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Scraps wants you to strap guns to cars, build bringers of destruction
Car combat games can be built with a fairly simplistic formula and still be a lot of fun to play. What would happen if players entered death machines with wheels that they crafted down to a vehicle's chassis, though? It would look something like Scraps, a customization-focused car combat game that's more than willing to hand you the toolbox and a pile of parts. Scraps will focus on a deathmatch experience, both in free-for-all and team-oriented rounds of destruction. As players blast pieces off of an opponent's vehicle, they will be able to collect the rubble and return to designated platforms to repair or upgrade their own rides. If your friends aren't into reducing cars to LEGO sets, single player, AI-filled deathmatch options will also be available. Those more interested in playing with creation tools are covered, too - Scraps will offer a sandbox mode with unlimited funds. Can you build a 20-foot wide wall of turrets on wheels capable of firing without knocking itself over? Only one way to find out! The alpha release of Scraps is planned for the middle of 2014, but you can tinker around with some creation tools in Scraps' pre-alpha builder demo right now. If the project has already won you over, you can donate $20 NZD (~$16 in US currency) to its Kickstarter campaign and secure yourself a digital copy for PC, Mac and Linux once the first alpha is live. Yes, that will eventually include the full game too, and Steam keys will be available now that the project has been Greenlit.
Turing machine built from wood, scrap metal and magnets, 'geek' achievement unlocked (video)
We take it for granted nowadays that thumbnail-sized silicon chips can crunch through the most complex of calculations, but early last century, mathematical tasks were still being carried out by humans. It was around that time that one Alan Turing, Enigma code breaker and general computer science pioneer, came up with what was essentially a thought experiment, a mechanical machine capable of simulating and solving algorithms just like a grown-up CPU. Well, you know where this is going by now, one British software engineer decided to build just such a device, out of old bits and bobs he had lying around his geek lair, producing a working model that was recently shown off at the Maker Faire UK in Newcastle. The only downer, as he points out, is that it'd take "months to add two numbers together," but all good things start off humbly. Video after the break.
