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Mail carriers are mapping Brazil's favelas before tech companies can
Google and Microsoft may be trying hard to produce online maps for Brazil's favelas, but they've already been beaten by an old-fashioned (if very clever) paper solution. A private mail-delivery service operating in the Rocinha favela, Friendly Mailman, has been methodically charting the slum by using handwritten algorithms that detail every street and building. This system is indecipherable if you aren't one of the mail carriers, but it's reportedly very effective -- staff can both deliver packages to unofficial addresses and adapt to the favela's ever-changing landscape. Apparently, the approach is good enough that Google unsuccessfully requested a photo of Friendly Mailman's map. While that refusal isn't good news for internet users wanting to understand the favelas, the analog code is already helping locals send letters, receive online orders and otherwise communicate with the world at large. [Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images]
Modern Warfare 2 map taken down after controversy over Islamic imagery
The "Favela" map has been temporarily removed from Modern Warfare 2 following the discovery of, and complaints about, items found in the map that are potentially offensive to Muslim gamers.The protest video above details the offensive item: a frame containing a quote from the Prophet Mohammed, hanging above a toilet – "a disrespectful place" as YouTube user "KhaleDQ84EveR" puts it. In response to the discovery of this image, Activision is planning to remove the image from both Modern Warfare 2 and 3 via separate title updates, the publisher told Kotaku.In the meantime, the map is down.
Rockstar devs check out the black market in Sao Paulo for Max Payne 3 [update]
Max Payne 3 is set in the slums and high-rolling cities of São Paulo, Brazil. To truly get a feel for the land and its society, Rockstar developers and researchers traveled to the heart of the city to study its law-enforcement branches, its extensive weapons collection and to track down local casting, the Rockstar newswire reads. São Paulo has become infamous for its favelas, gang violence and illegal trafficking, perhaps because it's all set against such a lush, photogenic landscape. It appears the Rockstar team watched a few documentaries that take advantage of Brazil's dark beauty, as it's able to name-drop such titles as Favela Rising and Bus 174. So, we're sure the devs were completely prepared for the reality of São Paulo's slums. Update: As many of you pointed out, Favela Rising and Bus 174 are both set in Rio de Janiero, and Brazil is home to many non-violent, wonderful people and places. Rockstar is setting a scene that scare-based media and PBS has been harping on for years, probably because shooting people in an innocent, beautiful environment just doesn't feel right to the developers. Or they wanted a free trip to Brazil.
