The Byline Blog

“I really think — what I hope — is that when Curiosity lands on Mars…it’s just going to blow everyone’s mind, and we’re going to see this explosion in interest in science the way it was during the Apollo era. That’s our hope, anyway; we’ll see what we deliver.”
– Charles Bolden, Head of NASA (here)

At 1:31 A.M. EDT this Monday, August 6th, a machine the size of a Mini Cooper with a red, laser-spitting eye, will land on the surface of Mars.

The scientists and other team members at NASA’s Mars Science Lab have nicknamed this, the newest rover set to comb the Red Planet, “Curiosity” — as this mission surely represents for the scientific community, and for the rest of us, an ushering in of a new and important era of space exploration characterized by heightened risk, innovation, and a persistent curiosity in…

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Endless Space

Imagine a vast galaxy where its first intelligent life was the civilization we call the Endless.There is much to be told of the Endless, their vast technologies, of their advanced societies, and especially of the uncountable splinters into which their people eventually shattered itself and their eventually disappearance. Their history is glorious but above all tragic, but this is not their story it is yours,

In the new 4x game it is your task to grow your empire until it covers the entire galaxy whether through colonization, diplomacy, or the fires of war it is all for you to choose. When you begin the game you must choose between one of eight great civilizations (or create your own) as you strive for galactic domination. Will you control the galaxy through peaceful trade and diplomacy, perhaps you will lead explores to every corner of the universe to find great and powerful artifacts to advance your people through science, or will you simply exterminate all the other inferior civilizations with your advanced and powerful armadas ?

Each randomly generated map has hundreds of star systems to explore, several different planet types, luxuries and strategic resources to use to build new and powerful ships, you will also be able to Hire heroes to lead your fleets to victory or to govern and improve your planets.You are also constantly researching choices of interesting and new techs. Also each race does has a few unique technologies outlined in orange on the research screen. Using research your race can eventually build a wonder and win the game

The combat in Endless Space is half-big budget movie and half rock-paper-scissors system. When two fleets engage it enters an interactive movie. When you engage an enemy fleet, you are given the choice to simulate or manually control the battle. If you choose to manually control, you will be presented with a timer counting down the battle start and on the left side you will have three card slots, one each for long, medium, and melee range. This can be very important decision as even an out numbered and out gunned fleet can claim victory if the right cards are selected. It is very fun to watch but if you are in a war it can get tedious at times.

Overall endless space is an addictive experience and a great stepping off point for people new to the 4X genre.

RTX

RTX is an event hosted by Roosterteeth.com, where gaming and internet culture and humor converge.The event all about checking out new games and seeing how to create interesting online content. RTX was created for the over a million-strong community behind video creators Rooster Teeth famous for their ongoing series Red vs. Blue. The event has now grown to combine  game companies, gamers, and even some other content producers.

This year Roosterteeth has managed to get a bunch of new people from the game industry, such as Robot Entertainment, and  Twisted Pixel. They also got 343 Industries and bring with them their new game game, Halo 4 which people will be able to demo. There will also be some of YouTubers and other internet celebrities attending the event. Just a few of them from the web, include SeaNanners, Fwiz, Hannah Hart, iJustine, Mega64, and that’s just to name a few!
So if you are in the Austin area go check out RTX !

Call of Duty: Black Ops dev has a different way of tracking banned players

The Plastic Knight Adventures !!

U.N. me

The United Nations was founded more than sixty years and was the embodiment of humanity’s hope for a safer, more peaceful future after the second world war. With the rising number human rights violations and rising powers attempting to gain nuclear weapons, how is the U.N. attempting to stop the violence and the threat of Nuclear war ? The movie UN and me attempts to give you those answers and more by showing the dark side of the United Nations and the bureaucracy it thrives on. The movie shows that the principles the United Nations were founded on have been forgotten in exchange for hypocrisy, cowardice, ineffectiveness, lack of consequences for violence , and a general lack of credibility. The movie shows this through  a list of horrors including :U.N. inaction during the Rwandan genocide; evidence of Eastern European peacekeepers’ engaging in sex trafficking; failures of nuclear inspections; inability to do anything about terrorism, let alone settle on a definition of the word. It also shows how human right violators have  avoided punishment by being on the council for human rights.  If you want to learn more on the failings of the U.N. go check out the movie here:

http://unmemovie.com/

Pandemic 2.5

Mankind has spread across the planet becoming wise and powerful. Their numbers now reach into the billions and they can be anywhere on Earth within a few hours. Mankind’s transportation however will be their downfall as so one day in New Zealand a man sneezes and the end of the world begins. In the new IOS game Pandemic 2.5 is a new simulation game where you try to make the ultimate disease be it bacterial, viral, or parasitic. Your goal is to evolve quickly and to infect every living person on the planet and to wipe them out. You do this by slowly adding on new symptoms and supports until you become unstoppable, but be warned humans are crafty and will attempt to create a vaccine to stop your disease. This is a very fun game that is great port of the original flash game online.  So if you are ready to destroy the world I suggest you go download Pandemic 2.5 today.

http://www.darkrealmstudios.com/games.php?game=12

http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/fullscreen.php?game=pandemic-2

http://pockettactics.com/2012/05/09/extinct-different-pandemic-2-5-strategy-straight-from-dark-realm/

Xenonauts

 

 

1 October, 1979: Unidentified forces of presumed extraterrestrial origin arrive in Earth orbit. Panic spreads globally when attempts at communication fail and initial attempts to repel the invaders as they scout the upper atmosphere are met with heavy losses and little success. The only successful interception occurs over the Baltic sea, conducted by modified interceptors that appear at least partially resistant to the extraterrestrial weaponry. A clandestine organization known only as the ‘Xenonauts’ establishes communication with the major world powers and claims responsibility, demanding both funding and authority to operate within their territory and airspace in exchange for protection.

For humanity, a glimmer of hope remains – if they can withstand the attacks long enough unravel the secrets of the alien aggressors, the Xenonauts may find yet a way to defeat the alien invasion. Should they fail, millions of years of human history will be brought to a close in mere months…

That is the intro for the new indie single-player PC strategy game. Inspired by Xcom Goldhawk interactive hopes to create an the experience of fighting of an alien invasion. The gameplay is in three parts Strategic, Air combat, and ground combat. You start off the game with one base and a few solders, but as you progress and capture more alien technology and get more funding you get several more bases and super advanced weapons and jets to fight off the alien menace.
This is one of the best designed strategy games that I have seen in along time and it has a great concept. Goldhawk is now running a kickstarter to finish the game and make a brick and mortar studio, so if you want to help stop the alien menace head to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/69341191/xenonauts and give today.

 

Blueseed startup ship of dreams has hundreds knocking at its door

Impressive

AWESOME !