflict: This can not continue
27 January 2014 [17:40] -
In case of being elected secretary general of the Council of Europe, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be one of the priority issues, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Jean-Claude Mignon said on Monday.
Mignon made the remarks at his last press conference as the PACE president. The press conference was held as part of the organization's winter session.
"One of the priorities will be the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement, if I am elected secretary general of the Council of Europe. This conflict must be solved. This can not continue. This does not correspond to the spirit of the charter, signed in 1949 by the organization," Mignon said.
The winter session of the PACE kicked off on January 27.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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text: thirstythurs By Lil' Mikey May 24, 2012 7:21 PM Share on Facebook Share on Twitter thirstythurs Category: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter More Leave a comment Send to a friend! Print this page Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr! Best of 107.3 KFFM 'Love & Hip Hop Atlanta' Season 4, Episode 15 Recap: Momma Dee Plans Her Wedding, Joseline Records New Music Behind Stevie J's Back, Jessica and Tiffany Go to War Louis Tomlinson Finally Confirms Impending Fatherhood on 'Good Morning America' Remember to Rock The Vote Today! [LOCATIONS] Kim Richards Arrested After Stealing a Bunch of Stuff From a Target in The Valley Recommended For You Best of the Web


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Christian Caryl: Islamist Déjà Vu: The Lessons of 1979
Christian Caryl is a Senior Fellow at the Legatum Institute and the editor of Foreign Policy's Democracy Lab website.
The year 1979—when Iranian student revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of American diplomats hostage, and Muslim radicals in Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally, brazenly laid siege to the Grand Mosque in Mecca—marked the debut of a new political phenomenon known as "Islamism." To be sure, the theorists and advocates of political Islam had been around for a while, and there was an extraordinary explosion of Islamic activism around the Muslim world in the 1970s; in some countries there was even talk of a sahwa, an "awakening" of Islamic political consciousness. But few people outside of the ummah, the global community of Muslim believers, were paying any attention, and the US was caught flatfooted as Ayatollah Khomeini proceeded to transform his theory of "Islamic government" into reality. "Political Islam" was no longer a theory. It had become an active, practical force in global politics.
Perhaps it's helpful to recall the events of 1979 as we contemplate the tragic death of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and the storming of American diplomatic buildings in Cairo, Sanaa, Tunis, and elsewhere in the Muslim world. (Curiously, that same year was also the last time—until Stevens' death—that a serving ambassador was killed overseas. The unlucky diplomat in 1979 was Adolph Dubs, killed in a Kabul hotel in a hostage-taking gone wrong.) The events this week appear at least in part to have been set off by an inflammatory anti-Muslim film. But they have been dominated by groups that were little known before the recent Arab uprisings: Salafi Islamists. Once again, a growing political force from within the Islamic world—one of which Westerners were only dimly aware—has dramatically and violently demonstrated its capacity to shape global politics....
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Financial District May Get a 'Tasteful' Nightly Light Show
When we think back upon the last few months in the Financial District, one thing we do not think is "Lower Manhattan should have a light show!" Nonetheless, that's what the Economic Development Corporation is after, a lighting initiative that would "transform the experience of [read: too dark/too quiet] Lower Manhattan at night," reports the New York Times. Because not enough tourists are flocking there after business hours. According to the Post, "The Bloomberg administration's goal is to attract tourists, residents, and new businesses and stimulate night life."
Night life, if only we could have more night life.
Currently, South Street between Fletcher and Whitehall and the public plaza surrounded by Broad Street, Wall Street, and Exchange Place have been pitched as possible locations. However, both light show proposals and location selections are largely up for grabs. (The EDC gives the example of the Victoria Harbor laser light show in Hong Kong, in which multicolored lights flash for 10 to 15 minutes nightly, attracting 4 million tourists and, presumably, sending none of them into fits, as inspiration.)
Proposals will be accepted until the end of February, with two installations pegged for completion by the end of 2012. The lights would be run regularly for three years, with the EDC contributing up to $1 million to the project.
So, what do we think about this? One one hand, Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin says the project will be good for safety, and safety is good. On the other hand, isn't peace and quiet sort of...underrated, sometimes?
"If it brings more tourists I'm going to throw up," said Daemon O'Neil, who lives in a rental property managed by TF Cornerstone. But when he weighed the costs and benefits of a light display, he conceded, "Why not?"
In Lower Manhattan, a Light Show Looms [NYT] City: got a light? [NYP]
[JDoll / @thisisjendoll]
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» Business
Chinese firms going the extra distance as medical tourism blossoms
Publication Date : 21-07-2014
Medical tourism, once the exclusive preserve of the rich, is growing and changing as hospitals and clinics offer farflung patients advantages hard to come by in China whether it be high-tech therapy, less-expensive care or alternative treatments.
In China, home to a growing number of travelling patients, more foreign medical tourists are seeking care either to save money or for such treatments as traditional Chinese medicine.
"In European countries such as Turkey and Cyprus, more than half of people are not covered by public insurance, so Chinese medical institutions have big opportunities," says Li Jingwen, general manager in Beijing for McBridge, a medical business consultant with offices in China and Germany.
At the same time, outbound tourists from China are starting to go for hospitals and clinics in many developed countries.
They are showing up not just with shopping bags and cameras, but also in increasing numbers with their medical records in countries like South Korea, Singapore, Europe and the United States.
They are filling hospital beds and surgical suites for treatments as diverse as plastic surgery, extensive checkups and cancer treatment.
A significant number of these medical tourists are wealthy Chinese who are bolstering the bottom line of hospitals and clinics by paying cash for high-end treatment. Medical centres are welcoming them, in some cases with services such as tailored menus.
The Korea Tourism Organization says that last year nearly 400,000 people flew to South Korea for cosmetic surgery, Chinese being the biggest number among them. After having surgery done on their eyelids or noses, they go sightseeing and shopping.
In Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe and the US an increasing number of Chinese patients are turning up for anti-aging therapy, cancer screening and treatment, giving birth or chronic-disease treatment.
About 60,000 Chinese have gone abroad every year to seek medical services in recent years, says the Shanghai Medical Tourism Products and Promotion Platform.
A McKinsey & Co report estimates that the global medical tourism market has been growing by 20 per cent a year. In 2000, global medical tourism was valued at less than $10 billion and last year it was almost 10 times that.
Europe's aging population has led to the further development of the medical care industry, Li says. In Germany, those 65 or older are more than 10 percent of the population, and people's average spending on medical service is growing by 2 per cent every year.
"As society ages, overall consciousness of health is growing," she says. "Good facilities and services attract Chinese upper middle class to get treatment there."
Germany has a mature industry train and a basket of services for overseas tourists seeking medical treatment, Li says.
"In some hospitals, they provide prayer rooms, home country menus and dormitories for the traveling relatives."
European hospitals are also happy to accept wealthy patients, industry sources say. "Hospitals are looking to soften tough economic times and fill beds by extending their market share overseas," says Medical Tourism Magazine, which described an influx of patients to the United Kingdom as a financial windfall.
Eighteen of the UK's National Health Trust foundation trust hospitals reported last year that despite the small numbers of international private patients being treated 7 per cent across the sample these patients were responsible for almost a quarter of total private income in these trusts, according to researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and York University.
That represented income of 42 million pounds ($71.9 million) across the 18 hospital trusts during 2010-2011.
"Their report found that medical tourists spent an estimated 219 million pounds on hotels, restaurants, shopping and transport in Great Britain," the magazine says.
The research also showed more Britons going abroad for treatment. Lead author of the research Johanna Hanefeld said that contrary to some popular media reports, the UK is a net exporter of medical tourists. In 2010, an estimated 63,000 UK residents traveled abroad for treatment, while around 52,000 patients came for treatment in the UK, according to the research report.
The level of patients traveling to the UK has remained relatively stable over the last decade, while there has been a substantial increase in the number of UK residents travelling abroad for medical treatment."
Wu Maochun, director of Ciming Oasis Health Management Hospital in Beijing, talks of the huge market potential.
Last year the company received 10,000 patients for advanced checkups, and among them 60 per cent came from outside the city. Nearly 100 patients opted to go abroad using its overseas medical tourism services.
Ciming has developed more than 50 partnerships around the world, including in Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, the US and South Korea.
Saint Lucia Consulting, a company opened in Beijing in 2011, previously told China Daily that in the past four years, it has provided Chinese corporate executives, the wealthy and their families with highly personalised medical tourism services, expert translation services and advice on their overseas medical treatments.
CEO Cai Qiang says the company has contracts in the US with Partners HealthCare, the largest network of hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, McLean Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.
Liu Yuanli of Peking Union Medical College says there are big differences between medical tourists coming to China and those going overseas.
"Patients in Europe and the US usually choose overseas medical services when the overseas services are much cheaper, and they do this through commercial insurance, while Chinese tourists going aboard are looking for high-end medical services and mostly paying their own bills. They look for treatment for cancer or diseases that are hard to find in China."
But compared with neighbouring countries such as South Korea and Thailand, medical tourism in China is still in its infancy.
Part of the reason is the stringent requirements of the Chinese government, says Liu Tingfang, a professor at the Institute for Hospital Management, Tsinghua University.
"Hospitals are required to have less than 10 per cent of high-end services so as to ensure the public's medical services," Liu from Tsinghua University says. "Moreover, there are few high-end medical services. We need to allow more private hospitals and foreign hospitals in China so that we can attract more international patients."
Some have already opened. Hainan province has designated Sanya Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital as a pilot hospital and has been marketing services to Russia, the Middle East and northern Europe. It treats an average of 3,000 overseas patients a year with each patient spending $20,000, hospital head Chen Xiaoyong says. The hospital has treated 30,000 overseas patients.
Recently, Beijing and Shanghai also started such initiatives to expand the medical tourism market.
Liu from Tsinghua University says China needs to build a medical certification system accepted worldwide. "Only by showing certifications can we gain trust from international patients, and it also facilitates the reimbursement process of commercial insurance companies."
Official figures show China has 14,200 hospitals at county level and above, and 1,500 tertiary-level hospitals at the top level. Liu suggests that the government pick some as pilot hospitals to offer more market-oriented medical services. "Otherwise we will miss the opportunities in this niche market," Liu says
Lack of recognition and certification is a big hurdle for TCM in Europe, experts say. Since TCM arrived in Europe, its treatments have been classified as supplements rather than medicine, and they cannot be sold in pharmacies.
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● BEIJING: China's service sector flourishes in splendid isolation


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A lovely restaurant - staff and owners were superb and topped off an evening of great food. We were most impressed with the ample portions during the Barrilicious event. Great food, great service, great venue!
My friend recommended this restaurant to us, knowing we like fine dinning, and well presented food, plus she works there. We decided to take advantage of the Barrielichious menu, and booked to go last night for our wedding anniversary. It is a large multi level restaurant and a patio outside the main street. Our table was overlooking the lower section...
We stopped in The Crazy Fox enroute home from a long day . We had no reservation, and it was also "Barrielicious" event. The hostess who greeted us was lovely. Despite being packed, they took us to a table , and the food was wonderful. All the staff were so friendly, and the quality of good was a standout. Thank...
The place is cosy, good location, plenty of parking.
Service was ok, nothing special. Food presentation is very good, but it is overpriced for a quality. I had a salmon, and it was a disappointment, as long as it was dry and obviously previously frozen. One shouldn't pay top dollar for frozen fish.
Loved the staff, and food was the best. Had the Salad and the dessert.
Soup, and the Creme Brulee was amazing.
We reserved a table for four upstairs. They gave us a table downstairs which was in a poor location. We were not very happy and they did nothing to make the experience better. The meal was good but have had better for the price. The wine list is very expensive. We would not go back.
Nice variety and great presentation! Very tasty dishes........nice ambiance......best Caesar salad
One of the top restaurants in Barrie.
Love this restaurant. Service is wonderful...helpful..friendly...food beautifully prepared and presented... Very very filling.
Thank you.
The menu is awesome- we had the stuffed pork, the pickerel feature and the agnolotti for entrees. The mushroom soup was somewhat canned tasting, but still comfort food, none-the-less. Dessert was tasty- the apple pecan cake was great, and you can't go wrong with chocolate cheesecake. The down-side was the that the portion sizes were smaller than expected, for the...
The Crazy Fox Bistro never dissapoints. The food is always excellent and the service is wonderful. During our last visit Denise served us, she was amazing and made our evening that much more enjoyable. This is definitely one of my favorite places for a lovely evening out.
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