clones
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Sir Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the sheep, has died
Sir Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep in 1996, has died at 79. The University of Edinburgh, where he served as a professor before his 2012 retirement, announced his passing today.
Wordle clones have jumped the S_ARK
Four Wordle puzzles at once? That was so five hours ago.
Can you make a Star Wars story without Jedi?
'The Bad Batch' is a new Star Wars show on Disney+ that moves the spotlight away from Force-users.
Scientists clone gene-edited monkey for circadian disorder research
Scientists in China announced this week that they've successfully made five clones of a gene-edited monkey to aid in researching a number of conditions relating to circadian rhythms. The idea is that having a group of five genetically identical monkeys will help remove variables in research, but the whole experiment raises some rather murky ethical issues as well. Researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience (ION) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Shanghai intially gene-edited a group of monkeys to make it more prone to disorders that stem from circadian rhythms. Because of this gene editing, the monkeys "exhibited a wide-range of circadian disorder phenotypes, including reduced sleep time, elevated night-time locomotive activities, dampened circadian cycling of blood hormones, increased anxiety and depression, as well as schizophrenia-like behaviors." The researchers then used fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) from one monkey in that groupto produce the five clones using the same technique that successfully produced the first primate clones in early 2018.
Recommended Reading: The reality of sci-fi's AI immortality obsession
Are Hosts, Replicants, and robot clones closer than we think? Jayson Greene, The Ringer Black Mirror already uncomfortably aligns with the real world, but we might be even closer to more advanced concepts from that show and others, like Westworld and Altered Carbon, becoming reality. The Ringer offers a look at just how far away we could be from Hosts, Replicants and robotic clones following a new trailer release for Keanu Reeves' long lost Replicas movie.
First 'Threes', now 'Monument Valley': knockoff developer strikes again
Did you play Monument Valley (above left), the gorgeous perspective-based puzzler from last year? It costs $4 on Google Play / iTunes, and is one of 2014's best games. And now you can get it for free. Sort of. You see, Ketchapp, the studio behind Threes! knockoff 2048 is at it again. With Skyward (above right), the developer's created a game that bears more than a passing resemblance to ustwo Studio's Apple Design Award winner. Whereas Monument Valley is a relaxing, almost Zen-like experience that's more about logic puzzles than twitch reactions, Skyward is a shallow attempt at disguising a tired Flappy Bird clone by wrapping it in pastel colors and M.C. Escher-like aesthetics. Oh, and it's full of obtrusive ads for retirement planning and compact cars -- junk that's thankfully missing from Monument Valley.
EVE's Rhea update profiled in new dev video
Curious about EVE Online's forthcoming Rhea update? Have yourself a look at CCP's latest in-development video, which we've embedded just past the break. It features tidbits on the new Thera system, 100 new shattered wormhole systems, redesigned and remodeled ships, manual controls, and a lot of other stuff. CCP has also released a textual dev blog focused on the cloning changes that Rhea will introduce on December 9th.
Working As Intended: But I already have that game
Back in 2001, I desperately wanted out of EverQuest. I hated the gameplay. I hated the community. I loved my guildies, but I hated what our guild was becoming, consumed by a grindy rat race so different from our roots in Ultima Online. When Dark Age of Camelot offered a way out, I took it, dragging as many guildies as I could along with me to a game where PvP and territory control, not camp checks and plane raids, ruled the day. Some of them didn't come with us, and I couldn't understand why they wouldn't jump at the chance to start fresh, to be rid of a self-destructive community and gear grind. What was wrong with them, I wondered, that they'd stay in some old thing rather than play the new shiny? Dozens upon dozens of MMOs later, I finally understand: They already had that game.
Super Smash Bros. hints that Mario's extra lives are clones
Descriptions for items within Super Smash Bros. for 3DS have already discussed Metroid protagonist Samus' inability to crawl. Another meme-referencing bit of text surfaced this week, this time providing a theory for Mario's extra lives. According to the description for 1-Up Mushrooms in the European version of the game provided by NeoGAF user SalsaShark, an extra life means "a whole extra version of you." The bit of text within Super Smash Bros. pondered the meaning of Mario's clones and whether "making more copies of yourself the real goal of any adventure" before imagining "a bunch of Marios getting together to discuss it." The North American version rephrases the same notion, which recalls a video of the double cherry power-up in action in Super Mario 3D World, found after the break. Do you have any favorite Easter eggs from Super Smash Bros. on 3DS? If so, share them with us in the comments! The Wii U version of the game will launch November 21. [Image: Nintendo, Imgur]
The Daily Grind: What makes an MMO a 'WoW clone'?
Eminent MMO designer Raph Koster inspired today's Daily Grind with his recent article titled When is a Clone, in which he discusses the difference between clones, reskins, variants, families, genres, and other words that gamers often use interchangeably when debating the merits of their favorite games. Specifically, he lays out a "recipe" for inventing a new game as opposed to just cloning one; for example, he suggests that developers might model a new scenario mathematically or alter the physical dimensions or major goals of an existing ruleset. But the truth is that gamers, especially MMO players, will probably never stop using the word clone when we mean iteration. We wield the word as a curse, knowing that a game isn't a literal clone but choosing to employ hyperbole to make a point about the sameyness of so many MMOs that slap a fresh coat of paint on World of Warcraft and expect praise. Today, we're asking you: What, exactly, makes an MMO a WoW clone? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Guild Wars 2 will let you replace PvP opponents with standardized clones
How you look and move in PvP is sometimes more important than just for cosmetic vanity, which is why Guild Wars 2 is planning to add "model standardization" as an option with the September feature pack. In today's dev diary, ArenaNet explains that since all of the races and classes have different animations for the same skills, it might be difficult for competitive players to identify what's coming at them. By being able to replace all enemy characters with standardized human models, PvPers will be able to clearly identify the class, weapon, and skill animations being used. The team's also finishing up work on two new sets of PvP-exclusive armor that draws inspiration from Guild Wars 1's Hall of Heroes. Players can earn one of those sets of armor by progressing with the new PvP reward track that's also slated for the feature pack update.
Report: App Store averaged a new Flappy Bird clone every 24 minutes
Flappy Bird clones reportedly rolled in to the App Store at a rate of 60 games per day over the course of four days, according to numbers crunched by Pocket Gamer. The data comes from an investigation into 300 games that were deemed rip-offs of Dong Nguyen's former tap-to-flap mobile arcade game, averaging out to 2.5 clones arriving on the App Store per hour, or one per 24 minutes. The data was pulled from games submitted between February 28 and March 3, and due to Apple's staggered release schedule, as many as 14 "Flappy" games arrived in the span of an hour at points. Pocket Gamer defined its use of the term "clone" in this case as "any game in which you guide some character through an obstacle course of pipes (or similar objects) hanging from the ceiling and sticking out of the ground." To be sure, Flappy Bird itself wasn't a particularly novel concept, but the rise in games that mimicked its exact style appeared to be unmistakable to the data gatherers. Nguyen announced plans to pull Flappy Bird from the Google Play and App Stores on February 8, and later rationalized the decision by deeming it an "addictive product." After Nguyen pulled the game, indie developers participated in a "Flappy Jam" development challenge, which included entries from the likes of Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh as well as punk band Fall Out Boy. [Image: Dong Nguyen]
Attack of the Clones: The Flappy Bird copies have arrived, and boy are they crappy
Flappy Bird is simple, straightforward and hugely successful. Those three things make it a prime target for copycats, and now that the game has perched itself on the top of the App Store charts, the clones are arriving in full force. They are, on the whole, completely garbage, and I've taken a whole bunch of them for a test drive so you don't have to. It was brutal, but here are six Flappy Bird wannabes that you should avoid at all costs. Flappy Penguin Avoid the deadly garbage (lasers and bombs, for some reason) while collecting the other garbage (coins and items). Yawn. Flappy Plane Clipart of a plane needs to avoid the other clipart. That's the entire game, and the plane doesn't flap, so it's also false advertising. Fly Birdie - Flappy Bird Flyer Holy crap. Even though this game consists of two moving parts (the bird and the pipes in the foreground), it runs like absolute garbage. It's actually bogging down on my iPhone 5s. That's a special kind of broken. Smarcle Flyer I don't know what a "Smarcle" is, and I don't ever want to know. The game is ugly and doesn't play any better than it looks. Flappy Bee The best part about Flappy Bee is that its name is actually "Happy Bee" after you download it. Clearly the game wasn't performing well enough under its original title so the developer decided to see if a new title would help. It didn't. Fluffy vs Flappy Birds The one actually looks surprisingly good for a ripoff, but the gameplay is somehow even more frustrating than that of Flappy Bird -- and not in a good way. It's slow, boring and offers nothing in the way of a reasonable, enjoyable challenge.
Heva Clonia Online announces gameplay test on September 19
OGPlanet has announced today that beta testing for its newest free-to-play MMO Heva Clonia Online will run from September 19th through the 30th for North American players. Heva Clonia Online offers players the ability to clone monsters they find in their adventures and use those clones as pets in PvP monster battles. The game also features large guild vs guild battles, two-person dungeons, mini games, and more. You can sign up for the test at the official site, and be sure to check out the gameplay video just after the jump. [Source: OGPlanet press release]
Daily iPhone App: Clone Booth is wacky, but simple
We reported last month that the makers of You Don't Know Jack, formerly called Jellyvision, had changed its name to Jackbox Software. Now, Clone Booth is the very first release under the new brand. Unfortunately, this isn't a game at all. It's a utility of sorts that lets you insert your face into a number of different old-timey pictures, "cloning" yourself in wacky ways. You can see an example of how it works above -- you snap a picture on one face, and then you can fix or adjust the other faces as needed. Unfortunately, it's all just for one face, so you can't snap a few different faces and insert them into the photos as needed. That seems like it would have been a fun option, and added a little more functionality to the app. When you're done, you can share your photos off to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or the other standard services you see above. Clone Booth is simple and it's only US$0.99. If the photo above makes you giggle and the prospect of making your own seems like it's worth a buck, go nuts. The rest of us will probably wait and see what Jackbox is working on next.
The best -- or the worst -- of the WoW clones
You've probably heard the term "WoW clone" applied to nearly every MMO out there, because as WoW borrowed ideas from older games like EverQuest, so newer games borrow from WoW. And any game with WoW-like features -- by which we mean nearly any MMO -- might get branded with the label "clone," no matter how good it is. However, some of these myriad WoW clones strike us as particularly... well, let's call it familiar. Now don't get us wrong -- these aren't bad games, and every game builds on its predecessors in an attempt to make something better. But if you're looking for something that's distinctly different from WoW, none of these are going to fit the bill. However, any of them may be an entertaining change of pace or just an amusing venture into what some of the other MMOs on the market are doing.
Morning chuckle: Attack of the clone apps
A link to this story on App Store clone apps crossed our desks this morning at TUAW central. We spent quite a bit of time arguing over which one was the most outrageous rip-off of a Nintendo title. It's a wonderful write-up, and I encourage you to pop over and read it all. The entire post is sort of like a FPS game. The Red Bull team offers videos, screen shots and, more importantly, exactly how long each clone lived in the App Store before being shot down by legal. We applaud some of the creativity involved in branding ("Ultra Dario" and "Mole Kart" made us laugh) and were pressed to wonder exactly how much time and effort were devoted to re-engineering these classic titles. Begun, the Clone Wars have. "Mesa buy clone app!" Of course you did, Jar Jar. We look forward to playing the as-yet non-existent Super Σario. Or Pack Mann. Maybe even Above Average Mario Siblings. Or Happy Marco Nicely Affordable Commuter Vehicle. And Mario Super-cool Rave with Mau5. Or Dongle Kong. Remember this wisdom from Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will clone.
Court refuses request to review Psystar case
You have to give Psystar credit for being tenacious. The Mac clone company spent four years fighting Apple and took its legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court. According to a CNET report, the Supreme Court on Monday refused Psystar's request to review a lower court decision that prevents the company from selling non-Apple hardware with OS X. The decision upholds the original ruling in 2009 which said Psystar "violated Apple's exclusive reproduction right, distribution right, and right to create derivative works." Apple was awarded a permanent injunction against Psystar and the company was forced to stop selling its Mac clones. This Supreme Court rejection should put an end to litigation between the two companies.
Ripoff apps plague some iOS developers
Update: Some of the Tamsong apps have already begun disappearing from the store. Near-clone apps in the iOS App Store? It's not a new phenomenon, by any means; last week, developer Anton Sinelnikov had the bulk of his app library yanked from the store for plagiarism. In fact, high-profile app launches like RealMac Software's Clear can find themselves with unwanted "tribute" apps even before they arrive in the store. For major developers like EA or Rovio, it usually doesn't take too long to rouse Apple's app cops to clear out the duplicates, but less well-connected devs may find themselves frustrated by copies that don't get the attention of the authorities. Apple does indeed have a feedback page for this issue, so that's obviously the first thing to try. Alan Scully of Breaking Art was surprised to discover this week that some of his apps (Flickr HD, Beer In Japan & more) had identical twins in the App Store, all from a single developer: Tamsong Co. In fact, he found out that all the Tamsong (or Tamsung) apps appear to be clones of other developers' work: devs like e-MedTools, Primolicious and others have doppelganger apps in the Tamsong library. The first question that came to mind: are these apps actually cloned, or just very similar efforts? Second question, how is it possible to make such convincing app copies? And third, what is Apple going to do about punting this xerographic developer out of the store? Answering question one: These are clones, no two ways about it. Check out the evidence for one example, Beer O'Clock from Breaking Art (thanks to Erica Sadun for digging into the app contents). Pricing: Identical Beer O'Clock! $0.99 from Breaking Art, Released: Feb 24, 2010 Beer O'Clock+ $0.99 from Tamsong, Released Feb 10, 2012 Interfaces: Identical Breaking Art Tamsung Looking under the hood The app .ipa files are actually different sizes. What about the components? We extracted them into separate folders and set to looking. Inside each is an identical PhoneGap-powered www folder. PhoneGap is an HTML5-based framework for building mobile apps, which will suggest an answer for question two. Both apps sport nearly identical index.html files: The _CodeSignature files for each app seem to indicate that many of the files have identical values. Running md5 on background images demonstrates the remarkable similarity: But how? Under normal circumstances, doing a straight-up clone of an iOS app would be relatively difficult. The fact that these apps were built with PhoneGap, however, provides a theory about how this might have been done. The PhoneGap development environment may make apps especially vulnerable to cloning, because the web assets making up the UI are stored in the clear inside the app. Developers using this framework (and similar HTML5-based tools) may want to keep an eye out for clones. In any case, it's clear that we have a rogue developer in the store, and the ball is now in Apple's court.
Apple removes one iOS developer's copycat games
Image: Shutterstock A few days ago, I caught a tweet from Paul Haddad (of Tapbots), showing a screen full of obvious copycat apps from one developer. Of course, anyone who has spent appreciable time on the App Store knows there are plenty of copycats out there. Not all of them are small shops, either. But these copycat apps were truly astonishing in their brazen nature -- I mean, Plants v. Zombie? Temple Jump (instead of Temple Run)? Come on. Luckily Apple finally woke up and rooted out a number of these cloned games from this single offending developer. I'm sure others will pop up again, but hopefully Apple will be more on top of things in the future. In the meanwhile, let us know if you see a copycat app. You can give us a shout either in the comments or using the "Tip Us" button at the top of our website. [via The Loop]
