Daily Archives: January 7, 2020

The wonderful thing about pairing Iron Man with PS VR is how the two complement one another; it's the ideal match of license and technology. As we chat with the game's director, Ryan Payton, he's clear that perfecting the sense of flight came first. "The initial prototype came together extremely quickly thanks to the incredible work of Camouflaj engineer Troy Johnsen, and I think even he was blown away by how fun the game was after only a few days of work," reveals Payton. "Even in its early 'grey box' form, it was really fun to fly around using physics thrusters from the palms of your hands."

(Image credit: Future)

This feature first appeared in Official PlayStation Magazine. Get the latest in PlayStation on doorstep early and for a better price! Subscribe to OPM here.

Having played the game, we can say it is one of the best uses of virtual reality coming to Sony's headset. "From the beginning of development, we zeroed in on capturing the sense of freedom and power of flying as Iron Man, and it remains a core pillar of the game to this day," says Payton. Flight feels genuinely physical: you hold the PS Move controllers to your sides to propel yourself upwards in-game, then swivel them to change direction. Combat is a mix of firing locked-on missiles and more hands-on moves, such as the ground-pound and rocket punch that "enable raw, visceral hand-to-hand combat," in Payton's words.

The enemy AI has been designed to test your flying and shooting skills, and your foes behave like more than cannon fodder. But getting to this point when we can fly around sandbox maps as Iron Man has taken a long time it's a "culmination of years iterating on the model, materials, animations, VFX, SFX, and black magic engineering under the hood," says Payton.

The details are what makes the action feels so immersive. For example, the team spent over a year ensuring that we can see Iron Man's full arms in the game so we won't be drawn out of the experience by floating hands.

"Hold the PS Move controllers to your sides to fly upwards"

The smallest things really matter. Who'd have thought we all hold PS Move controllers in subtly different ways, and this affects how the game plays? Payton explains: "Every player grips the PlayStation Move controllers differently, similar to how everyone doesn't grip a pen in the same fashion. The player's signature handling of the PlayStation Move controllers has an impact on his or her ability to fly in their intended direction, so we implemented a few hopefully unnoticeable features under the hood that help smooth this all out. All credit goes to our engineers for creating some truly black magic tech that powers our controller tracking."

Control aside, Payton says telling a meaningful story within this game is as important as achieving that sense of flight. "We have put many years of work into the game's script, cinematic pipeline, and character-driven moments. We're all really proud of the game's campaign, which puts the player in the shoes of Tony Stark in an all-new story."

The game isn't just about Iron Man you see, it's also about Tony Stark. But delivering on the man behind the mask is more nuanced than offering us the power fantasy of Marvel's most famous suit of armour. Being the billionaire genius means spending time in his home: "We've built Tony's Malibu mansion and garage where the player can tinker and upgrade their Impulse Armour. Between missions, the player can return to the garage to select missions, among other things we're not ready to talk about just yet..." says Payton. We can't wait till they are.

This article first appeared inOPM. For more excellent features the one you've just read, don't forget to subscribe to atMyFavouriteMagazines.

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"We zeroed in on capturing the sense of freedom and power of flying": Becoming Marvel's most famous Avenger in Iron Man VR - GamesRadar

Ralph Vacchiano | Facebook | Twitter | Archive

Matt Rhule might have been the Jets coach last season if they had given him a little more freedom in choosing his own assistant coaches.

That doesn't figure to be an issue with the Giants.

The Giants' plan to give the 44-year-old Rhule plenty of leeway to assemble his staff, as they usually do with coaches they hire, according to a team source. There will be suggestions made and questions asked, of course, and the Giants want to be sure he has a staff with NFL experience.

But no one on either side expects that to be a stumbling block if the Giants, as expected, offer him their head coaching job.

In fact, it appears the two coaches believed to be Rhule's top choices for coordinators will both meet with the Giants' approval, an NFL source said. Rhule is expected to hire Lions quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan as his offensive coordinator wherever he goes, and it is believed he'll bring Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Snow along to coach the defense.

Ryan, 47, seems like a slam-dunk hire for the Giants, considering he was a well-regarded assistant on their staff from 2007-15 - including two years in the important role of quarterbacks coach (2012-13). Rhule reportedly wanted to bring Ryan with him if he had taken the Jets job a year ago, but then-Jets GM Mike Maccagnan objected.

The 64-year-old Snow has been Rhule's defensive coordinator since his days at Temple. And though he's mostly coached in the college ranks, he did spend four years as a Detroit Lions assistant from 2005-08. It's unclear if Rhule tried to bring Snow with him to the Jets, but according to a source the Jets had targeted Gregg Williams to be their defensive coordinator regardless of whom they hired as head coach.

The Giants don't operate that way, though. They have a long history of letting their head coach pick his own staff, though often with at least some input from above. The failure of Shurmur's staff could lead to more input than usual, of course. Shurmur's bosses were not happy with the entire defensive staff, a source said, which they felt did not develop their young players well. They also had issues with the game-day coaching of defensive coordinator James Bettcher and the performance of offensive line coach Hal Hunter.

Still, they are not expected to be heavy-handed at the start with whomever they hire. As long as they are convinced Rhule is hiring quality coaches and has NFL experience on his staff, the source said, they aren't likely to make any specific objections.

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Source: Matt Rhule expected to have freedom to pick assistants if hired as Giants head coach - SNY.tv

Just another humdrum Monday, right? You know, just a day where D.C. United is seriously linked with Luka Modric, and gets ever closer to signing Edison Flores, and rebuffs a bid for Russell Canouse, and maybe hits their ceiling in the attempt to lure Santos Laguna into signing off on a deal to get Brian Lozano here. Oh, and there are now two unnamed European players involved, and theres a stray Andy Najar rumor, a what could have been for the Washington Spirit, and a change in leadership with Loudoun United.

Yup, normal Monday.

D.C. United targeting Luka Modric | The AthleticLets get the biggest news out of the way: D.C. United has apparently had at least some level of talks with Luka Modric about leaving Real Madrid and coming to the District. Theres no unexpected actually he has a stake in a coffee shop twist here, either: were talking about the Golden Ball winner from the last World Cup possibly playing at Audi Field for the team that a lot of us can go see via a short drive or stint on public transit.

Theres a long way to go from talks to Dave Johnson calling his name on a broadcast, but this sounds like it could really happen in the near (probably not before the season kicks off, but still) future.

Sources: Russell Canouse eyeing a move abroad as D.C. United rejects bid from Dynamo Dresden | The AthleticPablo Maurer was busy yesterday. Here, hes got Russell Canouse on the record about the prospect of a move back to Germany, and details on Uniteds position with regard to the initial offer from Dynamo Dresden.

My purely circumstantial thought on this move: Its not gonna happen. East German clubs are generally really struggling financially, and Canouse is very valuable here. However, if some other German club on firmer financial footing came along...never say never. United is currently looking at a logjam in defensive midfield, and Felipes contract is on the books after being carried by Vancouver last year. Not rooting for a Canouse departure over here, but sometimes thats the business.

Speaking of the business, how about even more transfer rumors!

The huge deal for Edison Flores could apparently be confirmed any day now, while the move for Brian Lozano appears to have hit a pretty major (like, a few million bucks) snag. We could still see movement there, especially if Lozano decides to really agitate to force Santos to let him go, but it sounds like the gap between the clubs is going to be too much.

Dossier transfers in Jupiler Pro League Wintermercato 2020 | voetbalbelgie.beLook, I want us all to be excited about the prospect of Andy Najar coming back to United. I hope it happens. But, at this point, this new rumor consists entirely of this Belgian site listing Najar as a possible departure from Anderlecht, and then placing (DC United) next to his name. The Honduran media reports out there all refer back to this piece, which has nothing behind it at this point.

There are circumstantial reasons to think it makes sense, so be hopeful, but dont be too hopeful until theres some actual smoke to this fire.

More rumors? You know it!

There are major moves brewing in NWSL, including Portland probably trading big-name players to get the #1 pick in the draft (which is in just 9 days!). The Washington Spirits move for Mariana Larroquette is something that head coach Richie Burke has hinted at vaguely (namely, comparing the difficulty of trying to clinch a transfer from a South American club with the ease of their successful move for Kumi Yokoyama), but this is the first real confirmation that they were after Larroquette, who impressed this summer.

The Thorns are shaking up the NWSL Draft | Stumptown FootyGoing back a moment, heres a look at why the Thorns could be trading well-regarded players like Emily Sonnett and Midge Purce.

One last piece of local news, because yesterday was out of control:

Its unclear at this juncture what Loudoun United will do, but they will have to do something. Behnke was a regular presence at every Loudoun-related event, and spoke on the teams behalf at the press conference announcing that the Spirits schedule would include 4 games at Segra Field.

Thats it! I lied, this is almost entirely a local teams-related Freedom Kicks, because the local teams were having their busiest day in months in terms of major news. Its supposed to snow today, so if youre working in D.C., get the hell out of there before 3pm. Or, if youre like me and have Caps tickets...I guess good luck?

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Tuesday Freedom Kicks: D.C. United trying to sign Luka Modric, and more - Black And Red United

Iceland ranks 18th on the 2019 Human Freedom Index of the Fraser Institute - a respected Canadian think-tank.

The index covers 162 countries for 2017, the most recent year for which sufficient data are available. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom, the average human freedom rating for 162 countries in 2017 was 6.89, the report states.

At the top of the list with a score of 8.88 is New Zealand, followed by Switzerland, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Luxembourg (tied in 6th place), Finland and Germany (tied in 8th place), and Ireland. Icelands score in 18 th place is 8.41.

Out of 10 regions, the regions with the highest levels of freedom are North America (Canada and the United States), Western Europe, and East Asia, according to the report.

The findings suggest that freedom plays an important role in human well-being, and opportunities exist for further research into the ways in which freedom influences, and can be influenced by, political regimes, economic development, and the whole range of indicators of human well-being.

The index measures personal freedom as well as economic. Personal freedom is assessed based on different criteria, including freedom to travel, womens safety and freedom to get a divorce. Economic freedom is assessed, based on the free flow of funds and people, the ratio of property owned by the state, and how independent a countrys justice system is.

To read the full report, click here .

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Iceland 18th on Human Freedom Index - Iceland Monitor

The last day of our Freedom of the Seas cruise is here, and we started our final day with a very late sleep-in.

The night before, a bunch of RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers had our own Blackjack table at the casino, and we did very well for ourselves. Alas, I did not get to bed until the wee hours of the next morning, so since we had a sea day, sleeping in seemed like the perfect plan.

We woke up in time to kick off our day with lunch at Sabor. One of our RoyalCaribbeanBlog group cruise events today was renting out Sabor for just us to enjoy.

Everyone in attendance had a full range of food and drinks to enjoy, and starting off your day with some Sabor is a great plan!

After enjoying my last guacamole of the cruise, I was in need of coffee and grabbed an iced caramel macchiato from Cafe Promenade.

One of the people in our group (Hi Christine) brought a game called Moniker for us to play, and it was a lot of fun. It is a cross between charades and trivial pursuit, and it is a lot of fun.

I neglected taking a nap, and enjoyed some time around the ship leading to the afternoon. Our next event was to conduct a live recording of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast from the Star Lounge. I think it was a lot of fun!

Getting ready for dinner, I enjoyed one last sunset from the comfort of our balcony.

I tried something new this cruise, but placing a bet on an NFL game via the ship's casino. A friend is a big Bills fan, so he and I put some money down on the game and then watched it from the pool deck of the ship. Sadly, the Bills lost, along with my bet.

Dinner this evening was in Giovanni's Table, and it was arguably the best food I ate on the ship that was not from Sabor.

I had the eggplant parm and pasta side. It was fantastic, and I regret not being able to take leftovers back to Florida with me.

We rounded out our evening in the Pub and enjoying one last round of drinks with friends.

This was a fantastic sailing, and it seemed to go by so very quickly. I am grateful to all the RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers, podcast listeners, Periscope & Facebook friends that joined me on this sailing. Without them, it would not have been nearly as fun.

I hope you enjoyed following along with this live blog, and look forward to you returning for another live blog in less than two weeks on Brilliance of the Seas!

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Freedom of the Seas Live Blog - Day 7 - Sea Day - Royal Caribbean Blog

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT)-- A tough decision about an Omaha city park is moving forward after flooding threatened the historical artifacts.

Freedom Park is southwest of Eppley Airfield. It spent the majority of 2019 underwater and it was hit hard in the 2011 flood too.

There's a submarine, a minesweeper, and even a jet fighter at the park. The city wants to find a new home for these artifacts and other items, that's why it is looking into a study to see how to move everything.

T0 move something of that magnitude takes a lot of coordination with a lot of different partners, said Brook Bench with Parks and Recreation.

A WWII ship named the Hazard needs to be moved. It's the last minesweeper left in the United States. It's going to take a lot to move it.

If we did move that minesweeper it would be such a huge project, it's going to take time and I don't think we would be able to get it done before spring, said Bench.

On Tuesday the city council will be asked to hire a company that would do a mitigation study to see what it will entail moving these historical artifacts out of the flood plain, possibly to Levi Carter Park.

The city is also working with FEMA.

It's going to be a big-ticket item and we need to make sure its approved and help paid for, said Bench.

Cold temperatures won't speed up the process but you have to wonder, is there a potential for more flooding come spring?

It's a concern. It has been for the last few years, we will do what we can and as soon as we can, said Bench.

Bench cleanup still needs to be done at the park and moving out of Freedom Park is the best option they have right now.

The trend since 2011 has been the park seems it's been closed more than it's been open, said Bench.

Np Dodge Park has also remained closed since the spring flood. The city says it's still considering options for the future of that park as well.

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Freedom Park to possibly be moved to preserve WWII artifacts - WOWT

Jim Gavin to be honoured with Freedom of the City next week after leading Dublin to famous five-in-a-row

Independent.ie

Former Dublin manager Jim Gavin will be honoured with the Freedom of the City next week for leading the Boys in Blue to an All-Ireland five-in-a-row.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/jim-gavin-to-be-honoured-with-freedom-of-the-city-next-week-after-leading-dublin-to-famous-five-in-a-row-38841743.html

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Former Dublin manager Jim Gavin will be honoured with the Freedom of the City next week for leading the Boys in Blue to an All-Ireland five-in-a-row.

Dublin Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe revealed that the 48-year-old GAA boss will receive the illustrious title on Saturday, January 18 in the Round Room of The Mansion House.

The ceremony is expected to be a monumental affair with members of the Dublin panel expected to be in attendance to show their support.

The award of the Freedom of the City of Dublin acknowledges the contribution of recipients to the life of Irelands capital city. It also bestows honour on important visitors to Dublin.

Jim Gavin will join an illustrious list of Freemen and Freewomen including former US presidents John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and former Dublin Football Manager Kevin Heffernan.

Fr Joseph Mallin SJ was the last person to be conferred with the Freedom of the City in 2016.

Former Lord Mayor Cllr Nial Ring told Independent.ie that he cant think of anyone more deserving of the honour than Mr Gavin.

"I always said that if the Dubs won the All-Ireland five times in a row then Jim should get the freedom of the city," he said.

"I cant think of anyone more deserving because what hes done for Dublin is both unique and extremely special. Ill of course be at the Mansion House to cheer him on."

Amongst the ancient privileges afforded to a Freeman or Freewoman is the right to bring goods into Dublin through the city gates, without paying customs duties; the right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries; and the right to vote in municipal and parliamentary elections.

Dublin Lord Major Paul McAuliffe said earlier this year that Gavin was both "reluctant and honoured" with the nomination as he wanted to share the title with the entire team.

"I know Jim is a modest man and even after all hes given, Im asking him to take one for the team," he said at the time.

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Jim Gavin to be honoured with Freedom of the City next week after leading Dublin to famous five-in-a-row - Independent.ie

More than half of respondents to an online poll conducted by a Zurich-based media company, Tamedia, said they are against a referendum drive by the far right to stop the free movement of citizens from the European Union.

The Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) has launched a campaignto end the uncontrolled and disproportionate immigration from the EU, a proposal that will be voted on in a nationwide referendum on May 17th.

But Tamedias survey of about 11,000 people across Switzerland found that 58 percent of respondents were against SVPs idea, 35 percent approved it, and 7 percent had no opinion.

Claiming that foreigners take jobs away from the Swiss, the SVP wants to nullify the free-movement accord, which guarantees the right of EU and EFTA (Norway and Iceland) nationals to work and live in Switzerland freely.

READ MORE:Record number of foreign workers commute to Switzerland from abroad

But the government argues that workers from the EU/EFTA member states are needed by the Swiss labour market and do not threaten Swiss jobs.

The free-movement accord is one of over 100 bilateral agreements that the Swiss signed with Brussels; this and other treaties allow Switzerland to access EUs single market a crucial outlet for the export-reliant Swiss economy.

More than 30,000 EU/EFTA nationals moved to Switzerland in 2018 half the record number of 60,957who came in previous years.

And over 325,000 cross-border workers from Germany, Italy, and France commute to Switzerland each day.

One of Switzerlands major parties with over 30 percent of seats in the parliament, the SVP has long campaigned to curb the influx of immigrants; it also opposes closer ties between Switzerland and the EU.

Tensions between the Bern and the Brussels date back to 2014 when Swiss votersbacked another SVP-powered referendum the against mass immigration' initiative which aimed to impose limits on immigration from EU countries and therefore protect the rights, and high incomes, of Swiss workers.

Aware that implementing the measures restricting EU freedom of movement contained in the referendum text could seriously threaten Swiss access to the European Common Market, the Swiss parliament finally approved a watered-down version of the initiative.

This involved imposing new rules on unemployment which should limit the impact of foreign workers on the domestic job market.

But the parliaments decision to pass a lite version of the mass immigration initiative angered the SVP while it failed to fully satisfy Brussels over the issue of access of EU workers to the Swiss job market.

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How do the Swiss feel about freedom of movement with the EU? - The Local Switzerland

In a case testing free speech restrictions, the state Court of Appeals recently reversed the convictions of a man accused of trying to intimidate two city of Oak Harbor employees in 2017.

The ruling was filed Dec. 30 as a published opinion, which means it established precedent and can be cited in the future.

A jury in Island County Superior Court found Jeremy Dawley guilty of two counts of intimidating a public servant, but the appeals court ruled the statute is constitutionally overbroad because it restricts a substantial amount of free speech. The justices noted that a law that restricts free speech is subject to strict scrutiny and must be narrowly tailored to serve compelling interests of the government.

No matter the motive behind an individuals attempt to influence a public servants vote, opinion, decision or other official action as a public servant, the opinion states, such pure political speech is at the core of the First Amendment and necessarily subject to heightened protection.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington filed an amicus brief in support of Dawley, arguing that the statute for intimidating a public servant criminalizes political speech.

Criticism of public officials is a fundamental exercise of political speech rights protected by the First Amendment and by the Washington Constitution, the brief states.

Dawley, who had been discharged from the Navy after suffering a brain injury, had a history of being antagonistic toward police officers and acting strangely. He was preoccupied with traffic complaints, making 144 calls to the emergency dispatch center in a three-week period, and became upset when officers practiced discretion in enforcement.

In rambling conversations with police officers and the city attorney, Dawley made comments about using Green Beret tactics and owning a sniper rifle. He told the police chief he would give out the Oak Harbor city attorneys personal information to rapists and violent offenders.

Dawley was then arrested after he made public records requests for information about sexual and violent offenders, then went to the city attorneys office.

In arguments at the appeals court, Chief Criminal Deputy Eric Ohme with the Island County Prosecutors Office conceded that Dawley did not make a true threat, which is one of the few categories of speech not protected by the First Amendment. State law has 10 definitions for what constitutes a threat, but a true threat is about violence; its a statement meant to frighten or intimidate someone into believing they will be seriously harmed.

Ohme argued that the statute was constitutional because it doesnt criminalize pure speech, but that it contains two requirements that must be met for convictions, namely a threat and the intent to influence a government employees action.

In addition, he argued that the phone calls made to city staff should be considered private speech, which is subject to less constitutional scrutiny than speech in the public domain, that the law affects only a narrow class of people and the government has a compelling interest in limiting speech meant to intimidate public employees.

In the opinion, the justices found that the intimidating a public servant statute can be saved with a jury instruction that limits it to true threats alone.

The appeals court decision means Dawleys conviction is overturned, though he has already served a jail sentence and moved to Eastern Washington. Court records indicate that he has been arrested this year in two felony cases. In one case, he faces charges that include second-degree assault, assault of a law enforcement officer and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle; the other involves malicious mischief charges.

A judge ordered that Dawley receive a competency evaluation from a mental health provider, court documents indicate.

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Appeals Court reverses conviction in freedom of speech case - Whidbey News-Times

There is a blindingly obvious strategy behind Boris Johnsons approach to Brexit since becoming prime minister rally Leave voters to back his plans no matter what or risk democracy falling apart at the seams.

This was achieved in two ways. Firstly, having failed to obtain parliamentary approval for his reheated version of Theresa Mays withdrawal agreement, he (successfully) pitted people against parliament by asserting that the House of Commons was effectively thwarting the will of the people. Johnsons catchy if wholly misleading election slogan, Get Brexit done, resonated with swathes of a weary population and returned him to Number 10 with a majority and an unshackled negotiating hand.

Johnson revealed the latest gambit in his game plan during his New Years message. In exhorting Leavers and Remainers to shed the past, come together behind Brexit and be friends, he was knowingly asking for the impossible, conveniently positioning himself as the enthusiastic peacemaker in the face of implacable, uncompromising Remain fanatics. His followers will undoubtedly lap this up but the reality is this: Remainers are unable to rally behind the prime minister and his pet project because frankly, they have been offered nothing in return.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The 2016 referendum was unusual in many ways, but one outcome stands out as particularly pernicious, especially from the perspective of Remainers. As things stand, UK citizens are set to lose their right to free movement the ability to live, work, study and retire across the European Union and wider EEA.

Many will bristle at the memory of several high-profile Brexiteers reassuring the public prior to June 2016 that the UKs place in the single market (and therefore freedom of movement) was not in question. Even more will seethe at the fact that in the years since, the government has needlessly and recklessly pursued a harder version of Brexit on the basis of a knife-edge referendum result, the legitimacy of which remains questionable in the eyes of many.

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This is precisely why, with the Final Say vote campaigneffectively deadheaded by the outcome of Decembers general election, it is absolutely vital that the frontline of the battle moves to the fight to retain freedom of movement a right many Brits have known since birth. A potential conduit to this would be associate EU citizenship, a concept mooted early in the negotiations by Guy Verhofstadt. This mechanism would allow Brits to opt-in to a form of EU citizenship, presumably at a price.

There is precedent for such a proposition. In the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, no voters were reassured that in the event of a yes victory, their status as British citizens would ideally be safeguarded. There was a recognition that identity is innate and cannot, should not and must not be relinquished at the behest of others who may feel differently. The notion of inherent identity also lies at the heart of the arrangements in place in Northern Ireland, where inhabitants can obtain both a British and Irish passport, depending on their personal inclinations.

With almost one million Brits having applied for Irish passports since the referendum and millions of others desperately looking for potential avenues to retain their precious EU citizenship, the UK is poised to become host to a two-tier system. In this structure, those with one Irish grandparent, for example, will continue to reap the rewards of free movement, while those without are left wanting, regardless of how they voted in 2016 or their level of affinity with our neighbours. The status quo on this matter is unjust and unsustainable.

This fundamental facet of the whole Brexit debate has been largely drowned out by demands for a Final Say vote. With 11 months to go before Johnsons arbitrary deadline for the end of the transition period, the inequality and injustice of the situation we face must be highlighted ad nauseam and preferably tested in law.

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Remainers have thus far been presented with little to dissuade them of the conviction that Brexit is both undesirable and unnecessary. Despite this, the reality is that a combination of Brexit fatigue and an indefatigably Euro sceptic media landscape make our exit from the EU top table certain. The context has changed and so must the focus of Remainers. They must now regather and re-energise for a relentless campaign of lobbying and awareness raising if they are to stand a chance of preserving what they hold most dear.

If Boris Johnson is sincere in his stated wish to try to heal wounds and end the division that has become so deep-rooted, he should look to associate EU citizenship as the olive branch he needs to extend to those of us for whom Brexit transcends economic or political debate.

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Freedom of movement is now the most important fight in the Brexit battleground - The Independent