Daily Archives: October 24, 2021

Between 2.5 and 4 billion years ago, a time known as the Archean eon, Earths weather could often be described as cloudy with a chance of asteroid.

Back then, it was not uncommon for asteroids or comets to hit Earth. In fact, the largest ones, more than six miles wide, altered the chemistry of the planets earliest atmosphere. While this has all been generally accepted by the geologists, what hasnt been as well understood is how often these large asteroids would hit and how exactly the fallout from the impacts affected the atmosphere, specifically oxygen levels. A team of researchers now believe they have some of the answers.

In a new study, Nadja Drabon, a Harvard assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences, was part of a team that analyzed remnants of ancient asteroids and modeled the effects of their collisions to show that the strikes took placemore often than previously thought and may have delayed when oxygen started accumulating on the planet. The new models can help scientists understand more precisely when the planet started its path toward becoming the Earth we know today.

Free oxygen in the atmosphere is critical for any living being that uses respiration to produce energy, Drabon said. Without the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere we would probably not exist.

The work is described in Nature Geoscience and was led by Simone Marchi, a senior research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

The researchers found existing planetary bombardment models underestimate how frequently asteroids and comets would hit Earth. The new, higher collision rate suggest impactors hit the planet roughly every 15 million years, about 10 times higher than current models.

The scientists realized this after analyzing records of what appear to be ordinary bits of rock. They are actually ancient evidence, known as impact spherules, that formed in the fiery collisions each time large asteroids or comets struck the planet. The energy from each impact melted and vaporized the rocky materials in the Earths crust, shooting them up in a giant plume. Small droplets of molten rock in that cloud would then condense and solidify, falling back to Earth as sand-sized particles that would settle back onto the Earths crust. These ancient markers are hard to find since they form layers in the rock that are usually only about an inch or so.

You basically just go on long hikes and you look at all the rocks you can find because the impact particles are so tiny, Drabon said. Theyre really easily missed.

Scientists, however, have caught breaks. Over the last couple of years, evidence for a number of additional impacts have been found that hadnt been recognized before, Drabon said.

These new spherule layers increased the total number of known impact events during the early Earth. This allowed the Southwest Research Institute team to update their bombardment models to find the collision rate had been underestimated.

Researchers then modeled how all these impacts would have influenced the atmosphere. They essentially found that the accumulated effects of meteorite impacts by objects larger than six miles probably created an oxygen sink that sucked most of the oxygen out of the atmosphere.

The findings align with the geological record, which shows that oxygen levels in the atmosphere varied but stayed relatively low in the early Archean eon. This was the case until around 2.4 billion years ago, during the tail end of the time period when the bombardment slowed down. The Earth then went through a major shift in surface chemistry triggered by the rise of oxygen levels known as the Great Oxidation Event.

As time went on, collisions become progressively less frequent and too small to be able to significantly alter post-GOE oxygen levels, Marchi said in a statement. The Earth was on its course to become the current planet.

Drabon said next steps in the project include putting their modeling work to the test to see what they can model in the rocks themselves.

Can we actually trace in the rock record how the oxygen was sucked out of the atmosphere? Drabon wondered.

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Asteroid, comet strikes stunted evolution of atmosphere - Harvard Gazette

Appearing at the recent DC FanDome event, The Batman star Zo Kravitz and director Matt Reeves have teased the evolution of the infamous villain-slash-accomplice-slash-love interest, Catwoman. Much like the Dark Knight himself, the noirish comic book movie outing will introduce an early-years version of the crusading cat burglar, building a foundation for the character before slowly allowing her to become a more familiar iteration.

"I obviously understand the gravity of a character like this and what she means to so many people," Zo Kravitz said during DC FanDome last weekend. "But what felt really important was to really focus on the story that we're telling in this moment, you know, and try and create a real human being. I don't want her to be an idea. You know, I want her to be a real human being in a real situation, in a real city, trying to survive and reacting to her own pain, and her history. So I really, really focused on this particular story in this particular moment in this woman's life."

Kravitz will star in The Batman as Selina Kyle, the alter ego of Catwoman, a nightclub worker and cat burglar who comes into contact with the Caped Crusader while searching for her missing friend. It was important for Kravitz to craft a three-dimensional character for herself, and thus avoid simply portraying an icon or coasting on the ideas created by past portrayals. Something which will certainly make the character more endearing as she evolves into the Catwoman we all know and love (and sometimes hate).

"Because this is the foundation that we're setting right now, right?" Kravitz continued. "As we move forward and see her become Catwoman, that heart and that humanity will always be there."

Giving Selina Kyle her own story outside of Batman was equally as important to director Matt Reeves who added, "I think it was about trying to find a way... to ground her so that she felt like she had an emotional journey that made sense for who she was that ended up being Selina Kyle, but was one that we hadn't seen before. And yet, in some ways, it does connect to the comics. I mean, that's the thing which would be fun to share with an audience is that there are very there are a lot of iconic Selina Kyle aspects to the story, but I don't think any version of any of the Batman stories that have done any Selina stuff have done it in this way."

Directed by War for the Planet of the Apes' Matt Reeves, who has written the screenplay alongside Peter Craig, The Batman will reboot the DC franchise, introducing audiences to the titular superhero in his second year of fighting crime. Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City that connects to his own family while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler.

The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne AKA Batman, alongside Zo Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot, also known as The Penguin. These comments were made during the recent DC FanDome event.

Topics: The Batman, Catwoman

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The Batman Star and Director Tease the Evolution of Catwoman - MovieWeb

Each year, Herms sets a creative theme for its design studios, with the aim of sparking conversation and providing some unified direction among its myriad propositions, ranging from entry-level scarves to high-end handbags and custom yacht upholstery for the happy few. This years theme, the Odyssey, is about confronting the worlds uncertainties without losing our identity, chief executive Axel Dumas said in a July presentation.

Its an apt metaphor for the French brand to adopt as it navigates the post-Covid fashion market: On the one hand, Herms ultra-classic, stable positioning at the top of luxurys pyramid has made it one the sectors largest and most resilient players, with sales bouncing back quickly from coronavirus lows as consumers flocked to its range of timeless, status-conveying items. On the other hand, despite its aura of staid permanence, Herms recent statements suggest a faster pace of change at the company, including adding new product categories and ramping up initiatives linked to sustainability, technology and omni-channel retail to meet the demands of the market.

Sales in the first nine months of this year rose 60 percent year-over-year, and by 43 percent compared to 2019s pre-pandemic levels, Herms said Thursday. With full-year sales expected by analysts to exceed 9 billion ($10.5 billion), the house is in striking distance of reclaiming its title as luxurys third-biggest brand (behind Louis Vuitton and Chanel) from Gucci, which surpassed Herms in 2017 but has rebounded more slowly from the pandemic.

The 2021 numbers look as if the pandemic never happened, or even a bit better, Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said. The brand remains in a league of their own, according to Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet.

That Herms has come out ahead of the pack following the coronavirus crisis is no surprise: The brand has long been luxurys most defensive player, insulated from market shocks by a deep well of client demand that exceeds supply for its prized Birkin and Kelly bags, despite the company ramping up production by opening new manufacturing sites each year. (The bags have an outsized financial impact for Herms as fans of the brand are known to court salespeople by loading up on other items and tend to jump at any chance to finally acquire one of the bags crisis or not.)

Whats perhaps more noteworthy is how much the brand is foregrounding new initiatives and innovations, challenging its reputation for playing it safe.

Tradition and experimentation

Herms is moving forward with the rollout of its nascent beauty unit, which debuted last year with a line of lipsticks packaged in eye-catching striped enamel tubes. The new division has since added the brands first-ever makeup, a range of $77 blushes announced with an influencer marketing campaign that triggered unboxing videos galore. (The campaign was a rare move for Herms, which has typically avoided the practice of gifting products to influencers.) The new division launched in July in China and is now rolling out a line of nail polishes and hand creams ahead of the holiday season.

The companys Perfume and Beauty unit still makes up less than 5 percent of sales. But beyond its financial impact, the division is giving the brand new topics to drive the marketing conversation and a chance to play at a lower price point than ever before ($200 neckties and $450 scarves had previously been the groups entry-level items par excellence).

While the brand doesnt sign endorsement deals with celebrities, recent efforts to push into the spotlight have paid off on the red carpet as well. The brand managed for the first time in recent memory to cozy up to a star and dress her for the Oscars, outfitting director Chlo Zhao in an Herms gown as she won both Best Picture and Best Director for Nomadland.

And while other brands have dipped in and out of the wearable tech space with one-off partnerships that often felt forced, Herms pursued the category further this year by launching new items with Apple, building on a partnership that goes back to the launch of the first Apple Watch in 2014. It designed leather cases for the California tech giants new line of AirTag geo-trackers, as well as revamping the design of its popular Apple Watch wristbands to fit a new-generation model being launched this month.

When Herms does something they usually dont try to make a splash. They dont come out and say: Were preparing for the next wave of young clients. But they are making changes, Zuzanna Pusz, luxury analyst at UBS, said.

The brand is also spotlighting efforts related to sustainability, a subject where it typically tries to fly under the radar: In March, the brand for which prestigious leather goods make up half the business became the first major luxury name to experiment with mushroom-derived leather substitutes when it used a material called mycelium on a special edition of its Victoria duffle. And in September it opened the first dedicated store for its Petit h line of upcycled leather items made from remnant materials.

In its quarterly results presentations this year, the brand has started adding a list of favourable designations in various sustainability and corporate responsibility rankings. Its a sign theyve understood investors care about this, Bernsteins Solca said.

Influencer marketing campaigns, red-carpet celebrity placements and touting sustainability wins might all sound like par for the course for a top luxury brand. But the moves each represent a shift for tradition-steeped Herms.

Chloe Zhao poses in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, April 25, wearing Herms. Getty.

Further evolution could be on its way.

While the brand doesnt seem close to giving up controversial exotic skins, like Chanel, in a meeting with analysts Thursday the brands management said it was limiting production of items like top-priced crocodile-skin Kelly bags as it worked to increase its control of the supply chain for those materials down to the farm, citing ethical factors as well as a desire to boost quality.

The brand has also said it wants to update its approach to e-commerce. Herms regional e-commerce sites have always been managed as their own stores, managing their own stocks independent of brick-and-mortar boutiques (and with little access to sought-after bags). The gap between the e-commerce and physical store assortment means younger shoppers cant effectively indulge their proclivity to inform themselves about products and prices online before visiting stores. Now, CEO Axel Dumas is considering a more integrated approach. Its very important to think in terms of omni-channel and let clients decide where they want to buy, he said.

Related Articles:

Hermes New Bet on Mushroom Leather

The Humanity of Herms

Herms Shrugs off China Slowdown, Sales Beat Forecasts

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Tracking the Evolution of Herms - The Business of Fashion

On June 25, Tyler, the Creator released his sixth studio album, "Call Me If You Get Lost."

The album, his first since 2019's "Igor," is an amalgamation of his experiences and life lessons, touching on themes such as success, unrequited love and identity (links to albums contain explicit lyrics).

There are songs like "Lemonhead," where Tyler is braggadocious and ruminating about his material wealth, and songs like "M-ss-" and "Runitup," which simultaneously sift through his own childhood memories and the summer uprisings of 2020. More personally driven songs like "Wilshire" explore his romantic shortcomings and display Tyler at his best, where listeners hear his succinct, powerful storytelling and his growth from the early, controversial days of his career.

In a world that represses Black men, Tyler's work, while controversial, has served as a stubborn rejection against the white status quo. Zoomers, specifically black zoomers, admire his work because he routinely broadcasts different, complicated, yet authentic parts of himself. As a Black zoomer, particularly as a Black Catholic zoomer, his work feels refreshing.

Born in 1991 in Ladera Heights, California, Tyler formed the infamous millennial rap collective, Odd Future, at 16 years old, which brought something unique to rap and more broadly, contemporary pop culture. Tyler and other musicians like Frank Ocean, Hodgy Beats, Left Brain and Casey Veggies, who were all either teenagers or young adults at the time, created their own sound and style, combining indie, hip-hop and skater culture.

Though there were some critics and cultural gatekeepers who were impressed by the journey Odd Future was embarking on, especially on work like "The OF Tape Vol. 2 '' and "12 Odd Future Songs," others were confused and shocked by Odd Future's unorthodoxy. Along with their embrace of various subcultures, these teenagers adopted some rather preposterous methods at gaining attention. Sometimes they would ingest cockroaches, other times they would carelessly blurt out homphobic slurs.

In his solo work, Tyler adopted, and amplified, the horrorcore a subgenre within hip-hop music Odd Future became known for.

His first studio album, "Goblin," was released two years after his 2009 mixtape, "Bastard," and contains many of the elements found in horror rap: violence, homophobia, suicidal ideation and psychological horror. At times, the 15 tracks feel like a gory journey one just wants to end. On "Yonkers," Tyler opens with the line, "I'm a f---ing walking paradox," before verses touching on sex, dinosaurs, Jesus and suicide. On "She," the fourth track filled with '80s synths, chunky drums and Frank Ocean's heart-wrecking voice, Tyler narrates the inner monologue of his alter ego while committing femicide.

The album, and Tyler's work more broadly, has been criticized for its misogyny and sadism. When publicly addressing the critiques, Tyler would often mention how these weren't his thoughts. Rather he was writing through the perspective of an enigmatic alter ego. However, the whole point of pristine and emphatic storytelling is to masterfully convey the point in question and on "Goblin," the plotlines were always murky.

While "Goblin" was never a display of ardent and skillful narration, Tyler slowly evolved as a rapper, from an abrasive lyricist to a dynamic chronicler.

On 2013's "Wolf," he showcases his lyricism and art outside of the bloody, violent scenarios he described in his earlier work, especially on songs like "Tamale," which was a record so distinctly Californian, showcasing the undeniable effect of Latinx culture around Los Angeles. Although Tyler's third studio album, "Cherry Bomb," was a bit bloated and lagged and demonstrated his early musical tendencies, like those seen on "Goblin," it was filled with an appreciable amount of glimmers, foreshadowing the musical heights Tyler would reach in the coming years on projects like "Flower Boy" (2017) and "Igor" (2019).

Both albums show him transform melodically, and he becomes more mature. Earlier on in his career, Tyler framed his homophobic outbursts as harmless jokes. But underneath the radar, this homophobic rhetoric was a way of shielding himself from his own truth regarding his sexuality. Once he was able to be more upfront about his queer identity in "Flower Boy," his music felt less stifled. The artist blossomed and grew into something magical, transporting listeners while challenging us to more fully center and understand the nuances of Black, queer identity.

As a Black Catholic teenager, seeing a Black man who is in the alternative space has affirmed my identity in such an important way. His music has helped me to think more deeply about redemption and what it means to shed toxic masculinity.

Tyler's artistic and personal evolution shows young people like me that we can be different while retaining our blackness. And while Tyler, the Creator is an atheist/agnostic, I see how God moves through the rapper's work and evolution.

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'Call Me If You Get Lost' and the evolution of Tyler, the Creator - National Catholic Reporter

Photo: Peter Brandt/Getty Images

These are the stories making headlines in fashion on Friday.

Tracking the evolution of HermsHerms is undergoing something of a transformation as it navigates the current state of retail. "On the one hand, Herms' ultra-classic, stable positioning at the top of luxury's pyramid has made it one of the sector's largest and most resilient players, with sales bouncing back quickly from coronavirus lows as consumers flocked to its range of timeless, status-conveying items," writes Robert Williams for Business of Fashion. "On the other hand... Herms' recent statements suggest a faster pace of change at the company, including adding new product categories and ramping up initiatives linked to sustainability, technology and omni-channel retail to meet the demands of the market." {Business of Fashion}

Founders Studio wants to support Black-owned beauty and wellness brandsMarketing agency BrainTrust is introducing Founders Studio, a branch of the company to "facilitate access for Black founders of beauty and wellness brands to the resources they need to strengthen their businesses," writes Beauty Independent's Rachel Brown. Founders Studio has already racked up an impressive group of corporate partners, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Salesforce, Afterpay, Clearco and SHE Media. {Beauty Independent}

The FTC may be cracking down on MLMsMulti-level marketing companies like LuLaRoe have been exempt from the FTC's "business opportunity rule" which establishes a set of requirements for people trying to get others involved in a business opportunity for the last decade. But that could be changing, reports Emily Stewart for Vox: "The FTC announced in June that it would review the business opportunity rule as part of a revised 10-year review schedule and there is hope that, this time around, MLMs might be roped in."{Vox}

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Must Read: The Evolution of Herms, A New Resource for Black-Owned Beauty and Wellness Brands - Fashionista

While orbiting south of the runway in preparation for landing, both the unmanned aircrafts engines shut down unexpectedly. The External Pilot on the ground, who was visual with the aircraft, took control and landed it without further incident.

The dual-engine shutdown was likely to have been caused by an on-aircraft data error. Various safety actions, including improvements to the aircrafts hardware and software, and the Ground Control Station software, have been taken to reduce the risk of a reoccurrence.

History of the flight

The unmanned aircraft, G-TEKV, was returning to Lydd Airport from a flight over the English Channel. Flight operations were conducted from a Ground Control Station (GCS) where the crew control the aircraft from takeoff to landing and operate the payload to fulfil the mission objectives. The GCS contained two stations, the flight GCS (fGCS) and the mission GCS (mGCS). The fGCS focused on all aspects of the control of the aircraft platform, whereas the mGCS focused on the mission goals and operation of the payload.

The GCS was manned by the Mission Commander (MC), the oncoming Internal Pilot (IP), the off-going IP, and the Payload Operator (PO). An External Pilot (EP)1and a Maintenance Technician (MT) were positioned at the side of the runway abeam the intended touchdown position for the aircraft and both could communicate with the IP through airband radios.

While the aircraft was orbiting off the coast prior to transiting back to the airfield, the two IPs conducted a handover; the off-going IP remained to act as a second pilot to assist with the conduct of the remainder of the flight. Meanwhile the EP advised that the wind favoured a landing on Runway 03 with a light crosswind.

The aircraft transited towards the airfield at 700 ft amsl to remain clear of the cloud and icing. On reaching Echo Point, overhead the airfield (Figure 1), the aircraft entered an orbit while the IP, assisted by the off-going IP, proceeded to load the mission waypoints for a landing on Runway 03.

Meanwhile, the EP reported to the GCS that he could hear the aircraft but was not visual with it. The MC instructed the IP to descend the aircraft to 600 ftat which point the EP confirmed that the aircraft was visual and clear of cloud.With the aircraft established at 600 ft in the orbit at Echo Point and the mission points uploaded, the IP informed the EP that the aircraft was set up for the landing. The EP acknowledged and the IP switched the aircraft to route mode2 to proceed with the approach and landing on Runway 03. After the aircraft completed two more orbits, the crew in the GCS noticed that it did not appear to leave the orbit at the expected point to establish itself downwind.

As the aircraft flew the final orbit, the EP outside was expecting the call downwind from the GCS team. He noticed the aircraft level its wings, as expected when departing the orbit, but observed the nose drop more than normal. At this point the EP became aware that he was not able to hear the aircrafts engines. He operated the throttles and confirmed that there was no engine response. The EP switched to fly-by-wire (FBW)3 mode, took control of the aircraft, confirmed control response, and instructed the MT to inform the GCS about the complete loss of engine power.

While this was happening, the flight team in the GCS was first alerted that something was amiss when they observed the aircraft fly on a westerly heading towards the runway and not along the expected track to establish itself downwind parallel to the runway.

None of the team reported seeing or hearing any alarms or warnings. The MC noticed that the height of the aircraft appeared low, and the off-going IP then noticed that the displayed parameters for both engines indicated zero rpm.

The MC, unaware that the EP had already taken control of the aircraft, gave instructions to the IP to advise the EP to do so and went outside the GCS to observe the aircraft. The MT advised the IP that the EP had already taken control and so, from that point on, the IP provided speed information to the EP until the aircraft had landed.

The EP assessed the conditions and positioned the aircraft on final approach; it landed without further incident.

June 2020 event

This event followed a related one that occurred in June 2020 where, during an integration ground test of equipment onto a new AR5 aircraft at the manufacturing and development site in Portugal, both engines shut down, uncommanded by either the GCS or the EP.

Full report here

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AAIB investigation to Tekever AR5 Evolution Mk 2, G-TEKV - sUAS News

Compared to the pioneering days of networking, todays publisher-wide WLAN and Gigabit Ethernet networks are almost boring: Thanks to the full-time care of our admin colleagues, both work just as smoothly as the gigabit fiber optic connection to the Internet, via which all of our companys media c t, heise online, iX, Mac & I, Technology Review, Make and whatever they are called find their way into the public eye.

It was already clear in 1983, in the year the ct was founded, that a network infrastructure had to be set up. However, the term was not even thought of by the professional admin at the time. The first three editorial colleagues, editor-in-chief Christian Persson, his deputy Detlef Grell and first editor Andreas Stiller, had to design the network in parallel to the editorial work and also set it up themselves.

A shared printer was needed to print out and proofread manuscripts, and file sharing was needed to get contributions from the MS-DOS platform of the time to Macs. On the Macs, the DTP department created the printing documents with the Quark XPress layout software. It quickly became clear that printer and file sharing services would speed up work considerably.

Thought and done. This is how the first network specification, called the Turnschuhnetz, came about: the editorial teams only printer was enthroned on a mobile pedestal in the form of a tea trolley that rolled from desk to desk as required. The manuscript files were written on floppy disks and the several meters distance between the editorial office and the DTP was overcome using sneakers. On the Macs, a converter program grabbed the manuscripts and converted the DOS umlauts, quotations and line breaks to their Mac counterparts.

The floppy disks used initially had a capacity of 360 kilobytes and the maximum transfer speed of the sneaker network was around 6 kbytes per second. However, the editors hardly ever exhausted the capacity, the manuscripts often only took up a few kBytes on the floppy disk. Experts estimate the effective transmission speed to be around 0.05 kByte / s. That didnt change later when the capacity of the floppy disks doubled.

The replacement of the sneaker network was indicated when the first editors with Mac specialization joined the growing editorial team at the end of the 1980s due to lack of space, the Macies moved into an adjoining room in the eastern part of the building and self-deprecatingly founded an AppleTalk segment called the Ostzone.

This first editorial network demanded as much respect as it demanded ridicule: AppleTalk was as slow as a snail with at most 230.4 kBit / s. The first generations of ARCNET or Ethernet networks already reached the megabit level. ARCnet achieved a maximum of 2.5 Mbit / s, Ethernet up to 10 Mbit / s.

At the beginning of the era of local area networks, the word compatibility must have been missing in the guidelines of Apple and Microsoft developers, at least Macs could not talk to PCs by default. This required expensive additional software such as DAVE for MacOS.

But every Mac came with most of the networking hardware out of the box. For actual networking, you only needed an adapter box, which Apple offered in the USA for just 50 US dollars around 90 euros today, adjusted for inflation. For other network technology you had to shell out a multiple of it. An AppleTalk segment could be up to 300 meters long and connect up to 32 nodes (Macs and printers). And even back then Apple showed with AppleTalk what the company wanted in terms of user comfort: An AppleTalk network required maintenance in the blink of an eye. It was enough to plug the network cable into a free adapter socket. The Mac automatically received an address and was ready to transfer data.

However, Apples pretty idea was not of practical importance for the editorial team. The sneaker network was only replaced at the end of 1992 by 10Base2, one of the first Ethernet generations.

Disclaimer: This article is generated from the feed and not edited by our team.

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The evolution of local networks: This is how the c't editors networked - Market Research Telecast

We Were Here Forever has just been given a release window of Q2 2022, along with more information about the series' return to Castle Rock in this fourth instalment. Total Mayhem Games' co-founder and managing director, Lucia de Visser, and producer, Geoff van den Ouden, took the time to answer some of our burning questions about the mystery-filled co-op puzzle games inspiration, achievements, walkie-talkies, and more await...The first game in the series, We Were Here, initially launched onto PC in 2017, followed by We Were Here Too in 2018. In September 2019, Total Mayhem Games decided it was time to bring We Were Here to the Xbox platform. "We Were Here is a unique game series and practically a genre on its own. We really loved bringing the series to Xbox, but we also knew that because of its uniqueness we should make an effort to offer people a glimpse or taste of what the series is about," says the duo. "Fortunately, Xbox felt the same way and we came up with a joint strategy to get the Xbox community acquainted with We Were Here." The collaboration between the companies saw We Were Here enter as a Games with Gold title. "Within the first week, over a million people had downloaded We Were Here and players who had never heard of our franchise before, suddenly found this really fun co-op series to play with a friend. So yeah, it was really great to offer We Were Here to the community through Xbox Games with Gold."

The popularity of the series is due to the unique gameplay it offers, and just like any great game, inspiration was key in laying the foundations for things to come. "Weve always loved games like Myst, Portal 2, and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. However, the thing that really got us on track to create an asymmetric puzzle game was some user tests we did with actually locking people up in a room with puzzles." This was the lightbulb moment that would later spawn the walkie-talkie mechanic for which the series is known, and the reason that players are split up when attempting to solve puzzles. "During these tests, we noticed that the experience was even more intense when the players werent physically in the same room and had to describe things to each other in order to help their partner progress or escape. That became the basic principle of the We Were Here series."

"At Total Mayhem Games we love the mystery around We Were Here, and we love that we have a fanbase that is actively trying to figure out what is going on in this castle," they say. "Our audience deserves more clarity on the narrative and what goes on in this creepy place." Those of you with a keen interest in the series might have worked out that the Jester in the trailer is a direct reference to We Were Here and We Were Here Too. You would be correct in that assumption, as We Were Here Forever tells the story of the explorers left behind in the first two games the return to Castle Rock doesn't mean there isn't plenty of mysterious goodies to uncover. "In We Were Here Forever, every player will get a far better idea of what is going on in Castle Rock," says the pair, also teasing "a special treat for the troopers that try to explore and retrieve all of the lore."

The walkie-talkie mechanic is a staple in the We Were Here series. It's the number-one most important feature that ensures you and your partner can communicate when solving puzzles. You can of course use Xbox Live Party Chat to easily chat to your partner, but that's no fun the walkie-talkie offers the most realised experience for the game, plus you get to say 'over' at the end of every sentence. "Once we had decided to make an asymmetric co-op puzzle game, we had two challenges: People had to communicate with each other while they werent in the same space, and we wanted to add a bit of tension and difficulty to the whole talking mechanism," they say. "It really gives you the feeling that you are an explorer trapped in a creepy castle with the walkie-talkie being your last resort, instead of you just playing some video game with a buddy from the comfort of your own home."

While the team creates achievements for the more casual players, it's important to them to create a list that caters to fine folks like yourselves that often want to unlock everything. "The 'I want to explore and do it all' player is the more interesting one to create achievements for. We love to reward them for all the extra effort they put into the game, but also, we dont want to make it too easy." When looking at the completion times here on TA for the three currently available games, you can see that Total Mayhem has consistently worked to add extra value with each title. We Were Here kicked off the series with a one-to-two-hour completion time, followed by We Were Here Too's two-to-three-hour estimate, and ending with We Were Here Together, which jumps right up to around six-to-eight hours. "We actually have a few speedrunners and achievement hunters in our beta crew who help us determine what would be the best pace to earn certain achievements. On top of that, we love to tease you to understand more of the mystery of Castle Rock in order to really get to 100% completion."

We Were Here Forever is set to launch sometime during Q2 2022, and you can be sure that we'll let you know when we have a solid date for it. Have you enjoyed the series so far? Excited for the next chapter? Let us know!

See more here:

Total Mayhem Games on the evolution of Games with Gold success story, We Were Here - TrueAchievements

On Tuesday night in Milwaukee, the Nets will open their tenth season as Brooklyns team, then after a short stop in Philadelphia, theyll be back at Barclays Center for Opening Night. There, its expected a full house, 17,732 fans, will greet them and hope this is it. Waiting till next year, that tired Brooklyn slogan that began with the Dodgers. will finally have reached its expiration date.

As Ian Eagle told reporters earlier in the week on a YES Network conference call, the Brooklyn Nets fan has evolved and matured, literally as well as figuratively.

From my perspective, everything has been trending up, Eagle said. The move to Brooklyn was a mystery for many of us that were holdovers from New Jersey because we had no idea how the team would be embraced. And each year, weve seen this buildup of interest.

Now this 10-year period youre talking about, its a generation, potentially, of fans, kids that were 5, 6, 7 years old that are now 15, 16, 17 and have basketball opinions and have formed a passion for this team. Ive seen it. Ive seen it being around the arena.

So has Sopan Deb who writes of that transition in his Nets season preview for Sundays New York Times.

I really feel like this is the final act in the renaissance of Brooklyn and giving Brooklyn its rightful place in the world, and that has tremendous importance for the city going forward, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a longtime Brooklyn resident, told Deb last June while sitting courtside at Barclays Center. He was talking about a hoped-for championship last year, but the words will work just as well in 2021-22.

Getting there, as Deb writes, has been a long journey, filled with angst on the court and off (We see you, Kyrie, or maybe we dont.) When Barclays Center finally opened for that first season, after nearly a decade of shifting politics, undercapitalization then a rescue by an unlikely champion in the person of a Russian oligarch, ownership didnt know what to expect.

We didnt have a fan base for New York or Brooklyn at all, said Irina Pavlova, then a top executive in Mikhail Prokhorovs ONEXIM holding company. It was zero. It was starting from scratch, especially in a city like New York, where the Knicks are such an institution.

So, even though the team held trademarks for both New York Nets and Brooklyn Nets (still do), Pavlova said they went with Brooklyn, even creating what is now the teams unique chant, Brooook-lyn, (trying it out for the first time in a preseason game in of all places, Atlantic City.)

Now, as Eagle said and Deb wrote, the Nets have their own native fans. The Brooklyn-as-cool theme worked and as the Brooklyn Brigade, the 96 of the most loyal fans, proves, is its manifestation in the arena Section 114 in the past, Section 1 from now on.

A motley crew if there ever was one, their unifying principles are loyalty to the team ... and creativity, Brooklyn creativity, in putting together made-for-TV chants. The group isnt limited to Brooklyn residents. New Jersey, Staten Island and Long Island are represented, too, but its very much Brooklyn, or Brooook-lyn.

Deb interviews several of them, starting with its founder, a Brooklyn-born Nigerian-American investment banker with a degree from Harvard and as good an understanding of Brooklyns essence as the original marketers. He is what they hoped for.

You can travel the whole world and youre not going to find people more proud of where theyre from than New Yorkers, and I think that goes especially so for people from Brooklyn, Edemeka said.

At first, Edemeka mined the comment section of NetsDaily offering tickets to games, tickets he paid for. He was about Brooklyn, not so much the Nets.

I dont have any of that emotional baggage, Edemeka told Deb talking about what came before in New Jersey. I didnt live through 12 and 70. Im unburdened by that legacy.

Deb also introduces his readers to those other denizens of the Block, where the Brigade hangs, as well as others around the building. Theres Giovannie Cruz of Elizabeth, N.J. who admits that he had to take a long walk after the Game 7 overtime loss to the Bucks. I didnt want my son to see me too animated and use too much colorful language.

And Dawn Risueno who splits her loyalties between the Nets and Yankees and annually makes road trip across country with her husband, keeping in touch with her Brooklyn-based family of fans that now includes seven grandchildren as well as her two children.

They didnt have a choice in the matter, Risueno told Deb, speaking of her children and grandchildren. Since they came literally out of the womb, Ive had them in Nets outfits.

Theres also Richard Bearak, who works with the likely future mayor, Eric Adams at Brooklyn Borough Hall. He was at the last Nets championship game, out on Long Island, when the New York Nets won the ABA championship in 1976 with Dr. J, Julius Erving, leading them. He has literally seen it all.

When Barclays first opened to the public, Bearak told the Times, the arena was a tourist attraction that drew fans of winning, opposing teams.

A third of the crowd could have been supporting Golden State, Bearak, 63, said. At Madison Square Garden, its really hard to be a fan of another team and expect to be there in droves.

Now, thats changed as anyone who sat through the pain of Game 7 back in June knows. Ian OConnor of the Post who attended his fair share of big games at Madison Square Garden, wrote that even the most vaunted Garden crowds were never louder. Afterwards, those same fans, a little subdued, filled the entrance plaza and side streets, wishing each other well until the next time, so many of them wearing black-and-white (which is now the second best selling team gear in the NBA. Not bad or a team that was 31st back in New Jersey, behind the defunct Seattle Supersonics.)

There is, as always in any story on Nets fans a growing genre by the way mention of the competition between the two New York teams, the other one being the New York Knicks who play in another borough, Manhattan. There are enough metrics to argue convincingly that the Nets are moving on the Knicks. But John Abbamondi, the CEO of the Nets and BSE Global, Joe Tsais holding company, thinks while that competition is nice, it may soon become passe.

We dont want to be just the most popular N.B.A. team in New York City, Abbamondi told Deb in an interview at Barclays before that Game 7. We want to be a global sporting icon on the level of a Real Madrid or Barcelona. Thats our aspiration.

Fans, of course, would be happy with just the Larry OBrien Trophy.

Read more from the original source:

NETS 2021: The evolution of the Brooklyn fan now 10 seasons on - NetsDaily

Ford Motor Co. this week is bringing its portfolio of buzzed-about new vehicles including the all-electric F-150 Lightning, Bronco and Mustang Mach-E to the streets of downtown Austin, Texas, for what it's describing as an "immersive" pop-up experience for consumers.

The free 10-day event, which kicked off Friday and runs through Oct. 24, is yet another example of automakers finding new ways to get their product in front of prospective customers beyond reveals and displays at traditional auto shows.

Auto companiessee such opportunities for consumers to experience new vehicles as keyas they transition to technologically-advanced electric vehicles that may be new to many drivers. And the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in cancellations of many of the majorauto shows over the last year and a half, accelerated some of these changes as event organizers looked to outdoor events as safer alternatives to more traditional formats and automakers grew accustomed to revealing new cars virtually.

Last month, for example, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association hosted an outdoor auto event called Motor Bella that served as an alternative to the North American International Auto Show, canceled two years in a row because of the pandemic, and which focused on giving consumers the chance to experience new vehicles and technologies via cruises, off-roading demonstrations and laps around the race track. DADA plans to incorporate such experiences into the Detroit auto show, which is expected to return to the city next fall.

Automakers also see events such as Ford's "Built to Connect" in Austin as a way to introduce consumers to new vehicles they may not be able to findon dealer lots that have been left bare in recent months due to supply-chain issues.

"Consumers, when they have a chance to not only ride in them but maybe do something a little different ... they can see how that vehicle fits better into their lives," Raj Register, head of global brand experiences for Ford, told The Detroit News. "That's why we prioritized this, to give consumers an idea of what Ford has to offer, as well as thinking about all the reveals and launches that we've had over the last year during this pandemic where we had to reveal things virtually. This is also an opportunity for us to carry on that excitement, especially with some of our iconic vehicles like Bronco."

The Austin event is organized around three themes: Built to Electrify, Built Wild and Built Tough.

The Built to Electrify exhibit highlights Ford's electric vehicle portfolio, including the forthcoming F-150 Lightning as well as the Mustang Mach-E, which launched late last year and is the Dearborn automaker's first fully-electric vehicle. Attendees have the opportunity to participate in a zero-to-60 ride in the Mach-E.

In the next nine to 10 years, almost 50% of our portfolio will be electric vehicles," said Register. "And many of the consumers that we have now reserving vehicles and even purchasing vehicles are new to the brand."

The Build Wild demonstration puts consumers in the passenger seat of Ford's resurrected Bronco so they can experience the SUV's off-road capabilities via drives through sand andwater and up a hill.

Built Tough highlights Ford's truck lineup, including its new Maverick compact pickup and various F-150 models. It includes a trailer tow assist demonstration.

This isnt for everyone, but we do think that a lot of people are looking to engage with the vehicles very differently, versus just going and seeing something static," said Register.

Still, she said, Ford doesn't view thistype of event as a replacementfor more traditional auto shows:We see as a complement. Our goal is not to replace auto shows. This is a way for us to meet consumers where they are.

Ford selected Austin for the event, she said, in part because the automaker has a strong dealership network in Texas. The company recently announced it would spend $90 million in Texas as part of a broader $525 million investment over the next five years in auto technician training.

Depending on how the Austin event goes, Ford could look to expand the concept to additional markets in the future, Register said.

jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @JGrzelewski

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Amid auto show evolution, Ford hosts 'immersive' pop-up in Texas - The Detroit News