Even if you did happen to be in Finland, Remedy Games is still off the beaten track. You need to drive out of Helsinki along snow-ploughed roads, across a bridge, over a frozen lake where people play ice hockey and on to the next town, a place named Espoo, to eventually find the studio's new office. The building, a brutalist pile of concrete and glass, was built for a private medical firm. Now, a recently-added machine in the entrance takes a mugshot of your face and immediately emails it to the staff member you're meeting. "You have to do this," I'm told, "since some fans managed to get in". I'm sort of impressed they made the journey, but once you're within Remedy's walls you're reminded why they made their trip. The studio has cultivated an offbeat personality over the years - the same personality it poured into cult hits like Alan Wake and Max Payne. There's a sauna in the basement, I'm told, as we pass a row of seaside deck chairs on a landing facing south, ready for the few … [Read more...] about Back in Control: Remedy’s weird new world feels brilliant to play
How to make a paper plane
Remembering old games on Mac is like visiting a lost world
My first videogame memory is about falling. I remember a blue sky and green land and some yellow rectangle where I was supposed to land, but couldn’t, because I was three or four years old and videogames were new and confusing. Unable to control my plane, I could only watch it spiral and crash. The game was Hellcats over the Pacific. I learned this only twenty years later, when I recognised it in a video compilation of old games. The name of this flight sim evaded me for so long because I grew up with a Mac, and no one ever talks about the few scrappy games that were available to us, the children of the nineties who, for one reason or another, got stuck with the uncool operating system. I grew up with a Mac because my dad is an engineering professor, and most specialist software he needed didn’t run on Windows. Part of his work also consisted of taking care of a hyperactive daughter, and he brilliantly solved the task by putting baby Giada in front of his Mac and letting … [Read more...] about Remembering old games on Mac is like visiting a lost world
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds guide: tips and tricks to win in PUBG
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds still dominates Steam to this day. With the latest map Vikendi, it still draws in the crowds, much to John’s chagrin. It now has four maps, and an expanded weapon set that’s got a lot of nuance to it. While its overall popularity may be waning a little in light of some very stiff competition, it isn’t a surprise that the game itself is still massively popular: Dumping 100 people onto a map and telling them to scavenge and murder, all in the name of an ethereal chicken dinner. Grabbing that meal ticket won’t be easy, so we’ve thrown together a whole bunch of tips and tricks to help you get a taste of that sweet, sweet victory.Written by Andy Moore and Dave Irwin Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds guide Newer players that are joining the bandwagon may be wondering how best to get up to speed. Below are some vital tips and tricks that Our set of guides will go through all the weapons available in the game, as well as the … [Read more...] about Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds guide: tips and tricks to win in PUBG
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds guide: tips and tricks to win
It’s been over a year since Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds launched into early access, and yet somehow it’s still drawing the crowds, much to John’s chagrin. It now has three maps, with a fourth one on the way, and an expanded weapon set too. Its popularity may be waning a little in light of stiff competition, but it isn’t a surprise that it’s still massively popular: Dumping 100 people onto a map and telling them to scavenge and murder, all in the name of an ethereal chicken dinner. Grabbing that meal ticket won’t isn’t easy, so we’ve thrown together a whole bunch of tips and tricks to help you get a taste of that sweet, sweet victory. Written by Andy Moore and Dave Irwin Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds guide Newer players that are joining the bandwagon may be wondering how best to get up to speed. Below are some vital tips and tricks that Our set of guides will go through all the weapons available in the game, as well as the … [Read more...] about Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds guide: tips and tricks to win
Forget holographic images, we want a 3D volumetric display
Hollywood has been depicting holographic technology for a long time now, perhaps most famously in Star Wars when R2-D2 delivers a message to Princess Leia. What you saw in that moment, however, is not something that a hologram can achieve—it more closely resembles a 3D volumetric image, and researchers at Brigham Young University are hoping to advance that kind of technology. There is an important distinction between a hologram and a 3D volumetric image. The latter can be seen from the front, back, and virtually every angle, whereas a hologram can only be seen from a certain range of angles. Daniel Smalley, a newly minted assistant professor at BYU, is working with a team of physicists to create moving 3D light images that viewers can see no matter where they are standing. In a paper submitted to Nature, he and his team liken the technique to a high-speed Etch-a-Sketch—near-invisible laser beams trap a single particle of a plant fiber called cellulose and heat it unevenly. … [Read more...] about Forget holographic images, we want a 3D volumetric display