Rise of the machines?!
Robot attacked Swedish factory worker
A Swedish company has been fined 25,000 kronor ($3,000) after a malfunctioning robot attacked and almost killed one of its workers at a factory north of Stockholm.
Public prosecutor Leif Johansson mulled pressing charges against the firm but eventually opted to settle for a fine.
“I’ve never heard of a robot attacking somebody like this,” he told news agency TT.
The incident took place in June 2007 at a factory in Bålsta, north of Stockholm, when the industrial worker was trying to carry out maintenance on a defective machine generally used to lift heavy rocks. Thinking he had cut off the power supply, the man approached the robot with no sense of trepidation.
But the robot suddenly came to life and grabbed a tight hold of the victim’s head. The man succeeded in defending himself but not before suffering serious injuries.
“The man was very lucky. He broke four ribs and came close to losing his life,” said Leif Johansson.
The matter was subject to an investigation by both the Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) and the police.
Prosecutor Johansson chastised the company for its inadequate safety procedures but he also placed part of the blame on the injured worker.
[Source: http://www.thelocal.se/19120.html]
Divine’s Commentary:
Meh, don’t imagine anything along the lines of The Matrix or Terminator just yet. The title was just to attract a bit of attention 
. Obviously, the robot had either malfunctioned or (more likely) wasn’t operated correctly; it’s got nothing to do with AI… yet. But for a freak accident, it sure is just a little too freaky…
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and wife Melinda Gates, announced Tuesday to donate 4.1 million dollars to donoorchoose.org, a nonprofit organization aimed to gather funds for public schools in America.
The event on Tuesday took place in a New York high school, where comedian and donorchoose board member Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, served as the moderator.
The announced grant is projected to be able to help more than 17,000 classroom projects across the United States.
This was not the first time Stephen Colbert had worked with donorchoose, as he had held his own donation event just a few month back, during his coverage of the presidential election in Philadelphia. He urged his Colbertnation to vote on the nominees of the democrat primaries through the form of donations, which granted him a spot on the board of directors.
(Sources: The Associated Press)
Editor’s Note: We are officially back online! I apologize for not posting on the date of the announced reopening, as I had a little business to attend to. Nevertheless, we are back now, so visit us regularly for frequent updates!)
New Fighting Game Release Dates
We’re back! Sorry folks, most of us have had a lot on our plates to deal with….but enough of that! Let’s get this ball rolling again, shall we?
I don’t know how many of you out there are fighting game fans but if you are then like me you’ll be aware that this summer brings us a new generation in fighting games. We’ve already seen the successful launch of Street Fighter 4 but what about its rivals? Well, here’s a run-down on upcoming fighting game releases.
BlazBlue
BlazBlue - Calamity Trigger
Japan: 30th July 2009 (XBox 360 and PS3)
US: 30th July 2009 (XBox 360 and PS3)
EU: TBC
As stated in my earlier post, BlazBlue is a 2D fighter by Arc Systems Works of Guilty Gear fame. The console release comes with a stack of goodies, listed in the said post.
The King Of Fighters XII
King of Fighters XII
Japan: July 7th 2009 (XBox 360 & PS3)
US: July 7th 2009 (XBox 360 & PS3)
EU: TBC
The King of Fighters series has been a long and eventful one. KoFXII sees the series go through a complete overhaul. Out with the 10yr-old sprites, in with new HD sprites. With KoFXII comes a new game mechanic, the Critical Counter, letting players gain the upper hand in one full-on combo or a special super!
Melty Blood: Actress Again
Melty Blood: Actress Again
Japan: August 2009 (PS2)
US: TBC
EU: TBC
Melty Blood has been the big success story of Doujin fighters. From humble origins as a visual-novel called Tsukihime, the series progressed into an anime and into a doujin fighting game which proved much more popular than the developers could ever have imagined. This new rendition of the game sees new characters, new mechanics, new “moons” which affect each characters specials, attacks and even movement!
Million Knights Vermillion
Million Knights Vermillion
Worldwide: 26th April 2009 (PC)
A brand new doujin fighting game Million Knights Vermillion has been confirmed as being released on a “Tentative Trial”, slated for this coming sunday (April 26th). The game boasts higher-res sprites than those found in Guilty Gear, which is quite impressive for a game made by fans. The game will released digitally for PC.
Global Tribune Officially Re-opens on April 22nd, 2009
For those of you who had visited our little blog in the past month, you would have realized that no new articles were written since March 13th, 2009. This of course, was due to the busy schedules of our writers, which prevented all of us from producing daily or semi-daily updates.
This however, will change come April 22nd, 2009. The blog will officially re-open with new articles by our staff team, and also the additions of several new contributors.
For those of you who had followed us thus far, we sincerely thank you for your time and support. After our grand re-opening, we will commit ourselves to produce more articles for your enjoyment. Stay tuned, bye for now!
With much anticipation came much enjoyment, the Stewart/Cramer interview lives up to its hype
Last night, CNBC commentator Jim Cramer made a guest appearance on The Daily Show, thus concluding the much-talked about feud with the host Jon Stewart.
Jon Stewart packed some strong punches, leaving Cramer periodically speechless and fumbling to defend himself.
Starting off the interview, Stewart explains that the entire feud was not directed towards Cramer in particular, but rather on CNBC itself. Stewart continues to explain that the cause of this entire fiasco was due to some comments made by CNBC financial reporter Rick Santelli, particularly of his rant on the “loser mortgage holders.”
“It’s the gap between what CNBC advertises itself as, and what it is,” Stewart continues on, and presents a clip of a promo for Cramer’s program, Mad Money, on CNBC. The heading of the said clip contains in big bond letters, “In Cramer We Trust,” which particularly irritates Stewart.
Cramer defends himself, claiming that certain people make good calls and bad calls, and he himself tries his hardest to make as many good calls as he can. Stewart, however, argues that “the difference is not good call bad call, but the difference is real market and unreal market.”
Stewart follows his argument with another video clip, this time through an interview of Cramer back in 2006, where he was reciting on his experiences as a hedge fund manager. In the said video, Cramer claim to have been committed to short selling, by which he denies it in the interview with Stewart.
In response to Cramer’s denials, Stewart then played a second video clip. In such tape, Cramer encourages other hedge fund managers to commit short selling, claiming it is legal and is a quick way to make money.
“I want the Jim Cramer in CNBC,” said Stewart jokingly, “to protect me from that Jim Cramer.”
Stewart then goes on to question CNBC, demanding why the network could not catch such acts, even when they are so completely aware of its existence.
“Its feels like we are capitalizing your adventure,” Stewart goes on to argue, “By our pensions and our hard earn…and that it is a game that you know, that you know is going on, but you go on television as a financial network and pretend it isn’t happening!” The remark was followed by a round of applause by the audience, leaving Cramer clearly uncomfortable.
Cramer claims that the network could do a better job, and call out the shenanigans of the various businesses. He then goes on to argue that he does this every night, and tries to call out of these short selling activities as best as he could.
“It is this idea that the financial news industry,” Stewart continues his argument, “is not just guilty of cynical mission but also a cynical cognition that they are actually in bed with this idea.”
Cramer, while defending his network, argues that it isn’t fair to make such a judgment, and that CNBC tries its best to report the news as they could. He then goes on to say that the industrial CEOs has always lied right in front of their faces, and that CNBC could not have known that at the moment.
In another argument, Stewart rolled a third tape, showing Cramer explaining the manipulation of stocks, and claiming the FCC doesn’t understand the concept of such a thing. Before Cramer could make a counter agreement, Stewart quickly rolled a fourth tape. In the said tape, Cramer explains the use of false rumor to manipulate the market, which serves more advantages to the business.
“I understand that you want to make finance entertaining,” said Stewart in a serious tone, “but it’s not a f#^king game!” The remark was again followed by the applause of the audience. Stewart explains his anger towards this situation, and remarks that the financial news networks all knew about this, but pretend they didn’t. In an attempt to explain himself, however, Cramer simply insisted that he was powerless in a situation like this.
“It feels like they have to reconcile,” Stewart continues to argue, “is their audience the wall street traders that are doing this for constant profit on a day to day the short term? These guys with these companies were on a Sherman’s march through their companies, financed by our 401ks, and all the incentives of their companies were for short term profits, and they burnt the f#%king house down with our money, and walked away rich as hell.”
In a desperate attempt to explain himself, Cramer suggested that he had tried numerous times to convict these CEOs. Stewart, however, simply argues that the situation isn’t about him, but rather on the entire financial network.
Stewart then attacks the idea of investment, where he criticizes the belief of becoming rich without actually working. “Our wealth is work,” said Stewart, “we are workers!”
Despite the criticisms on Wall Street, Stewart also defended those hard working people, who tried to do the right thing, but are getting screwed over by this thing as well.
In response to Cramer’s claims on the lying CEOs, however, Stewart sarcastically teased the argument. “I’m under the assumption,” Stewart remarks, “and maybe this is a purely ridiculous, but I’m under the assumption that you don’t just take their words at face value, that you actually then go around and try to figure it out.”
Jon Stewart insists that it was unfortunate for Cramer to have become the face of this entire situation, and acknowledged the position that Cramer holds.
In the end of the interview, the two men agreed that changes should be made, and they shook hands sealing the deal.
My Thoughts:
Just to note, that was an incredibly hard article to write, as I had difficulties locating the original uncut interview. As most of you would know, Comedy Central videos can’t be played in Canada. I wouldn’t call this a complete transcript of the uncut interview, but it does contain many of the key quotes from Stewart.
Nevertheless, in regards to this interview, I was extremely impressed by Jon Stewart’s performance. Ever since I started watching The Daily Show, Stewart had always appealed to me as the funny man and the clown. But to see him, being serious when needed to, and to argue so intelligently, is absolutely remarkable.
As for Cramer, I do feel for his pain. However, through the videos, it just saddens me to see the financial experts that knew so much of about this situation, but then end up pretending like they are completely clueless. Jon Stewart was completely right, this isn’t a f#$king game, and it sure as hell shouldn’t be treated like one.
I believe that CNBC could do better, but for some reason refuse to do what they could. The parts on the lying CEOs could be true, but it shouldn’t be used as an excuse for failing at what you are suppose to do. As I have said before, I am not a financial expert, so I don’t completely understand the market. Therefore we need to the financial networks like CNBC to guide us, but all are receiving is manipulative bullshit.
If regular people like us couldn’t even have the financial guidance of the financial networks, then what good are they to us?
Anyway, my article has gone on long enough, and I thank everyone for reading all 1216 words of it. If you want to comment on this feud, or the entire financial situation, post comments below.
Warhammer Online shuts down over 60 servers
Mythic Entertainment, the creators of the massive race vs. race MMO Warhammer Online, have announced that they have shut down 63 American and European servers. What could this mean for the future of the game? Mythic state that this move was to create a better PvP experience for its players, shrugging off the concept that the game’s population is dwindling. A mandatory character transfer to heavily populated servers is a good idea but it’s usually a desperate sign when you have to do it to that many servers.
The game’s general population has fallen from a healthy 750,000 players to under half at just over 300,000. Not the best sign, despite Mythic claiming the number of paying subscribers is rising.
We’ll see what the future holds for this seemingly ill-fated MMO.
For the Dark Gods,
Eternal Resonance.
The Academy Revises Emmy Categories
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has recently decided to revise several of the existing Emmy categories, including “Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.”
The category was previous two separate awards, but was combined in 1997. Since this merge, however, not a single Late Night Talk Show host had won, including Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and even David Letterman.
In response to public demand, the Academy will once again split the category into two, one for the hosts of Comedy/Music/Variety, while the other for performance in specials. This split will avoid anymore awkward match ups, such as Tony Bennett and Barry Manilow competing against Stephen Colbert during the 2006 and 2007 Emmy awards.
Other changes and additions will include the following;
- Outstanding Voice-over
- Art Directors for Multi- / Single-camera series will now be two different categories.
- Outstanding children’s program has been separated into two categories, one for Informational/Nonfiction while the other for Entertainment Children’s Programming.
The official announcement of these changes will be made on Friday on the Academy website, just in time for the 2009 nomination submissions on April 24.
EDIT: Okay, it seems I’ve made a mistake here. Apparently, the Academy is ELIMINATING the category on Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Instead, hosts of late night talk shows will just be submitted along side producers and creators in the Comedy/Music/Variety series category.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
My Thoughts:
This raises Stephen Colbert’s chances of winning an Emmy for himself, which is great news to the Colbert Nation. I am personally quite happy about this revision, as it needed to be done a long time ago.
Actually, I am quite angry at this. They have now taken away Stephen Colbert’s chance at a Emmy to honor his outstanding performance each year. I don’t know why the Academy would do such a thing instead of actually splitting the category into two, but its their decision nevertheless.
(Stay tuned for tomorrow’s entry for the full coverage of Jim Cramer’s appearance on the Daily Show, and his interview with host Jon Stewart.)
[Album Review] Utada – This Is The One
Artist: Utada
Album: This Is The One
Genre: R&B
Release Date: 2009-03-14
Information
Japanese singer Utada Hikaru’s long-awaited third English album is finally released! Utada has described this as a mainstream album with heavy R&B influences, akin to her first Japanese releases. The album is already out in Japan, and will be digitally released in the US on March 24. The CD will be released in the US on May 12.
Review
Utada has not disappointed fans and critics for 7 album releases in a row, and this album is no different. She retains excellent control over her voice, and her English is very clear and easily understandable, which is rare for a Japanese artist, and unfortunately seems to be becoming rarer in the US music scene.
While the album is, as described above, a mostly R&B album, it’s still possible to find sprinklings of other genres like techno, rap, jazz and even hip-hop in her songs. However, all her songs can still be traced back to their R&B roots, which is both a plus and a minus for the album.
On the plus side, her songs are mainstream enough to be accepted by the American public, and I will personally go out on a limb here in saying that this will be THE album made by a Japanese artist to truly break through the Billboard charts. On the minus side though, fans of Utada’s more experimental pop sound found in albums like Ultra Blue and Heart Station will find there’s just a little something missing. All of her songs sound wonderful of course, but they all sound like familiar mainstream tracks, and the creative spark that existed in some of her other songs such as Passion doesn’t seem to be there.
Detailed track-by-track breakdown:
1. On and On: The song starts off with some synthesizers and some rap background vocals, which IMO start to detract from Utada’s vocals after about the first 10 seconds (then again, I’m not a fan of rap, so it could be just me…). Other than that, it’s pretty much your standard mainstream R&B affair, sounding very similar to a Leona Lewis/Rihanna/Beyonce song. Nothing extremely special, but it’s an effective opening track nonetheless.
2. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI: This is the only song on the album that is not written and composed by Utada. It’s a cover of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s song of the same name. After just one listen, this automatically became one of my favorite songs on the album. Ironically enough, it might be because it’s one of the least R&B-like tracks on the album, instead harkening back to Utada’s J-Pop roots. The vocals and instrumentals meld very well together to create a truly beautiful listening experience. I’ve never heard the original track and hence can’t make a comparison between the two, but I imagine the original must’ve been pretty good ^_^.
3. Apple and Cinnamon: Another primarily R&B track, Utada’s voice sounds great, but occasionally struggles to get attention from the synthesizer, piano and occasional violin. I actually feel that the synthesizers are a bit extraflous in this song; just having a simple piano instrumental would have worked a lot better given the nature of the lyrics, and brought out the potential of this song.
4. Taking My Money Back: Contrary to what I might have believed before, R&B with a little sprinkling of techno/trance works surprisingly well. Then again, this is Utada we’re talking about, she can make just about any combination of genres work 
In contrast to the previous song, the synthesizers are used better here: they give the song just enough beat, but don’t detract too much from Utada’s voice.
5. This One (Crying Like A Child): A very stock standard R&B song, it’s good in its own right, but doesn’t really stand out from the other tracks. Except perhaps for the strange techie references (Blackberry and JPEG?)
6. Automatic Part II: In an extremely dramatic departure from R&B, Utada tries her hand at hip-hop this time. And the result is… not too bad, but it’s not going to make anyone who doesn’t like hip-hop (read: me) change their mind about liking it.
7. Dirty Desire: The song features a good dance-like beat, and would probably work great in a nightclub environment, right down to the (slightly) suggestive lyrics. It’s also a good example of Utada’s flexible vocal range, as the song ranges from deeper notes to Utada’s usual high notes. The ending however is a bit abrupt IMO; while not quite as abrupt as Take 5, it will still leave you expecting more.
8. Poppin’: Am I the only one who finds the opening instrumentals creepily similar to The Pink Panther’s theme? Anyway, this song makes a foray into jazz territory this time, which works very well with Utada’s vocals. The short beats used throughout the song give it an almost mischievous atmosphere, and makes for very fun listening.
9. Come Back To Me: Previously released as a single, this is without a doubt Utada’s best shot at mainstream R&B. At first impression, it does sound a lot like a Leona Lewis song, but Utada manages to puts her own spin on Leona’s style.
10. Me Muero: The song seems to be heavily influenced by Spanish/Mexican music (I’m obviously not an expert on either genre, so if someone could confirm which genre it is, I’d gladly take it). Once again, the combination works wonderfully, giving the song a nice relaxing effect. If you get the US version of the album, this track makes a fairly good ending to the album.
[Japanese Bonus tracks]
11. Come Back To Me (Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel Radio Edit): Same as the single, except with techno beats instead.
12. Come Back To Me (Quentin Harris Radio Edit): Same as the above, except with dance background music. I’m not a big fan of either edit, so I won’t comment on them much (and besides, the review is more than long enough).
Overall Score: 8.5/10
Utada has clearly learnt a few lessons from Exodus when producing this album. With a much more mainstream approach this time, This Is The One has a good chance of living up to its name and being THE ONE to make it to at least the top 50 (Or even top 10?! One can dream…) of the Billboard Charts. It will be interesting to see if she can repeat the successes of artists like Leona Lewis and Rihanna. My only major gripe about the album are its length, or rather lack of it. Without considering bonus tracks, the album clocks in at barely over half an hour, which is quite short compared to most albums. Also, the bonus tracks are IMO completely unnecessary. Other than those, it’s another solid album by Utada that is sure to please Japanese and American fans alike.
On an ending note, thanks for sitting through around 1100 words of my own (slightly biased) opinions. I’ll try to make the next review much shorter, but I can’t make any promises :/.
Capcom announce sequel to RE: Umbrella Chronicles
Capcom have announed a sequel to their Wii shooter Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, titled Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. The game is due to be released in both Japan and North America for the Wii in winter, assumedly just in time for christmas, along with American localisations of their Gamecube games Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0, the latter of which had been turned down by Capcom USA previously.
The game takes place during the Resident Evil 2 timeline and will star the game’s protaganists Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy in a rail shooter with an “in-depth co-op”, letting you play 1player with AI-controlled assisstance or 2players playing together and an “evade system” which will grant players a more hands-on experience with the game by using the Wii remote to avoid zombie attacks.
Japanese Trailer for RE: DC
Brraaaaiiinnnnsss,
Eternal Resonance
BlazBlue to get a home release
Good news for any fighting game fan out there, Arc System Works have finally confirmed a console release for their popular arcade fighting game BlazBlue. Prior to contrary belief that the game was to be PS3 exclusive, ArcSys have confirmed the game is to be released for both the PS3 and XBox 360.
For any of you unfamiliar with the game, BlazBlue is a high-definition 2D fighter from the people who brought us the Guilty Gear series. It is currently available in arcades around the world.
It seems like ArcSys are going all out to ensure players get their money’s worth with the console release. The additions confirmed are:-
- Branching Stories based on battles and events with multiple endings for each character, giving players a 30+ hour experience.
- Full voice acting for the story mode cutscenes.
- Animation sequences are made by popular anime studio GONZO.
- Anime Opening featuring a new song by Japanese musician Kotoko.
- English Voice acting with the option to switch it back to Japanese, something akin to SF4.
- All characters unlocked from the start, so there’s no annoying “complete arcade with x to get y” business.
- Astral Finishes for ALL characters, as opposed to the arcade version only giving them to a select few characters.
- Online Network with a Lobby system. Up to 6 players can connect to a room and play each other. Anyone who isn’t playing can observe the matches as they are played out.
- Said Online mode allows players to recordand upload their matches, possibly with top players having their matches recorded and uploadedby default.
- Added colour palettes with possible colour edit.
- New stages exclusive to console.
- Possible DLC
The list of English Voice Actors is as follows:-
Ragna the Bloodedge – Crispin Freeman
Jin Kisaragi – Johnny Yong Bosch
Noel Vermillion – Stephanie Sheh
Iron Tager – Richard Epcar
Rachel Alucard – Michelle Ruff
Taokaka – Kari Wahlgren
Litchi Faye Ling – Tara Platt
Arakune – Terrence Stone
Bang Shishigami – Skip Stellrecht
Carl Clover – Laura Bailey
Haku-men – ???
Nu-13 – ??? 
All images courtesy of Arc System Works.
Right now there is no confirmed date for release but they have confirmed a North American release and have stated early summer for Japan, so we will see closer to the date.
The Wheel of Fate is Turning,
Eternal Resonance.
