Category Archives: Terraforming Mars

Life has been detected on the red planet; Surviving Mars is back, and its in the caring hands of a different team. Publisher Paradox has revealed that Abstraction Games is now handling development of the space game, and therell be a new expansion this year.

Revealed during the latest Paradox Insider, Surviving Mars is making its return after a two year break, with a new studio, and some plans for 2021. Development of thestrategy gamehas shifted fromHaemimont Games to Abstraction Games, a Dutch studio thats also contributed to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, Ark: Survival Evolved, and the Hotline Miami games. Paradox reports that five million players have bought Surviving Mars, and this is a newstart for that community.

The tourism update is just the beginning. The game is in good hands with Abstraction, theyre a team of veteran developers with years of experience making AAA titles, and are passionate about Surviving Mars, Magnus Lysell, product manager for Surviving Mars at Paradox Interactive, says in the press release. Were humbled by the overwhelming support for Surviving Mars. five million players is huge and we cant wait to share whats next with all of you soon!

A new expansion is planned for this year, the first since Surviving Mars: Green Planet in 2019. No further information was given, but we did get this nice little teaser.

Two updates, one free, one paid, are due in a couple of days to mark Surviving Mars comeback. If youd like to get started on your terraforming, Surviving Mars is free on the Epic Games Store at the minute.

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Surviving Mars has a new developer, new expansion coming this year - PCGamesN

In The Atlantic, Shannon Stirone makes a very clear, very negative, case for not getting too starry-eyed about Mars as a destination. Stirone isnt the only one. Most people whove been looking long and hard at Mars would agree with just about all the arguments made, but not necessarily the dont bother theory. Many, including me, would disagree that its a ridiculous way to help humanity, though. Current news about Mars is a predictable collection of new information and theory. Its not exactly an indicator of anything much. What it does provide, however, is a play-by-play range of information about what Mars might be in the future. The usual story with this level of information is that not-currently-wrong misinformation and ideologically biased disinformation mix with the real info to create a very blurry picture. The case against colonization

Panoramic View From 'Rocknest' Position of Curiosity Mars Rover:A mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera on NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest" in October & November 2012.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Elon Musk's vision of a Mars Colony

SpaceX

NASA released a full year of data on ocean salinity. The ocean salinity has been tracked since December 2011 using satellite Aquarius. It showed shifts in salinity and NASA hope to find how the ocean's salinity affects climate change

NASA/GSFC/JPL-Caltech

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com

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Op-Ed: Yes, Mars is a hellhole That's why it's so vital to go there - Digital Journal

In 2010, Japanese scientists from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programs Expedition 329 sailed into the South Pacific Gyre with a giant drill and a big question.

The gyre is a marine desert more barren than all but the aridest places on Earth. Ocean currents swirl around it, but within the gyre, the water stills and life struggles because few nutrients enter. Near the center is both the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility (made famous by H.P. Lovecraft as the home of the be-tentacled Cthulhu) and the South Pacific garbage patch. At times the closest people are astronauts passing above on the International Space Station.

The sea here is so miserly that it takes one million years for a meter of marine snowcorpses, poo and dustto accumulate on the bottom. The tale of all that time can total as little as 10 centimeters. It is the least productive patch of water on the planet.

Through nearly 6,000 meters of this seawater the IODP team lowered a drill. The strawlike bit plunged into pelagic clay and calcareous nanofossil ooze at three sites on the bottom.

By the time the cores of sediment were raised to the surface, the tubes contained up to 100 million years of Earth history. What the team wanted to know was how long and in what state microbes trapped in this milieu could survive in an almost-completely raided oceanic refrigerator. They were in for a surprise.

Their results, published in Nature Communications in July, revealed that the sediments contained bacterial cells, which they expected (not many, though: just 100 to 3,000 per cubic centimeter). But when given food, most of them quickly revived, which the scientists did not expect.

The microbes got straight to work doing what bacteria do, and within 68 days of incubation had increased their numbers up to 10,000-fold. They doubled about every five days (E. coli bacteria in the lab double in around 20 minutes). Their progeny contained specially labeled isotopes of carbon and nitrogen that made the scientists sure that the microbes were eating what they had been offered.

Its worth pausing to consider the meaning of these results. In this experiment, cells awoke and multiplied that settled to the bottom when pterosaurs and plesiosaurs drifted overhead. Four geologic periods had ground by, but these microbes, protected from radiation and cosmic rays by a thick coat of ocean and sediment, quietly persisted. And now, when offered a bite, they awoke and carried on as if nothing unusual had happened.

In a sense, it hadnt. If you think it feels like 100 million years since the pandemic began, think about the conditions (and entertainment options) of these poor microbes. It was a really long 100 million years down there. The toll of all that time was not zero, though. The oldest cells multiplied about half as fast as their spryer brethren that had only been there a few million years.

Consider now that 70 percent of Earths surface is covered by marine sediment, whose microbial residents represent somewhere between a tenth and a half of all microbial biomass on Earth. Theres a whole lot of senior citizen microbes down there.

Somewhat surprisingly, the majority of the cells were, like us, forms that breathe oxygen. In fact, the sediment they were pulled from is full of oxygen. Clearly, lack of air is not the problem for the life in gyre sediments. Its the lack of food.

Contributing to the problem is the density of the sediment, which approaches something like flourless chocolate cake: the pore size is an estimated 0.02 micrometers. Given that a typical bacterium is a few micrometers across, you can see the problems inherent to migrating in search of food, or even hoping some blunders into you. Once you end up in South Pacific Gyre seafloor sediment, you are trappedunless rescued by an ocean drilling program.

More surprises lay in store when the scientists checked the identities of the cells by probing their DNA; there was a lack of spore-forming bacteria. Some bacteria make resistant structures called endospores that are fortified and metabolically inactive, seemingly formed to allow bacteria to endure harsh conditions. Yet these bacteria were relatively absent. Spores were not how these superannuated bacteria had survived.

Even more surprising, discovered in one sample was a thriving population of light-harvesting bacteria called Chroococcidiopsis, cyanobacteria with a reputation for survival so formidable that they are being considered for terraforming Mars. (In addition to being able to live under translucent rocks in dry, cold, salty and radiation-drenched places, they have the unusual ability to capitalize on red light, possibly a result of their preferred dim conditions). How these photosynthetic microbes managed to reproduce in the dark after 13 million years beneath the seafloor remains a mystery.

Putting it all togetherthe tight quarters, the lack of spores and the rapid reanimationthese scientists think its likely that the majority of the bacteria in this impoverished sediment have been alive but idling these 100 million years.

A few years ago, I wrote about bacteria that may have been resurrected from coal from the Paleozoic. Now we have reports of bacteria from the Cretaceous seafloor sediment waking apparently nonplussed. Back then I speculated that under certain highly constrained but possibly abundant conditions, bacteria may be effectively immortal. Now it seems even more likely we may be sitting atop a planet thats full of living fossils that are literally thatboth fossils and alive.

The dinosaur people (and to be fair, who among us arent dinosaur people?) have their museums filled with bones and teeth and tracks. The plant people have their petrified forests and fossil fronds. But the microbe people have something even better: our dinosaurs arent dead.

This is an opinion and analysis article.

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100-Million-Year-Old Seafloor Sediment Bacteria Have Been Resuscitated - Scientific American

Some places come and go, while some places become icons. Mandatory Milwaukee is all about the latter. Join us as we revisit beloved and well-worn local staples with fresh eyes, and explore how they might figure in the citys future. This week: the Board Game Barrister!

The days of Monopoly are over. Say goodbye to Yahtzee. So long, Sorry. Take your kids copy of Chutes And Ladders and bury it in a landfill. Were in the midst of a full-blown gaming renaissance, and its filled with island settlers, dungeon explorers, railroad tycoons, planet terraformers, and the occasional flocks of birds. And Milwaukees Board Game Barrister has been there since the beginning, rolling dice and scoring victory points, one gloriously geeky game at a time.

Oh, and dont forget about puzzles. The Board Game Barrister has tons of puzzles. And puzzles have never been more popular. Or more needed.

Board Game Barrister in Glendale

Hows this for an origin story: Gordon Lugauer opened the first Board Game Barrister in 2005. According to his biography, the decision to enter the world of gaming retail was made in a fit of delusion, as he was simultaneously studying to become a lawyer. (Lawyer = Barrister. Get it?) One of his pursuits paid off, the other less so. More than 15 years later, with three BGB locations operating in the Milwaukee area, its easy to guess which one is which.

Those three locations currently are: 5530 N. Port Washington Rd. in Glendale (near the stores former home at Bayshore); inside Mayfair Mall at 2500 N. Mayfair Rd. in Wauwatosa (next to Macys); and 1007 Milwaukee Ave. in South Milwaukee.

Like it says on the tin, the Board Game Barrister specializes in, well, board games. Youll find oodles of modern classics like Catan and Ticket To Ride. Youll find classic classics like Scattergories and Twister. Youll find three-hour table-busters like Tapestry and Twilight Imperium. Youll find lighter games like Boss Monster and Sushi Go! Youll find multi-session Living Card Games based on everything from Cthulhu stuff to Lord Of The Rings. Hey! The woman who designed the wildly popular Wingspan a few years ago has a new game about butterflies! Youll find that at the Board Game Barrister, too.

Were on book 3 of The Stormlight Archive and stuff is getting weeeeird.

But theres more! The Board Game Barrister has games (and toys) for kids of all ages, ranging from Melissa & Doug creations to deceptively simple games that will put your adorable moppet on the path to hardcore hobby gaming in no time. If Dungeons & Dragons and rolling around in piles of 20-sided dice is more your bag, youre covered. And yes, theres a robust selection of thousand-piece puzzlesa.k.a. the hottest items of 2020 and early 2021.

The Barrister part of BGB enters the picture with the stores employees. They are indeed authorities on the subjects of games and puzzles. Looking for a party game thats not Cards Against Humanity? The Barristers can help. (The Codenames series is a good place to start.) Need a break from Terraforming Mars but still want a game that features some fun engine-building? The Barristers can help. (Were on the waiting list for a reprint of Scythe.) Want a game that splits the difference between a board game and a role-playing game, and one that may or may not have a standalone expansion set in the universe of The Stormlight Archive? The Barristers can help. (Call To Adventure is a delight, and the Stormlight books are great.) Want a quick tutorial on how to play these games? Yeah, you can always check out those Dice Tower dudes, but theyre in Florida and not near the Kopps on Port Washington Road. Once again, the Barristers can help.

Oh, and if you want to sprinkle your game nights with some current events, BGB totally has a bunch of those Pandemic titles.

Speeeeeaking of global pandemics, the Board Game Barrister has been doing things right in the COVID-19 era. Back in 2020, all locations were initially closed; theyve since re-opened to in-person shopping, but there are strict capacity and time limits. Sadly, that means all in-store events and in-store library gaming are (temporarily) on hold. So yeah, feel free to browse, but dont spend too much time wondering if you should spring for that giant Gloomhaven box. (Were still not sure about this one.)

Want to get all the satisfaction of browsing a board game store and chatting with a knowledgeable employee, all from the safety of your own home? Leave it to BGB to go above and beyond the normal online shopping experience (which you can still totally do). Behold, the Virtual Barrister! Its an incredibly nifty service in which you dial in to a video call and have an in-store employee do your shopping for you. Its brilliant, its personable, and its kind of a hoot:

(BTW: Everything you always wanted to know about Gordons face shield but were afraid to ask can be found HERE.)

We created the Board Game Barrister from our love of social fun with others, and our desire to share it with as many people as we could, reads the BGB website. Whether that means games, toys, puzzles, or any of the other great entertainment we provide, our goal has always been to build a community where everyone can find something that promises a fun experience.

Those sentences come from pre-pandemic times, of course. Social fun and community are kind of tricky right now, even if the beginning of the end of allthis seems to finally be in sight. And yet the Board Game Barrister has adapted to our troubling times. Puzzles. Virtual visits. The promise of escape to worlds beyond our own, if only for a few rounds. Its all here.

And when things do get back to normal, and social fun and community become possible again, youll know where to find them.

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Mandatory Milwaukee: Board Game Barrister is the authority on games, puzzles, more - Milwaukee Record

This artist's illustration shows a "sky crane" gently lowering Perseverance to the surface of Mars.

NASA successfullylanded its most advanced rover ever on the surface of another planet this week. The Mars 2020 Perseverance roveris the fifth such rolling robot the space agency has sent to the red planet, and when the mission is over, it will have cost nearly $3 billion.

With a pandemic bringing everyday existence on the surface of our own planet to arguably its lowest point since humans entered the space age several decades ago, it's fair to wonder why we're devoting any resources to sending our best tech to explore a cold, dead desert planet bathed in radiation.

There are actually a number of arguments that range from the philosophical to more practical. Here are three for those who can't fathom how sending a nerdy dune buggy carrying a tiny helicopter on a 100-million-mile road trip is justifiable.

There's some evidence suggesting our two nearest planetary neighbors, Mars and Venus, were once habitable. Today, they're both deadly places, though the dangers of Mars are at least theoretically manageable through technology and perhaps some ambitious terraforming.

Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater, which is thought to have once been the site of a large river delta flowing into a crater lake. Conditions may have been right for life, which the rover hopes to find evidence of.

This Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image shows the Jezero Crater delta region.

But something happened. Mars lost much of its atmosphere and it dried up and became the colder, inhospitable world we know today.

Somewhere in this past there might be some lessons and cautionary tales for earthlings. If our two closest neighbors were transformed from more friendly climes to the relative hellscapes they are today, we should want to know more about what happened. It's certainly worth more than one visit.

A visible green line reflected by oxygen molecules is seen at the edge of Earth's atmosphere.

We imagine Earth as a big floating ball teeming with life, but the reality is more tenuous. When viewed from orbit, a greenish line of glowing oxygen marking the edge of our atmosphere is visible above our planet. This glowing line reveals the true fragility of our planet's habitable zone, which is not the entire planet, but rather a small bubble on its surface extending from roughly sea level to a few miles in altitude, and not really including the polar regions, either.

When seen this way, it almost feels as though that bubble could easily pop. It happened on Mars, so maybe it could happen here.

I'm paraphrasing John F. Kennedy -- doing the hard things because they are hard -- speaking about the Apollo project to put humans on the moon. It's not an entirely honest justification for spending the big chunk of the US budget that was dropped on NASA to get us there, however.

The dawn of the space age, the Apollo program and the breathtaking speed with which we went from fully earthbound to hitting golf balls on the moon was motivated in no small part by military and geopolitical concerns.

It's easy to look back and think that we wasted a significant chunk of our gross domestic product on a Cold War space race that was more about ego and national pride than science and exploration. It's a fair criticism. But whatever the motivation, the results were more than just bragging rights and a flag in the Sea of Tranquility.

By going to space, we have revolutionized life on Earth.

The ways this is true are too numerous to list, so think of just one: What began with the terrifying (to Americans) successful launch of the Soviet bucket of bolts named Sputnik eventually created our modern lifestyle that depends on thousands of successor satellites beaming all our information, images, transactions and communications around the world at light speed.

What started as technological muscle flexing between global powers has changed countless aspects of the daily life of billions of humans.

Exploring Mars involves overcoming countless challenges through engineering and innovation, not to mention Perseverance and Ingenuity. What we learn from the successes and failures of meeting those challenges may spark the next revolution that will make life in 2071 beyond anything we can imagine right now.

Elon Musk's goal is to establish a city on Mars.

You've already heard this one. Elon Musk, one of the richest dudes in history, wants to build a city on Mars and make humans a "multiplanetary" species or something like that. Part of this argument is that Earth is not nearly as safe and secure as it seems. Massive solar flares, impact by a comet, nuclear annihilation, environmental collapse and perhaps catastrophes we haven't even thought of are all very much possibilities, so it makes sense to have a backup plan.

That's the pessimistic version of this case that's easiest to argue. But we rarely hear the other side of this vision argued, which is more in line with the Star Trek ethic: "To boldly go..."

From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week.

These days it can be hard to even talk about setting up shop on Mars because the words I might use to describe such an activity have become justifiably taboo -- words like colonize, settle and occupy. It's true that the history of human expansion is littered with horrors, and Musk using the fear of an uncertain future to sell a new kind of colonialism does give me pause.

But I don't think that's the right way to look at it, and it's not how the people behind Perseverance think about it. The mission's goals are strictly about scientific discovery and technological demonstration. So much so that some of the wonder of what's actually being accomplished can get lost.

Think about how you, as an individual, have grown as a person each time you visit a new place or experience something new. Your first day of school, first time outside your town or state, first plane ride, first time abroad, etc.

I remember one particular jet-lagged morning in my twenties in a dirt cheap hostel in Thailand waking up before dawn and walking around a little neighborhood in Bangkok. Around every corner was something unfamiliar: words I couldn't understand, things being sold as food I never thought of as edible, people doing activities I couldn't identify as exercise or prayer or something in between.

It became clear that morning that I knew very, very little about the wider world. When I finally die or get uploaded to the cloud, I will hopefully be a bit less ignorant, but the same basic statement will certainly still be true.

Going to Mars and beyond could be the same sort of eye-opening experience for humanity as a species. Becoming multiplanetary doesn't have to be about having a backup plan, it could be about evolving and becoming better, wiser and a little less ignorant about the universe and our place in it.

FollowCNET's 2021 Space Calendarto stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.

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NASA's Perseverance rover landing: Why going to Mars should matter to you - CNET

The latest issue of Wolverine: Black, Red & Blood features the X-Men tasked with a job that draws back to a prior Avengers story.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Red Planet Blues" from Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #3 by Jed MacKay, Jesus Saiz, and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

Wolverine has gone down in comic history as one of the most beloved characters in the history of superheroes -- and for good reason. Since his introduction,James "Logan" Howlett has been immortalizedas a merciless killer with a heart of gold. The latest issue ofWolverine: Black, White & Blood follows up on a loose end from a fan-favorite Avengers run in "Red Planet Blues," which follows Magik and Wolverine as they teleport to Mars for an important mission.

An area of the Red Planet is covered in a generous amount of lush green vegetation, and as Logan runs through the forest, he recalls the events that lead to the Martian terraforming. The planet was transformed by the incredibly powerful Ex Nihilo in 2012'sAvengers #1 byJonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena.

Related:Wolverine vs Juggernaut: Logan's Latest Fight OFFICIALLY Made Marvel History

Avengers #1tackles the beginning of the universe and introduces the alien-gods Ex Nihilo and Abyss, who take it upon themselves to turn Mars into their vision of perfection. Later in the issue, The Avengers -- comprised primarily of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark -- travel to Mars to defeat the rising threat of Ex Nihilo after he sends an evolution-bomb to Earth to force an accelerated evolution upon the human race. The Avengers eventually decide to allow Ex Nihilo to reform Mars as long as he agrees to never interfere with the evolution of Earth.

Logan sneaks through the brush to find four scientists from M.A.I.M --Martian Advanced Ideas Mechanics -- who have traveled to Mars with the hopes of continuing Ex Nihilo's legacy. However, the situation becomes complicated when the humans use an assassin robot to sneak up on Logan and shoot a powerful laser beam into his eyes, rendering him completely blind. Unsurprisingly, Logan outsmarts the group of scientists, destroying the robot and then proceeding to eviscerate the four agents.

This story is a fascinating callback to another Marvel storyline made all the more interesting considering the fact that two X-Men were called to Mars in the first place. Before now, the developments on Mars had been a distinctly Avengers-centric storyline. But instead of having Iron Man and Captain America clean up their messWolverine is sent to clear Mars of the invading M.A.I.M. forces completely alone, with Magik only serving as his way on or off Red Planet.

Related:Wolverine Just Stole Rorschach's Best Watchmen Line

There could be multiple reasons for this, butit's possiblethat the Avengers are oftenheld backby the altruistic need to treat all threats fair and just. But when Wolverine comes on the scene, there is very little time for conversation -- andfor this specific situation, results were needed above all else, which is why the X-Men were probably called on instead of the Avengers.

The Avengers have shown that they are great at what they do, but sometimes a situation becomes so dire that the only way to resolve it is with extreme prejudice. And when a group of scientists decide that they can take use alien-god technology to alter humanity and create their own "perfect" society, the only appropriate response is a set of adamantium claws ripping through metal and flesh -- and only one man is capable of living up to such a response.

KEEP READING:Avengers: Endgame Director Knows How and When to Add Wolverine to the MCU

X-Men: A Classic Avengers Ally Is Part of House of X's Big Conspiracy

Zac Godwin is a Chaotic Good writer, runner, and novice wine connoisseur who tries to spend as much time out on the road as he does with a PlayStation controller in hand. A graduate from Penn State with a degree in Professional Writing, he now writes for Comic Book Resources as a feature writer

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The X-Men Are the ONLY Marvel Heroes Still Protecting an Avengers World - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Get the gang back together with this killer $10 digital board game bundle | PCWorld '); try { IDG.GPT.addDisplayedAd("gpt-superstitial", "true"); $('#gpt-superstitial').responsiveAd({screenSize:'971 1115', scriptTags: []}); IDG.GPT.log("Creating ad: gpt-superstitial [971 1115]"); }catch (exception) {console.log("Error with IDG.GPT: " + exception);} Asmodee's Humble Bundle is brimming with digital versions of awesome tabletop board games.

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Its the era of social distancing, and you cant get the gang together in person for a little over-the-board gaming action. Humble Bundle has you covered with the Humble Asmodee Digital Tabletop 2Gether Bundle featuring digital versions of a number of tabletop games. Most of the games are for both Windows and Mac, and a number of them include an online PVP component. Have each of your friends snatch this deal up, add a little Zoom or Discord, and youve got yourself a virtual tabletop evening.

There are three tiers in this bundle as usual with Humble, and fun times can be found in each. Unlocking a higher tier automatically grants the games in the more affordable tiers as well.

First up is the $1 tier with four games, including Pandemic: The Board Game(okay, this ones a little on the nose but its supposed to be good) andOn the Brink - Virulent StrainDLC. Theres alsoLove Letter, and theSmall Worldexpansion Grand Dames.

The middle tier was $9.72 at this writing and may go up, as you need to pay more than the average to claim it (dont forget a portion of the proceeds go to charity). The second tier includes the excellentTicket to Ride and Splendor withDLC for for each, as well as more DLC forPandemic and Small World. In addition, theres a 30 percent off coupon for the physical tabletop game A Game of Thrones: The Board Game.

Finally, the ultimate $10 tier featuresTerraforming Mars, Blood Rage: Digital Edition, and The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game - Definitive Edition. There are also two more DLCs for Small World and Ticket to Ride.

This is a fantastic bundle, and at just $10 for eight games and a bunch of DLC, its a spectacular value. Buy a bundle for each of your friends and get those game nights going again.

[Todays deal: Humble Asmodee Digital Tabletop 2Gether Bundle.]

Ian is an independent writer based in Israel who has never met a tech subject he didn't like. He primarily covers Windows, PC and gaming hardware, video and music streaming services, social networks, and browsers. When he's not covering the news he's working on how-to tips for PC users, or tuning his eGPU setup.

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Get the gang back together with this killer $10 digital board game bundle - PCWorld

Ive been a big fan of city builders in my teenage years, when I used to plow hours into urban planning in Sim City 2000, and ignored combat in Age of Empires II and Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun to create perfect little settlements with logically laid out buildings.

Being younger, I was more willing to bend these games to my will, imbuing the cities and bases with little stories, only letting harvesters and villagers out of certain gates and creating fancy fortifications, the likes of which youd often click units through in story missions.

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As Ive got older I have understood that this was because cities are filled with decisions that are imbued with narrative and opportunities for storytelling. Creating buildings, districts, traffic networks: it all takes time, and represents years of decisions, and often centuries of expansion. Whilst theres joy in plonking down buildings in pretty patterns in games, it always feels better when there is a reason for the placement: a story that makes the city tick.

City builders have become a fairly popular genre in recent years, but theyve rarely capitalized on the narrative aspect. Per Aspera is a game that gives players a chance to both enjoy building sprawling settlements, whilst also contemplating the impact each of their decisions has within a larger narrative framework.

Set on Mars, you play the part of AMI, a super-advanced AI tasked with preparing Mars for colonisations, and later terraforming the planet as part of humanitys expansion to the stars. During play, youll build your Mars base with the help of a network of drones.

Place a building and your AI will create connective roads - theorizing a multitude of options before placing the most optimal one. Youll mine aluminum, coal, silicon, and a variety of other materials from the planet to expand over the red planet like some sort of benevolent metal fungus.

Whilst doing this, youll also be fielding calls from a cast of characters including your designer and curator Doctor Foster (voiced by Troy Baker) and colonist leader Elya Valentine (Lynsey Murrell) who will keep tabs on your progress, and task you to answer questions about your processes.

Is what you are doing best for the planet? Best for the colonists? What is the correct way to terraform a planet: should you bask in the glory of the power of your accomplishment, or should you attempt to retain as much of Marss natural wonder as possible?

Per Aspera bucks the trend of building sims in a similar fashion to Frostpunk, in that it not only gives you a rhyme and a reason for building but also challenges you to think about what youre doing. These choices resonate throughout the game, eventually leading you down specific story paths that have AMI interrogate her own identity as an AI, and into territory best left unspoiled.

Because of its unique angle, I reached out to developers Tln Industries and had a brief chat with Javier Otaegui, game director and one of the studios three co-founders, to dig a little deeper into the motivations and inspirations behind such an ambitious melding of mechanical process and narrative. Otaegui tells me that he had always loved strategy games, but that over the years he had also been drawn to ambitious narrative games over the years, such as Firewatch, 80 Days, Event [0], and Heavens Vault.

Despite a long list of heavily narrative games, Otaegui tells me that the main mechanical inspiration of the game was old PC favorite Settlers. They believe its mechanical focus on supply-chain management was a fascinating core conceit, and when thinking about games that could be made from that mechanic, they found an AI narrative suited it best.

Explaining more, Otaegui says "Ive always found the mechanicist game design theories lacking in the sense that stories cannot just be a layer of frosting for the underlying mechanics - there must be something more. Per Aspera is an experiment." As a game, Otaegui considers Per Aspera a demonstration of the idea that "narrative and gameplay do not need to be tradeoffs, they can work together to create an amazing experience. That is what Per Aspera is all about, and thats why we thought it needed to be developed."

Amongst the influences for the game, Tlon Industries explored a lot of influences beyond games, such as scientific books like The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin, as well as films and TV shows such as The Martian, The Expanse, Moon, and Westworld. Many of these would be anticipated as par for the course for such a narrative, but exploring Julian Jaynes Bicameral Mind Theory, which was influential for Westworld, via the manner of play certainly hits differently.

As the crux of the theory is rooted in the idea that the cognitive functions are essentially divided between two halves of the brain, one "speaking" and one "listening" and as the player you form part of the equation, lending more credence to the idea of AMI learning about themselves, and operating as a super-advanced AI.

Otaegui posits that Per Aspera was an experiment, and as such, it was quite the challenge to pull off. Specifically, they wanted to have the narrative and the mechanical aspects working in tandem, rather than inserting narrative moments in-between missions as is often common. Despite many choices in the game feeling like they have an impact, frequently the game gently nudges players rather than shoving them.

Due to the games long playtime and simulation aspect - Mars and its atmosphere are simulated wholesale - Otaegui explains that "it was practically impossible to do a completely open-narrative with thousands of branches and options as we are still an indie studio".

Otaegui describes that the narrative beats are organized as a "vine" which "defines certain specific mandatory plot points, and in the middle, several optional missions and different endings are enabled based on your relationships with each character."

The ending of the game can still be one of a few different outcomes, but Tlon Industries wanted players to explore both the simulation and Mars itself and as such the story is reactive to this exploration. If you decide you need to build a certain way to get a specific material, the story may well push back as you discover new areas of the planet.

As Per Aspera was essentially an experiment into a fusion of genres, Otaegui and his colleagues were extremely interested in what players would make on it, saying, " We did not want to alienate pure-strategy players which may not care for the story or combat elements but also, we wanted to be able to create a game that was not just micro-management focused to still be attractive to players that enjoy storytelling."

It certainly caught me off-guard - I knew the narrative would be part of the game from its description, but its hard to articulate quite how it coiled its way around me as I played. It is by turns thought-provoking, creepy, and impactful, and really made me think about my decisions. Otaegui hastens to add that there is a Sandbox mode for players not interested in the narrative, but that in the end, they were "happy with the general player reaction to our main hypothesis, that is that gameplay and narrative do not need to be a tradeoff."

Whilst many city-builders continue to eschew narrative due to the complexity it adds to an already complex genre, Per Aspera is worth the time to investigate. Its one of gamings hidden gems, a SciFi story that manages to capture the feeling of exploring a potential future, and it does so in a way that manages to explore a potential future for city building games at the same time.

Per Aspera is out now on PC.

Continue reading here:

Have you tried... being a super AI building a base on Mars in Per Aspera? - Gamesradar

The Lunar New Year is upon us and many of us will be celebrating the Year of the Ox from the comforts of our home this year. If youre looking for new games to add to your PC library, here are a number of gaming deals and sales that you can enjoy this festive season.

Deep Silver and 2K Publisher Sale

Happening right now on the Epic Games Store, more than a handful of games published by Deep Silver and 2K are on sale right now, with discounts of up to 75 per cent. If you are a fan of shooters, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection and Borderlands 3 will give you hours of fun with up to three friends. Civilisation VI is also available at 75 per cent off right now.

On Deep Silvers side, you can either treat yourself to the Wind Waker-like seafaring adventure game Windbound, Saints Row The Third Remastered, and if you picked up Metro: Last Light Redux for free last week, you can complete the series with Metro 2033 Redux and Metro Exodus that are on 60 and 75 per cent off, respectively.

Ubisoft Sale

Specially for the Lunar New Year, Ubisofts promotional discount includes the latest releases from their catalogue last year. Some of the key titles include Immortal Fenyx Rising, Just Dance 2021, and even Assassins Creed Valhalla.

This is one of the few deals that are available on not just PC, but also on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. PC fans can get an extra 15 per cent off if they use the code LUNAR15 while shopping on the official Ubisoft webstore.

EA Play Deal

Heres a bit of a curveball. Why not shake things up by trying out a gaming subscription instead, giving yourself access to a plethora of triple-A titles? It is a monthly subscription service, but the first try comes at a special price right now, with an introductory discount of up to 80 per cent.

And just like that, youll be able to play a number of games, including the Souls-like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Apex Legends fans can check out the series' roots with Titanfall 2, and if youre craving for a racing game, there is Need For Speed Heat.

Humble Asmodee Digital Tabletop 2gether Bundle

If youre looking for digital board games to play with your family during the Lunar New Year weekend, the Humble Asmodee Digital Tabletop 2gether Bundle over on Humble Bundle is a pretty good deal, and youll be supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and a charity of your choice.

To fully enjoy all this bundle has to offer, US$10 can get you Ticket To Ride and its expansions, Terraforming Mars, and The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game. This bundle can definitely spice up your Steam library, which is a good break from indie roguelikes and FPS games.

Epic Games Store Spring Showcase

At the time of writing, the Epic Games Store Spring Showcase has not gone live yet, but judging by the last few sales they have been having, you could save a lot of money from Epics seasonal sales.

From February 11 to 25, gamers can enjoy up to 75 per cent off some of the best games that are featured on the Epic Games Store This includes 2020s indie darling Hades, psychological thriller Twin Mirror, and even Cyberpunk 2077 if your PC can handle it.

The rest is here:

Five PC Game Deals and Sales to Enjoy This Lunar New Year - IGN Southeast Asia

Reading Time: 7 minutesExamples of Anti-Blackness in anime Sister Krone from The Promised Neverland (left) and Maki from Love Lab in Black-Face (Right)

Anti-blackness is one of the root causes of most oppression and racism in the United States, but it is not just an American problem. Anti-Blackness is everywhere. It exists in one way or another across the globe. It is ingrained in many parts of society and culture, from education and media to politics and entertainment. So, it is no surprise that anti-blackness exist in anime.

The term anti-black, simply put, means to be opposed to or hostile toward Black people. Race equality think tank Runnymede Trust also defines it as the specific exclusion and prejudice against people visibly, or perceived to be, of African descent. What most commonly refer to as Black people. Additionally, non-Black people with darker skin, such as Latinx, Indians, and Filipinos, also face forms of racism rooted in anti-blackness. Theres also colorism, a type of discrimination in which lighter skin is privileged over darker skin, among people of the same race or ethnicity. Non-Black communities have negative stereotypes about Black people, and these communities will distance themselves to maintain some level of power or privilege as they position themselves closer to whiteness.

Anime, as I mentioned, is no stranger to any of these things either. Anime has a long and, unfortunately, on-going history with anti-blackness. Frankly, a very likely reason for that is racism and prejudice formed through the earlier portrayals of Black people in American media. American media representations of Black people were not always seen in a positive light and propagated misconstrued, and racist images meant to represent Black people at that time.

It is possible the first representation that Japanese audiences saw of Black people was through these racists and stereotypical portrayals. And while it has been well over 70 years since those depictions, they still contributed to the negative attitudes towards Black people. Which in turn, is why there are many offensive and problematic portrayals of them in anime.

While I love seeing Black characters in anime, I hate it when a show will use stereotypes and or character designs that are reminiscent of racist caricatures. It reduces the characters to be the butt of a terrible hateful joke and takes away the representation that they could have been. It sucks when the industry you have invested time, money, and love in, just like any other fan, doesnt always love you back. It hurts when creators and studios in the industry choose to depict Black people in such a disgustingly racist way.

One of the most glaring examples of this is Sister Krone from The Promised Neverland. Sister Krones design is inundated with racist implications, calling to mind black Americans image popularized by minstrel shows. This is something a lot of people dont like to hear, but its objectively true. A mere side-by-side of Sister Krone and, say, an old drawing of Aunt Jemima will confirm this to be the case: the massive lips, huge nose, stronger musculature, and general servant-like aesthetic all contribute to an image of that oh-so-pernicious depiction of black women, one that has not entirely faded from cultural consciousness.

Sadly, the racist depiction of Sister Krone is not a rare occurrence in recent anime. Other relatively recent examples of anti-blackness and racist depictions in anime include Love Lab and Terraformers.In Love Lab, a school-aged girl who does full blackface acts like a soul singer because she wanted to experience Black. In the same episode, another character mentions how their older brothers fetishize Black women.

While in Terraformers, a sci-fi anime about a space crew terraforming Mars. When they arrive, they get attacked by giant mutated humanoid cockroaches called Terraformars. The TerraformArs are purposefully designed with stereotypical Black features, some of which are very reminiscent of racist caricatures.

I could go on and list more examples, but I think you get my point. Anti-blackness exists in anime. It has been a part of its past and, unfortunately, continues to exist to this day. And with so much anti-blackness in anime, it is a wonder sometimes how I can enjoy and consume content from an industry that still participates in the use of racism and stereotypes. Well, for one thing, not all anime are racist or relies on racist stereotypes for Black and other non-Japanese characters. Furthermore, I refuse to let the poor and disgusting racist choices of some creators and studios in the industry make me hate a medium that I love.

Personally speaking, as a Black woman in America, I am always aware that I live in a world where certain parts of society see me as an other. Viewing me as someone that exists outside of what they deem is the norm. That I am not automatically seen as a person who deserves the same rights, respect, and privileges as others. So, I am not usually surprised or shocked when I see that something is anti-black. I am disgusted and angry, but sadly Im not shocked because I have always been aware that I live in a world that doesnt always see me or treat me with the respect that I deserve as a person. That being said, I can enjoy, appreciate and consume anime while also not making excuses for its part in anti-blackness. I deserve to enjoy anime, too, just like any other fan. Black people deserve representation without stereotypes and racists jokes because that is the bare minimum.

Additionally, anime has a special place in Black culture. Personally, a Black anime fan, what I love about it the most is that it inspires me. Sometimes I can even find relatability in some characters and themes. For example, many of my favorite anime features characters who face impossible challenges they have to overcome or face prejudice and doubt from others around them. Nonetheless, they dont give up. Either through hope, love, friendship, or inner strength, they persevere to achieve their goals. So I can see why that resonates with me, and maybe others, so strongly.

So then what do we do about anti-blackness in anime? How can I love and enjoy a medium that clearly doesnt always show me the same love back?

Well, for one, as I said before, anti-blackness is everywhere. But just because I cant escape it does not mean I have to tolerate it. Ignoring anti-blackness by never watching any anime ever again wont put an end to anti-blackness. To be clear, Im not saying to continue to consume specific work that is repeatedly racist or anti-black. I am saying you should also speak out and let the creators and other fans know that their work is problematic. You, me, and any other fans of anime have the right to share our critiques and opinions, and the artists should listen to them.

I love seeing Black characters in anime because I love seeing characters that look like me in the things I love. However, that reflection should not come at the cost of being made the butt of racist and anti-black jokes.It is sad to say that even in 2021, we need to call out anti-blackness in pop culture, but if we dont then, it will continue to exist.

We have to demand better and set a standard for how Black people should be represented respectfully because, frankly, we deserve better and it is the bare minimum. There is no excuse for anti-blackness or racist themes to exist in anime or any medium for that matter.We have to demand better and set a standard for how Black people should be represented respectfully because, frankly, we deserve better and it is the bare minimum.

Thankfully there have been anime creators in the industry over the years who put in the work and effort to make their series diverse and do not use racist caricatures or stereotypes for their characters. One in particular that emcees to mind is Shinichir Watanabe. Watanabe. is a Japanese anime television and film director who is best known for directing widely popular series such as Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Carole & Tuesday, and Space Dandy. Watanabe is also well known for making anime that represents a racially diverse world.

During an interview following the conclusion of Cowboy BebopWatanabe had this today about diversity in anime.I paid a lot of attention to skin color. Also to using multiple languages. Lots of times when you watch anime, the characters all have white skin all the characters in fantasy stories all have white skin, which I never liked. I wanted to have lots of characters in Bebop without the white skin, and if people werent used to that, well, maybe it would even make them think a little bit about it.Im grateful to creators likeWatanabe who have worked to make anime more racially diverse and inclusive. Itwas anime like Cowboy Bebopthat first showed me that Black people can exist in anime.

Now there are more creators in the industry who are doing the real work to represent Black characters in anime better. This is done by broadening the spectrum of skin tones, and putting in more effort when it comes to illustrating features like hair texture, lips, and palms of hands. Some great examples of this include Black characters being more respectfully and accurately designed, such as Ogun Montgomery from Fire Force and Aran Ojiro in Haikyuu. Another preseason these characters representation is important is because they are Black characters living and existing in their shows version of Japan. They an example of how Black people and other races can be included in anime.

Other examples of improvement are anime series with Black-lead characters like Carole & Tuesday and Cannon Busters. There is also more Black and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) representation behind the animation, like voice talents Zeno Robinson and Anairis Quiones who voice various characters in anime series. And now theres even DArt Shtajio, a Black-owned anime studio located in Tokyo, Japan, founded by twin brothers Arthell Isom and Darnell Isom.

It means a lot as an anime fan that these creators are putting in the effort to give proper representation to Black characters. Their work helps to set a new standard for how Black characters deserve to be represented in anime.So, while the anime industry does have its issues and problematic past with anti-blackness, there is hope for more improvement to come as more creators put in the work and intentional in portraying Black characters. I have hope that as time goes on, the industry I love so much will love me back the same

LaNeysha is a host on So Heres What Happened, andDid You Have To?. she is also responsible for developing strategic marketing and communications plans to assist with brand recognition, growth, and community engagement. Self-proclaimed low-maintenance cosplayer. Has an ever-growing anime and video game list to work through but always looking for more

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Originally posted here:

Anti-Blackness in Anime: Loving an Industry that Doesn't Always Love Me - But Why Tho? A Geek Community