Soviet
Latest
Russians and Neo-Stalinists chew apart The Sun at Night's Soviet past
On November 3, 1957, under leader Nikita Khrushchev, the USSR launched Sputnik 2 into Earth's orbit with Laika the dog on board. Laika was not expected to survive the mission and she died of overheating hours after takeoff. This is where Minicore Studios begins The Sun at Night – by imagining a scenario where Laika doesn't die. Instead, she returns to Earth with robotic enhancements – including speech – and joins the fight against Soviet forces, which have conquered the world using a mysterious energy source. Some people don't like this premise. They're not upset about seeing an animal harmed in a digital world, they don't mind that the true story behind the game is kind of upsetting, and they're fine with the suspension of disbelief required to play as a talking robotic animal who crash-lands on Earth. They don't like how Soviets are portrayed in The Sun at Night – and they want Minicore to know. Of all the comments that Minicore receives on The Sun at Night's websites and email, 5 - 8 percent are from upset Russian nationals, non-Russian Communists or Neo-Stalinists who believe the game paints Soviets in an unjust light, studio founder John Warren tells me. "[They've] decided, after being given very little information about the game's premise, that it's a very pro-USA, anti-communism kind of narrative – which it really isn't," Warren says. "I mean, the Western countries like Britain and the US don't even really factor into the narrative at all. The game itself isn't really an indictment of any one political ideology or anything like that. At the end of the day, it's still a sci-fi platformer about a robot space dog."
MESM Soviet computer project marks 60 years
Before you go complaining about your job, take a moment to remember the MESM project, which just marked the 60th anniversary of its formal recognition by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The project, headed by Institute of Electrical Engineering director Sergey Lebedev, was born in a laboratory built from scratch amongst the post-World War II ruins of Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv, by a team of 20 people, many of whom took up residence above the lab. Work on MESM -- that's from the Russian for Small Electronic Calculating Machine -- began toward the end of 1948. By November 1950, the computer was running its first program. The following year, it was up and running full-time. The machine has since come to be considered the first fully operation electronic computer in continental Europe, according to a Google retrospective. Check out a video interview with a MESM team member, after the break -- and make sure you click on that handy caption button for some English subtitles.
iPhone 4S supports GLONASS satellite system, much to the delight of Russia
What does a Russian satellite system have to do with the iPhone 4S' GPS capabilities? Allow us to explain. Russian site iPhones.ru recently noticed that the 4S' spec page lists support for both assisted GPS and GLONASS -- the Kremlin's global navigation satellite system and acronym for GLObalnaya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema. The country launched GLONASS 35 years ago in the hopes that it would eventually provide an alternative to GPS and the EU's forthcoming Galileo, thereby reducing Russia's dependence upon US- or Europe-operated systems. The global system has since been beset by delays and budgetary setbacks, but last week, a Russian rocket successfully launched the 24th and final GLONASS satellite, completing the constellation and inching the infrastructure closer to full activation. News of the iPhone 4S' support has already elicited a delightfully surprised response from the Russian media, with daily Vedomosti writing: "If the iPhone 4S really does have Glonass navigation, this would be the first time the Russian system reached the world market." (Nokia, it's worth noting, announced in August that it would manufacture GLONASS-compliant handsets, while Samsung's High Fidelity Position app offers similar compatibility.) In light of Russia's economic and regulatory climate, however, the move may not seem so shocking. The Kremlin already imposes import taxes on handsets that don't support GLONASS and, as Russia's iGuides.ru points out, has even threatened non-compliant devices with an outright ban. Apple, meanwhile, has made no secret of its interest in expanding its influence within the country, with CEO Tim Cook recently referring to the Russian market as "more promising." It remains to be seen whether this added support results in sharper navigation capabilities, or if it enhances Apple's presence within Russia, but it's certainly a compelling development, nonetheless. [Thanks, AXR]
Bonhams' Space History Sale includes spacesuits, memorabilia, and a Game Boy flown in space
Bonhams' upcoming Space History Sale -- happening May 5th in New York -- is filled with items that will make any space geek reconsider their current spending priorities, but we couldn't help but notice one particular item that hits a little closer to home. Mixed in with spacesuits expected to fetch upwards of $100,000 and other various memorabilia from both the US and Soviet space programs in this, a wholly ordinary Nintendo Game Boy (complete with Tetris, of course) that accompanied cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov on Soyuz mission TM-17 in 1993. Interested? The estimate is pegged at a somewhat reasonable $1,500 to $2,000, but we have a sneaking suspicion Bonhams might be underestimating the will of a considerable number of folks who are both space and video game nerds (we're speaking as one ourselves, of course). Hit up the source link below to check out everything up for auction.
Visualized: the fate of the most ambitious Soviet-era space exploration project
Project Buran was the USSR's answer to NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia. Unlike its highly decorated American counterpart, however, this child of the 1970s produced only one unmanned space flight during its operation and was ignominiously shut down by Russian authorities in 1993. The remains of this most ambitious (and expensive) effort are still around, however, and have now taken on a layer of rust, weeds and general decay that would make any post-apocalyptic set designer swoon with admiration. It's as beautiful as it is sad, this gallery of failed human endeavor, and you can see it in full at the link below.
Secret Soviet-era laser tank pops up in the Ivanovo Oblast
If we've learned anything from the former Soviet Union, it's that collapsed empires have lots of awesome tech just layin' around. We've recently heard tale of someone who found the remnants of the USSR's lunar program under a tarp somewhere, and now a Russian website has uncovered some pretty bad-ass pics of the 1K17 Self-Propelled Laser Complex. First deployed in 1992, the vehicle features a laser system that could be used, as the machine translated document says, to "provide anti-opto-electronic surveillance systems" in even "the harshest climatic and operating conditions imposed on the armor." (In other words, the lasers would disrupt the enemy's electronics and optics, even in the bleak Russian winter.) It seems that the program was discontinued pretty quickly due to expense, with the hardware eventually being consigned to the Military Technical Museum in the Ivanovo Oblast.
Samsung Diva or Soviet-era Christmas ornament: you decide
Extraordinarily well-connected mobile blogger Eldar Murtazin -- who just happens to be Russian -- has made the fascinating observation that the Samsung Diva S5150 looks strikingly similar to the kind of Christmas decoration that you'd find in a Soviet home circa, oh, 1986. Coincidence? Probably, but what do we know -- the Diva is a fashion phone, after all, and maybe Cold War-era communism is super trendy right now.
Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad announced
We're as tired as anyone of our seemingly never-ending tour of duty in the Great War, Part Deux. Still, given the unconventional road Red Orchestra has traveled we're just a teensy bit curious what developer Tripwire Interactive has tucked inside its pit helmet. The Georgia-based studio has officially made known Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad, the sequel to 2006's Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, itself based on the company's celebrated Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. And, breathe.Heroes of Stalingrad will again find players seeking shelter in gun-pits as bullets fly between German and Soviet forces, this time during the historic and bloody Battle of Stalingrad. Setting expectations, Tripwire promises "gritty, vicious combat" and "unrivaled accuracy and attention to detail." While there will of course be multiplayer, the dev also notes players will lace up in the boots of a German soldier as part of a solo campaign told from the Axis point-of-view, something Tripwire claims as a "first" for the FPS genre. No release date has been announced, though armchair soldiers can find out more in the pages of May's PC Gamer.
Moscow students unearth lost arcade titles from Russia's past
Seeing as how we're about to re-enter the Cold War, let's try and take our minds off of shooting monkeys into space for a moment and focus on something less cryptic: Soviet-era arcade games!In a fit of nostalgia, four students from Moscow State Technical University managed to locate 32 machines from Russia's past. Originally built and designed in military factories, Soviet arcade titles were created to provide -- in your best robot voice -- "entertainment and active leisure, as well as the development of visual-estimation abilities." As of last month, the students opened the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines in a bomb shelter under their dormitory. Wired has the story, as well as a gallery of these beautiful relics. Take a peek at some of our favorites after the break.
