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‘Hogwarts Legacy’ adds arachnophobia mode for spider-free gaming
Arachnophobic Harry Potter fans, rejoice. Developer Avalanche Software has added a new accessibility feature to Hogwarts Legacy that removes spiders from the game. The update coincides with the title’s arrival on PS4 and Xbox One today.
An efficient new depth sensor was inspired by spider eyes
When it comes to efficient design, scientists are still learning from nature's smart evolutionary strategies. Now, a Harvard team has created a more efficient depth sensor by taking cues from jumping spiders, which can pounce several times the length of their bodies to land on unsuspecting flies.
Researchers say 'spidey senses' could help self-driving vehicles avoid hazards
Researchers want to give cars, planes and drones "spidey senses." That is, they want to give autonomous machines sensors that mimic nature. In a paper published in ACS Nano, a team of researchers -- from Purdue University, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and ETH Zürich -- propose integrating spider-inspired sensors into the exterior of autonomous machines. Doing so, they say, would allow vehicles to selectively process data faster than currently possible.
Researchers develop 'liquid wire' that acts like spider silk
The properties of spider silk that make it so intriguing are also what makes it so difficult to recreate in a lab, but a team of researchers now believes they have cracked one puzzle about spider silk: how does it remain taut when even when stretched?
Jumping robot uses safety tethers to control its fall
Spiders don't typically jump off ledges without some sort of plan. Many species of jumping spider (family Salticidae) will affix themselves to their perch with a silken thread that acts as a safety tether. Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have given their own robotic "spider" a similar capability.
ICYMI: Street View pollution hunt, Easier Amazon and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-768351{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-768351, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-768351{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-768351").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Google Street View cars are rolling through U.S. cities to measure pollution, measuring harmful compounds like methane and carbon monoxide. Amazon's new Dash buttons are now available, which let consumers instant-order basic household items with a push of a literal button. And NASA is crashing planes to help improve the reliability of Emergency Location Transmitters, so that the signal actually turns on when something goes terribly wrong.
Nanotube-soaked spiders spin super-strong silk
Orb spider silk, already among the toughest and strongest materials found in nature, could soon get a super-strong nanoscale upgrade. A research team from the University of Trento, Italy recently sprayed 15 Orb-weaving spiders, members of the Pholcidae family, with carbon nanotube or graphene particle solutions. They found that doing so caused some of the spiders to spin even stronger silk than what they normally do. The team administered five spiders with a graphene-water solution and another 10 with a carbon-water mix. While some spiders subsequently spun sub-par silk (and four of them died outright), a few of the carbon-dosed arachnids actually produced strands 3.5 times stronger than the most resilient natural silk we know about.
Bound by Flame launch trailer takes us through the ire and maims
Bound by Flame is the latest, hottest new thing from Mars: War Logs and Of Orcs and Men developer Spiders, and a launch trailer heralds its arrival on PC and consoles this week. It's a combat-heavy action-RPG that pits players as a mercenary who gets possessed by a demon. The evil spirit bestows the unwitting soldier with special powers, like being able to wield a flaming sword at will - always handy. That's all well and good, but the demon also wants its influence to be total. It's up to players to choose by their actions whether to stay good and heroic, or to succumb to the evil within and let things get decidedly fiery. As for the combat, it's spread across two disciplines that the player can switch between on the fly, namely Warrior and Ranger. The Warrior is all about big, heavy two-handed attacks that deal high damage, while the Ranger is more fleet-footed with dual-wield daggers and stealth abilities. Thanks to the demon, players can supplement both methods of attack with pyromancer abilities, spanning from the burning blade to hurling great big fireballs about. Bound by Flame launches on PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on Friday, May 9. [Image: Focus Home Interactive]
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Bound by Flame combat trailer is feeling hot, hot, hot
When possessed by a flame demon, you have to ask yourself a question. No, not "Why am I possessed by a flame demon?" You need to ask how to channel it. Thankfully, Bound By Flame's combat trailer breaks down how you can do just that. Spoiler: They all involve fire. [Image: Focus Home Interactive]
Take a swing at this Bound by Flame PS4 gameplay trailer
Creepy-crawly developer Spiders issued a new combat trailer for its demonic hack-and-slash game, Bound by Flame. The trailer shows a variety of weapons being used to pulverize the undead enemies, such as the stealthy use of a crossbow and the pounding swings from a two-handed hammer. Published by Focus Home Interactive, Bound by Flame will launch May 9 on PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The game was first announced at Gamescom in August 2013 and has players controlling a mercenary possessed by a flame demon with the option of embracing the dark forces or rejecting them, with benefits to either decision. [Image: Spiders]
Spiders' action RPG Bound By Flame arrives May 9
We knew that Spiders' Bound By Flame was due for PS4, PS3, PC and Xbox 360 before the end of June, but now we have an exact starting date for protagonist Vulcan's quest to slay the Icelords plaguing his world. Players can begin swinging at Bound By Flame's monsters on May 9, collecting resources and progressing through skill trees. Of course, that means you'll be able to collect and customize weaponry and armor as you go. There's also the overarching question of whether you'll allow the fire demon that's possessed Vulcan to override your character's humanity. I mean sure, it's nice to have a soul and all, but blaze-fueled powers sound pretty handy when you're going up against a bunch of Icelords. We imagine taking on a flame-spewing demon would be pretty comparable to fights in the Ice Kingdom, just without the princess status or mean letters. [Image: Spiders]
Bound by Flame hacks and slashes in new trailer
A new trailer has arrived for Focus Home Interactive's Bound by Flame. The action-heavy teaser trailer shows some of the game's dark, seemingly undead enemies being pulverized by two men prior to an enormous monster showing up. Bound by Flame was announced at Gamescom, and will come to PS3, PS4, PC and Xbox 360 this year. Developed by Spiders, the game has players controlling a character possessed by a flame demon, with the option of rejecting the demon to gain heroic strengths or embracing it to use evil powers.
Bound by Flame makes demonic possession look pretty on PS4
Bound by Flame, the action RPG from Focus Home Interactive and Spiders (aah, run!), is coming to PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PS4 this year. The game was announced at Gamescom last week for current-gen consoles and PC. Bound by Flame inhabits a dark fantasy world where players embody a mercenary possessed by a flame demon, allowing them to either embrace the demon inside and gain evil powers, or reject it and earn heroic talents. As enemies grow more foul, the temptation to take on more demonic powers grows, and the heroes' bodies transform as they allow more evil into their souls. The world is infested with all kinds of grotesque enemies, including floating squid-like things and hulking beasts with hollow chest cavities and horns. Sounds fun.
Mars: War Logs brings the resistance back to RPGs
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. I probably wouldn't have noticed Mars: War Logs except for the PR email I received which included a line about how it had been influenced by the French film "Army Of Shadows." This piqued my curiosity for two reasons: first, it seems utterly astonishing to me that a game would advertise itself as being based on a 45-year-old foreign film that was buried for decades due to its politics. Second, after I discovered it via a feature on cult films, I watched it and enjoyed it, and have come to cite it as an excellent example of one of my favorite types of narrative: the resistance story. Role-playing games have a long and storied association with resistance stories. Many of the classic JRPGs of the 1990s began with the premise that an evil empire or corporation was taking over the world (and probably awakening an ancient evil), and only you and your ragtag band of spiky-haired misfits could stop it. Final Fantasy 6's Returners and Final Fantasy 7's Avalanche were two of the most famous resistance groups of their era, but they weren't alone. The Suikoden games, The Secret Of Mana, Wild Arms, and Grandia all had the equivalent of evil empires of their own. It's not limited to that era and type: there are also modern JRPGs like Radiant Historia, as well as classic PC RPGs like Ultima 5, Ultima 7 and The Magic Candle 2.
Horrify enemies with hordes of angry spiders
I guess if there is one good way to take an enemy down, you can't really argue the fun of simply disgusting them to death. I hate spiders -- the spiders in Warcraft vary from fuzzy and vaguely non-threatening to full-out spindly-legged menaces that I keenly wish I could stomp underfoot without a second thought. So when I heard about this interesting toy hiding the in Krasarang Wilds, I had to decide whether it was really worth it to pick it up, or whether I should simply leave it be. But there's something to be said about suddenly having the ability to summon a horde of angry spiders on your enemies out of the blue. Sure, they're disgusting, they're creepy, they're crawly, and terrifying in the most primal of fashions, but the ability to unleash them on unsuspecting foes is pretty cool. So how do you go about getting a horde of angry baby spiders? By picking up an egg sac from their much angrier mother, of course. Ick!
Spider shows 3D printers what's what, sculpts giant replica of self
A likely new species of arachnid has been discovered with the astonishing ability to "print" an elaborate version of itself to scare away predators. Though other species in the Cyclosa genus make crude decoys, they pale next to the level of detail shown by the newfound spider, which even shakes its webs to make the faux-arthropod creations look more lively. Spotted in a Peru rainforest by biologist Phil Torres, the tiny artisan creates its icky oeuvres using old egg sacs, vegetation and insect carcases in lieu of PLA, crafting canny maxi-me versions complete with features like legs (count 'em in the scary example above). According to samples snapped by Torres at the source, it seems to show a level of self-awareness that might give you pause before your next squish. [Image credit: Phil Torres]
This Mars: War Logs trailer shoots lightning
This trailer for Mars: War Logs shows the struggles of Roy Temperance on the fourth planet from the sun, conveniently set to a cool song called "Feel the Sunshine." The Spiders-developed game is coming to PC, XBLA and PSN in Spring 2013.
The Perfect Ten: Stock fantasy enemies from lamest to coolest
One theory of MMOs is that they represent several parallel universes, each with similarities and differences. This may explain why so many of them claim to be boldly original and yet carry the same monster DNA that exists everywhere else. Today we're going to carefully unpack our ancient collector's edition of stock fantasy enemies. Blow off the dust and smell that nostaglia, mhmm. Sure, they've seen better days, but they're still good, right? Still solid. Still capable of entertaining us, even if we've slaughtered their kin a thousand times over. Let me show you my collection of 10 stock fantasy enemies that we encounter all the time in MMOs. Just for fun, I'm going to order them from lamest to coolest. I would be number 11, by the way.
Minecraft: Pocket Edition adds bows, skeletons and spiders
Let's just skip the "Is that a bone in your pocket?" joke we're all thinking and get straight to business: Minecraft: Pocket Edition has been updated and now includes skeletons, spiders and best of all, a bow to kill skeletons and spiders with. Skeletons and spiders are cool and atmospheric and everything, but they're even cooler when they can't murder you on account of being riddled with hundreds and hundreds of arrows. The update also fixes around 20 or so known glitches, including one called "burning world," which sounds rather inconvenient. Currently, only the iOS version of Minecraft has these updates listed, though we wouldn't figure that a similar update for the Android version would be far behind.
Leaderboard: Spider vs. pig
If you search the loftiest heights of fantasy, the dank dungeons of horror, the far-out locales of sci-fi, or the war-torn post-apocalyptic highways, chances are you'll stumble upon two creatures that are near-universal in MMOs. Whether you be swinging a sword or firing off compressed photonic bursts, chances are sooner or later you'll face off against a giant spider. And, later on, a giant pig. Pigs and spiders, spiders and pigs: MMO devs do love both equally. They're convenient fodder for heroes to use as training on their way up to slaying dragons, as nobody likes spiders and everyone likes ham and bacon. And while they almost never stand a chance against the never-ending player onslaught, what would happen if spider fought pig in-game? Who would emerge triumphant and who would slink back to its trough/web in shame? Take some time to weigh the pros and cons of each contestant, and let us know which you think would win in a one-on-one scuffle! (And for those of you out there itching to make a spider-pig reference in the comments, I'm preempting you. Booyah.)
