8-Year-Old Gets 'Catastrophe Award' for Most Homework Excuses | ABC News Blogs - Yahoo!

 

The mother of an 8-year-old Arizona girl who was presented with a "Catastrophe Award" for apparently having the most excuses for not having homework believes her child was humiliated by her teacher. Christina Valdez said her daughter, Cassandra Garcia, came home one day from class at Desert Springs Academy in Tucson, Ariz., with the paper award. The document, which looks like a colorful card, contained the following message: "You're Tops! Catastrophe Award.  Awarded to Cassandra Garcia. For Most Excuses for Not Having Homework." The teacher signed the card "Ms. Plowman," added the date - May 18, 2012 - and even included a smiley face. The teacher announced the award in front of the entire class, and the other students laughed at her daughter, Valdez said in a Thursday interview with ABC TV affiliate KGUN-TV in Tucson. When she contacted the school to complain, the principal "blew me off," Valdez added. "She said it was a joke that was played and that the teachers joke around with the children." But Valdez told KGUN that she didn't find any of it funny. "I think it's cruel and no child should be given an award like this. It's disturbing," she said, adding that she was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework, and that the girl had been enrolled in an after-school homework assistance program. Desert Springs Academy's principal declined to comment to a KGUN reporter, the affiliate reported.

Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 Review - Laptops - CNET Reviews

 

The good: The 2012 Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 has more RAM, an improved Chrome OS, and a faster processor than the previous version. The bad: A relatively high price, the need to always be online, and the general limitations of the Chrome OS make it tough to recommend this Chromebook over a less expensive laptop or tablet. The bottom line: Despite solid hardware and a slightly improved Chrome OS, the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 comes with far too many caveats and compromises compared with similarly priced but more capable tablets and laptops. Pricing is currently unavailable. Set price alert What is a Chromebook? One year after the debut of the first wave, most people still don't know what they are. The concept sounds cutting-edge: instead of Windows or Mac OS, just run a light browser-based "operating system" that offers access to the full range of cloud-based applications and services, including those of Google's own capable ecosystem (Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Calendar, and the like). And do it all on a thin and light 12-inch laptop that swaps features (no hard drive, no CD drive) for good battery life. A look at Samsung's Series 5 550 Chromebook (pictures) 1-2 of 6 Scroll Left Scroll Right Indeed, the name "Chromebook" comes from the fact that the laptop is running the so-called Chrome OS -- basically an embedded version of Google's Chrome Web browser. If you've used the Chrome browser on Windows or Mac, you know that it asks you to log in, and then it syncs your bookmarks, Google identity, Google Docs, and Google Drive files. The Chromebook works the same way, except there's no way out of that browser. Apps can run on a Chromebook, but they're Web apps: they load through the browser. (Credit: Sarah Tew) That's not to say the Chromebook can't do anything offline: it can read files and play movies and music anytime. And Chrome OS has gotten better at file compatibility PowerPoint, Word docs, Excel files, ZIP files, and PDFs all load well and look great. You can't edit documents without first uploading to Google Docs, though. Photos can be viewed and even lightly edited with brightness and contrast adjustments, rotation, and cropping. The files can be resaved or uploaded to Picasa. Our experience with the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook last year left us underwhelmed: it had smoothly running hardware and a clean operating system, but with such a limited set of uses compared with Windows, a high sticker price of over $400, and the requirement of being online to use most apps like Google Docs, the Chromebook didn't add up to a logical choice for anyone other than a Google cloud devotee. A year later, the new Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 has slightly improved hardware and improved Chrome OS software, but its price -- a whopping $449, or $549 with a Verizon 3G wireless antenna -- is flat-out crazy.

States, federal government reduce length of jobless benefits | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

 

Hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans are losing their federal unemployment benefits earlier than they expected due to new rules passed in February that make it harder for states to qualify for extended jobless aid, the New York Times reports. At the height of the recession, Congress passed a law to boost unemployment assistance to up to 99 weeks: The unemployed would receive federal money instead of state funds if they continued to be jobless past the traditional period of six months. In February, Congress extended this law, but added rules that would draw down the number of weeks the government would pay for, based on whether a state's jobless rate had decreased and other factors. Now, only three states still offer 99 weeks of assistance, and all three will stop doing so in September. [Related: Florida the stingiest state for jobless benefits] More than 5 million Americans have been out of work for more than six months, down from a high of more than 6 million two years ago. Supporters of extending benefits say they stimulate the economy and provide a crucial safety net for vulnerable workers, but those opposed say they discourage people from finding work. Meanwhile, some states, independently of the federal government, have made it more difficult for people to receive jobless benefits. The National Employment Law Project (NELP), a nonprofit that advocates for more support for unemployed people, filed suit against Florida, saying it wrongfully denied people jobless benefits. The group says only 15 percent of eligible people are receiving unemployment assistance in the state, the lowest rate in the nation. This is due in part to a new law passed last year that requires unemployed people to take an online "skills test" before qualifying to receive the roughly $275 per week in benefits, the Miami Herald reported. The state's unemployment rate has fallen to 8.7 percent from 10.6 percent a year ago. [Related: 4 degrees with 0% unemployment] On the state level, unemployment insurance is paid for by a tax on employers, and only people who were let go through no fault of their own are eligible to receive the funds.

Ashley Hebert & J.P. Rosenbaum Party in Cancun to Celebrate a Year Together - Couples, The Bachelorette, Caught in the Act, Ashley Hebert, J.P. Rosenbaum : People.com

 

FacebookTweetA year after their road to romance played out on television, The Bachelorette alumni Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum celebrated a year together over Memorial Day weekend. The couple jetted off to ME Cancun, a Mexican resort, where they hit the pool, sipped champagne and frozen cocktails, and partied with fellow resort goers to in-house disc jockeys DJ Ani Quinn and DJ Price. Hebert and Rosenbaum, who hope to marry soon, seemed happier than ever as they kicked back under a palapa cabana, ate chips and guacamole and took playful pictures of each other on their iPhones.

Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth at Tuesday Tea : People.com

 

The Duchess of Cambridge navigated another royal first Tuesday when she joined Queen Elizabeth – and 8,000 other people – at a garden tea party at Buckingham Palace. Under sunny skies and an uncharacteristically warm 77 degrees, she wore a familiar outfit: the same $2,000 pink Emilia Wickstead coat dress first seen 11 days ago at the Windsor Castle lunch the Queen gave for visiting royals, and hat by Jane Corbett. Led by the Queen and Prince Philip, the royal party, including Kate, stood to attention for the National Anthem before stepping down onto the garden's lawns. Husband William, 29, was not able to attend – he's on duty in north Wales, where he is based with a Royal Air Force Search and Rescue squadron – but his grandmother did appoint him a new honor: with the title The Earl of Strathearn, he's to be a Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle. As for Kate, amid the sound of small bass bands and and some 400 staff members serving the invitees 27,000 cups of tea, 20,000 sandwiches and 20,000 slices of cake, she told guests she was "slightly nervous" about walking into a sea of faces. "She congratulated us, and asked me how long I'd been in the RAF," Gareth Jones, 23, told PEOPLE about Kate's greeting to him and his brand new bride, Rebecca, just back from their honeymoon in Florida. "She seems to share a lot of empathy and genuine interest in people." Also there was Sarah Burton, designer of Kate's Alexander McQueen wedding dress. The garden party is a traditional highlight of the London spring-summer season, and Tuesday's event was the second of two being held at the Palace. The parties were started by Queen Victoria in the 1860s and have gradually evolved into a way of recognizing those who have played a role in public service. Joining the throng were the Prince of Wales and wife Camilla, the Queen's daughter Princess Anne and the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie Wessex.

Cynthia Nixon Wedding Photo Revealed : People.com

 

After Cynthia Nixon revealed that she and Christine Marinoni tied the knot in New York City on Sunday, the newlyweds have released their wedding photo. Posing on a rooftop in the Big Apple, Nixon, 46, wore a flowing, pale green gown by Carolina Herrera and carried a bouquet of white peonies. Marinoni, 45, wore a suit with a darker green tie for the ceremony. The couple got engaged in 2009, but waited to marry until it was legal in New York state, which happened last summer. The Sex and the City actress and the education activist have a 1 ½-year-old son named Max together. Nixon also has two children from her previous relationship with photographer Danny Mozes.

Chris Hayes follows Bill Maher with 'hero' slip up | HULIQ

 

Chris Hayes tried to explain his discomfort with calling our fallen military members heroes. Hayes is a very thoughtful man who now realizes that you don't mess with the characterization of the fallen during the fight against terrorism. His attempt to express his concern that tying the word "heroes" to those who lost their lives in the service of their country, puts their efforts into a context that makes it seem their sacrifice was for a worthy cause. "I feel… uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. " Hayes left room to be wrong, as he said at the end of his remarks."But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I’m wrong about that." Whether you agree or disagree with how he interprets the word "heroes", one cannot ignore the fact that Chris Hayes tried in an intellectually curious way to explore his discomfort on the air. He went on to identify how he views the use of the term. "I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers, and things like that. " In his apology of today he admonishes himself without justification, a rarity and one that demonstrates an understanding of how he unnerved and offended many as we celebrated Memorial Day. "On Sunday, in discussing the uses of the word “hero” to describe those members of the armed forces who have given their lives, I don’t think I lived up to the standards of rigor, respect and empathy for those affected by the issues we discuss that I’ve set for myself. I am deeply sorry for that." Full text of his remarks is linked below. It is unclear if MSNBC will take any action regarding Chris Hayes' contract with the network. He anchors his own show on weekends, "Up with Chris Hayes" on which he made his blunder as well as acting as an analyst and substitute host for the network's evening shows like "The Rachel Maddow Show" and "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell". Bill Maher famously got into hot water in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when he disagreed with the use of the word "cowards" as it related to the terrorists who directed three airplanes into buildings and another that intended to do the same. Maher said at the time, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building - say what you want about it. It's not cowardly." The program hosted by Maher at that time, "Politically Incorrect" was not renewed after its season ended and it put Bill Maher into the political maelstrom that surrounded the resulting invasion of Afghanistan and then the war with Iraq. Chris Hayes' discomfort as he called it with tying "heroes" to military action was really Maher's point turned 180 degrees. Maher was being precise and without emotion when he said that a suicide mission isn't cowardly, while watching bombs hit targets from a war room somewhere fits the bill better. That was not to be tolerated as the smoldering embers of the World Trade Center towers were being televised around the clock. Chris Hayes' choice of the Memorial Day weekend for examining the ties between heroes and government justification for war was bad timing as well. But, it's hard to see how anytime would be good for that intellectual exercise in the world today.

GameFly to take on Google with new Android app store - Yahoo! News

 

GameFly announced on Wednesday that it plans to begin publishing mobile games for Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android operating system. In addition, the video game rental service plans to further expand into mobile by launching its own Android app store to take on the Google Play store.  ”GameFly is dedicated to giving consumers the best user experience possible, and to be their single destination for console, PC and mobile gaming needs,” GameFly co-founder Sean Spector said in a statement. “We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android and helping to fund mobile developers of all sizes to publish, promote and sell their smartphone and tablet games.” The GameFly GameStore will launch this fall on Android tablets and smartphones. GameFly’s full press release follows below.

Samsung says delay in some blue Galaxy S3 smartphone orders - Yahoo! News

LONDON (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics said there had been a delay in making the blue variant of its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3, which launched on Tuesday, meaning some customers faced a two to three week wait for delivery. "In order to meet the highest internal quality standards and to provide the best quality Galaxy

'Game of Thrones' Recap: The Battle of the Blackwater Lives Up to All the Hype!

 

This is the second to last episode of the second season of Game of Thrones -- I know, can you believe it? And this episode is the one to watch. Plenty of action is expected, as Stannis Baratheon's forces finally march on King's Landing to take on the Lannisters. Ever since reading A Clash of Kings, I was so looking forward to seeing this battle on my television screen. And the author of the series, George R. R. Martin, wrote the script for this episode! So let's get to the discussion/spoilers for "Blackwater," which are below ... don't click if you haven't watched the episode! And I'm keeping the book/show comparisons to a miminum, mmmk? Whew, this episode was quite a rush! It starts out peaceful enough: As all the key players like Ser Davos, Tyrion, Cersei, Sandor Clegane (the Hound), Bronn, and Joffrey get ready for the battle, Cersei, Sansa, Shae, and some other high-borns can do nothing but hide and wait for the outcome. I'd probably do exactly the same thing Cersei does -- get drunk. Tyrion has masterminded the whole defense plan, as the Lannister fleet is nowhere in sight to defend the gates -- not a good omen for Baratheon, wouldn't you say? Only one ship approaches Baratheon's massive fleet, and no one is on board. Soon enough we see that the ship is oozing wildfire, and Tyrion gives the signal to ignite it. The gigantic, green flames engulf everything and everyone, and screams of dying men pierce the night.  But it's not over yet. Baratheon's armies are coming ashore. It seems no expenses were spared as a shower of flaming arrows rains down on them. (Side note: Is there any way I can watch big medieval battle scenes without being reminded of The Lord of the Rings? Does anyone else feel that way?)  As Cersei learns about what's going on outside, she demands that Joffrey be taken out of the battle. The Hound's old fears of fire come back to haunt him, so he fleets, and with their leadership seemingly falling apart, Tyrion takes charge. In the middle of the most intense of the fighting, he gets terribly wounded by a man in his own army (in the book it was Ser Mandon Moore), and his fate is TBD. But, when all seemed lost, Tywin Lannister and his army swoop in to win the day!  In all, I was super impressed with this episode and felt that the battle scene was as epic as any movie's. Cersei and Tyrion were even given some classic one-liners to provide some comedic relief among all the violence -- and boy was there plenty of violence. Kudos to HBO to giving this battle the attention (and funding) this story deserves. Whew, I need to go do some yoga now, so see you all next week for the final episode of this amazing season!

Facebook phone in 2013?

Facebook phone in 2013? 

Can a Facebook smartphone solve Facebook's mobile problem? Just one week after Facebook's less than stellar IPO comes news that the social network is beefing up its engineering staff in the hopes of releasing a Facebook smartphone by 2013. Rumors and reports that Facebook has been working on building its own cellphone go back to 2010 when Tech Crunch reported that two high-level Facebook staffers had been tasked with developing a Facebook phone in secret. The rumor resurfaced in 2011 when All Things D reported that the company was working with the Taiwanese cellphone maker HTC to create a cellphone, code-named "Buffy," that has the social network integrated into "the core of its being." While Facebook refused to comment on Buffy specifically, the company did send All Things D the following statement: "We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.” Not exactly a denial. Now, it seems Facebook is dedicating more resources to its phone project. The New York Times reports that the company has hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers and is actively recruiting others. One engineer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the paper that Mark Zuckerberg had asked him about the inner workings of cellphones--wanting to know all the nitty-gritty details like what type of chips they use. The paper also cites numerous sources as saying the company hopes to have a phone on the market by next year. Bloggers are skeptical about Facebook's ability to build a successful smartphone--the company has little experience in building hardware. But Facebook may not have a choice. The social networking giant's ad business is not keeping up with the shift to mobile devices, so the company needs to seek other revenue streams to please its brand new investors. ALSO: Facebook stock slides as investor scrutiny continues

Poll: Romney holds substantial lead among veterans

 

As the nation remembers veterans who have served their country throughout the U.S. military, a new Gallup poll reveals that those same veterans overwhelmingly support Mitt Romney over President Obama in the race for the White House. Fifty-eight percent of veterans support the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, with just 34% holding out their support for Obama. That 24-point spread is a sharp contrast to the 48%-44% lead Obama holds over Romney among nonveteran voters, and the even 46% both receive among all registered voters. One major factor among the demographics of American veterans that works against the incumbent president is their gender, which weighs heavily in Romney’s favor. While Obama has consistently held advantages with women in the polls, just 2% of women are veterans, compared with 24% of all men. As one would expect, 60% of veteran men prefer Romney compared with Obama’s 32%, while Romney holds a 1-point lead among nonveteran men, 46% to 45%. Women veterans slightly support Obama over Romney, 47% to 42% which is 2 points beneath the nonveteran support for Obama among women. Age also plays a factor in the polling, though the shifts between older and younger veterans aren’t as significant as those between men and women. Two-thirds of veterans are age 50 or above. Though veterans under 50 still overwhelmingly support Romney by a 27-point margin, at least 60% of those above the age of 60 all support Romney, with no margin lesser than 25 points between the two candidates. The number of veterans among the total population substantially increases among older age groups, with significant majorities of men age 70 or older having served, compared with less than 20% of those younger than 50. The national results of the poll are based on telephone interviews conducted between April 11-May 24 among a random sample of 43,352 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 1%. Telephone interviews conducted specifically with veterans were held during the same time frame, with a random sample of 3,327 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2%. morgan.little@latimes.com Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

Gordon Ramsay Injured In Charity Soccer Match

Gordon Ramsay Injured In Charity Soccer Match | The Braiser

Yesterday during a charity soccer match held in England, Gordon Ramsay got bodychecked–real hard–by English  football (aka soccer) legend Teddy Sheringham and had to be carried off the field in a stretcher. Five minutes into the Soccer Aid game, an event pitting British celebrities and football stars against stars from “The Rest Of The World” to raise money for UNICEF, Sheringham tackled the former pro-footballer-turned-celebrity chef so hard that Ramsay needed oxygen on the field before being taken to a hospital to treat what looked like a very painful back injury. Thankfully, Ramsay seems to be doing well. “Thx 4 all the messages,” Ramsay tweeted later, presumably to stop the Wikipedia jokes/rumors that he’d been killed during the match. “Out of hospital after receiving amazing care from medics at ground & hospital. Bit sore but fine Gx” It seemed like injury plagued Team The Rest Of The World during the game (Ramsay is originally from Scotland and therefore part of The Rest Of The World. How Anglo-centric!). Things escalated quickly and comedian Will Ferrell suffered a leg injury in the second half after being tackled by British comedian John Bishop, but the Daily Mail reports that “the Anchorman star did manage to hobble off the pitch himself following the injury.” Other celebrities from The Rest Of The World included Gerard Butler, James McAvoy (both also Scottish!), Mike Meyers, Edward Norton, and Woody Harrelson.  Team England, who won the match 3-1 (figures), included event organizer and singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, and Awake star Jason Isaacs. The match is held annually and raised over £4million this year.

Governor-General of Australia

 

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II).[1] He or she also exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth. The functions and roles of the Governor-General include appointing ambassadors, ministers and judges, giving Royal Assent to legislation, issuing writs for elections and bestowing honours.[2] The Governor-General is President of the Federal Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force. All these things are done and all these posts are held under the authority of the Australian Constitution. Further, the Governor-General acts as vice-regal representative to the Australian Capital Territory. The Constitution provides that a "Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall be Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth . . ." The Constitution grants the Governor-General a wide range of powers, but in practice he or she follows the conventions of the Westminster system and (with rare exceptions) acts only on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia or other ministers. Even in the appointment of the prime minister, the Governor-General rarely exercises any discretion, usually appointing the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in the House of Representatives. Beyond constitutional functions, the Governor-General has an important ceremonial role. He or she travels widely throughout Australia to open conferences, attend services and commemorations and generally provide encouragement to individuals and groups who are contributing to their communities. When travelling abroad, the governor-general is seen as the representative of Australia, and of the Queen of Australia, and is treated as a head of state. The main official residence of the Governor-General is Government House, Canberra. There is a second official residence, Admiralty House in Sydney. When visiting the other states, the Governor-General is usually a guest at the Government Houses in the state capitals. The current Governor-General and the first female to hold the role is Quentin Bryce. The Governor-General is supported by a staff headed by the Official Secretary to the Governor-General; the current Official Secretary is Stephen Brady. When a Governor-General is overseas on official duties or unable to perform official functions, or the office is vacant, the senior state governor is appointed as Administrator of the Commonwealth, and is effectively acting Governor-General.

English Civil War

 

The English Civil War (1642–1651), often referred to as The Civil War in Great Britain, was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers). The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. The Civil War led to the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of his son, Charles II, and replacement of English monarchy with, first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53), and then with a Protectorate (1653–59), under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule. The monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent, although this concept was legally established only with the Glorious Revolution later in the century.

Argentina: More controls for buying US dollars

Argentina: More controls for buying US dollars

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is making it harder for people to buy U.S. dollars to pay for travel abroad. A new rule published Monday says anyone wanting to buy dollars for travel must first prove their money was obtained legally, and provide the tax agency with trip details including why, when and where they are traveling. Many Argentines only declare part of their wealth and income to evade taxes, and use black-market currency exchanges to convert their inflationary pesos into dollars. Travel agencies are the latest target since they manage multiple currencies and offer customers black-market rates for their money. President Cristina Fernandez is cracking down to keep hard currency from flowing out of Argentina, which needs the dollars to maintain its central bank reserves and pay debts.

Glaxo Diabetes Drug Data Revealed Amid Hostile Takeover

 

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) will reveal detailed results today on an experimental treatment for diabetes that’s part of the reason for a $2.6 billion hostile takeover bid for Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI), its partner on the drug. Glaxo will present data from two of eight late-stage studies, dubbed Harmony 6 and Harmony 7, of the once-weekly drug albiglutide ahead of the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting next month. Abstracts of those studies will be posted on the ADA website today. Albiglutide, along with the lupus treatment Benlysta and darapladib for heart disease, form a trio of drugs Glaxo has developed with Human Genome. If approved, the product would compete with existing medicines from Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN) and Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOB), as well as other late-stage experimental drugs being developed by Sanofi and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), said Ying Huang, a Barclays Capital Inc. analyst in New York. “Albiglutide will most likely be a niche product in this crowded market,” Huang said in an interview. Results from studies have so far added up to “a mixed bag,” and peak sales may be less than $500 million in 2020, he said. The product would compete with Amylin’s Bydureon, approved in the U.S. in January and currently the only once-weekly treatment for Type 2 diabetes on the market. Amylin, like Human Genome, has lured suitors for a takeover, including Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca Plc and Merck & Co., people familiar with the matter said this month. Less Nausea Albiglutide may be able to stand out with a lower rate of nausea and other side effects, and a smaller needle than the one for Amylin’s Bydureon, said Gbola Amusa, a UBS AG analyst in London. “Glaxo’s drug is reasonably likely to partake in a very big and dynamic market,” Amusa said in an interview. “So even if it is a later entrant, it’s still one that can do quite well.” He estimates sales may reach 453 million pounds ($712 million) in 2018. About 552 million people, or one in 10 adults, may have diabetes by 2030, compared with about 366 million now, if nothing is done to curb the epidemic, the International Diabetes Federation said in a report in November. As many as 183 million people have the disease and don’t know it, the Brussels-based federation said. Producing Insulin Albiglutide is a form of a hormone called GLP-1 that stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin, which diabetics need to keep blood-sugar levels under control. Novo Nordisk is the world’s biggest insulin maker, and its once-daily GLP-1 drug, Victoza, had sales of 5.99 billion kroner ($1 billion) last year. In November, Glaxo released some data from Harmony 7 that showed it failed to help diabetics control their blood-sugar levels as well as Victoza. That result may not hurt its chances of regulatory clearance because Bydureon was approved even after failing to show better efficacy than Victoza, Huang said. The Harmony 6 trial compared albiglutide with Eli Lilly’s Humalog in patients who also took Sanofi (SAN)’s Lantus. Patients using albiglutide had a 0.82 percent reduction in blood sugar, compared with a 0.66 percent drop in the Humalog group, Glaxo said in April. In the abstracts to be released today and the presentation at the June diabetes meeting, more detailed results on side effects and efficacy from both studies will be presented, according to the company. Harmony 8 Trial Harmony 8 will be completed within months, and the other five studies will be finished early next year, Glaxo has said. The data received so far on those trials are confidential and will be used for regulatory filings, the company said last month. Glaxo is aiming to rebuild its diabetes business after its Avandia drug was withdrawn from the market in Europe in 2010 and sales were limited in the U.S. because of an increased risk of heart attacks. Avandia was once the best-selling diabetes pill with $3 billion in annual revenue. Study results on albiglutide are unlikely to affect the outcome of Glaxo’s hostile takeover bid for Human Genome, Huang said. Investors are more focused on the heart-disease drug darapladib, which would enter a market that has been dominated by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Plavix, he said. That drug, which lost patent protection on May 17, had $7.09 billion in sales last year. Darapladib Data The first late-stage study on darapladib will conclude next year and the other in 2014, according to Glaxo. Last week, Human Genome said it entered into confidentiality agreements with several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies other than Glaxo about a “potential transaction.” Glaxo this week amended the conditions of its offer to account for measures the U.S. company adopted to avoid a hostile takeover. The $13-a-share bid and June 7 expiration date remain unchanged, Glaxo said.

Manhattanhenge

 

Manhattanhenge – sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice – is a semiannual occurrence during which the setting sun aligns with the east–west streets of the main street grid in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The neologism is derived from Stonehenge, where the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices with a similarly dramatic effect. The word was popularized in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. The term applies to those streets that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which are laid out in a grid offset 29.0 degrees from true east–west. (The 29.0 degrees should be added to true east and west, making the western bearing approximately 299.0 degrees.) During Manhattanhenge, an observer on one of the gridded east-west streets will see the sun setting over New Jersey directly opposite, from the street, along its centerline. The dates of Manhattanhenge usually occur around May 28 and July 12 or July 13 – spaced evenly around summer solstice. In 2011, Manhattanhenge occurred on May 31 at 8:17 p.m., and on July 12 (full sun) and 13 (half sun), both at 8:25 p.m.[1][2] The two corresponding mornings of sunrise right on the center lines of the Manhattan grid are approximately December 5 and January 8 – spaced evenly around winter solstice.[3] As with the solstices and equinoxes, the dates vary somewhat from year to year.[citation needed]

Dragon's Dogma – review | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

That's why so many developers and publishers have recently opted to play things safe by making low-budget mobile, social or download games. So Capcom deserves all the plaudits known to mankind – it's difficult to imagine how it could have undertaken a riskier project than Dragon's Dogma. Not only is it a full-blown, open-world RPG (and therefore eye-wateringly expensive to develop), but it's the Japanese developer-publisher's first, which partly explains why it is arriving in such an unheralded manner. Luckily – and a tad unexpectedly – it's shot through with quality, and surely destined to become a cult classic. Dragon's Dogma starts in time-honoured fashion, as far as RPGs are concerned, with an extensive character customisation phase, the ability to choose your sex and character class (warrior, mage, ranged-weapons specialist and all the usual suspects are available) and a typically mediaeval setting. The intro shows a dragon arriving to terrorise your sleepy seaside town; you take up arms against it, but it singles you out and rips your heart out. However, you miraculously survive, and find yourself lionised as The Arisen (and not the first Arisen, you learn, in the land of Gransys). So you embark on a quest to find the dragon that stole your heart, saving Gransys from the forces of evil in the process. So far, so bog-standard, you might think. But the whole Arisen thing has a point beyond adding a layer of back-story. Your semi-undead status means that so-called pawns will follow you: also semi-undead, they won't act autonomously, but otherwise seem like perfectly normal beings. So, you get to pick a main pawn, who stays with you throughout the whole game and levels up as you do, plus two other pawns, thus generating a full questing group. As you play, you encounter countless supplementary pawns, who you can hire on the spot. It's crucial to do just that, since not only can you adjust your party's skill-base that way (if, say, you need to draft in an extra mage), but you can find replacement pawns with better skills and stats than your current ones. You can also hire and fire pawns at rift-stones, found it most settlements, forts and the like. The pawn system works beautifully as, indeed, do most other aspects of Dragon's Dogma. It looks pretty good – something like a cross between Skyrim and Dark Souls. The crucial battle system is exemplary: as you learn new attacks, you can assign them to your button of choice, and you can acquire stat and skill-enhancing perks. Early on, you learn the importance of your kit. If you're a warrior, for example, a better sword makes your attacks way more effective – and there are three upgrade levels for each item of your equipment (upgrading requires workmen, money plus raw materials). It's tempting to pick up every item you come across, but too much kit makes you awfully sluggish, so you learn to store inessential kit and distribute the rest among your pawns. Again, the inventory system is pretty well designed. All Dragon's Dogma's processes, then, are nicely designed, as you would expect with competitors such as Skyrim out there. But it could still fall into the trap of being generic. Happily, it doesn't – indeed, it has loads of character, and plenty of the quirkiness for which Japanese games are renowned. There are some superb, mythology-inspired enemies to fight, such as griffins and chimeras, which are part-serpent, part-lion and part-goat. And, taking a cue from Shadow of the Colossus, you can grab onto them and climb towards their weak spots – hacking away at them, for example, in mid-air. While there are countless sub-quests to perform (such as eliminating bands of thieves, clearing mines of ogres, shadowing cultists and so on), the main storyline sees you increasing your renown until the Duke invites you into his castle, at which point things really begin to take off. Typically, your first encounter with the Duke sees you wearing a jester's hat, and being caught in the Duchess's bedchamber lands you with a spell in the dungeon. It isn't, of course, perfect: like all open-world RPGs, you will encounter the odd bug and moment of raggedness. You can lose something like half an hour's play if, say, you encounter a major enemy unexpectedly at night having forgotten to save for a while; and your pawns can annoy you with their repetitive banter (although you can actually influence your main pawn's conversational skills). But those are minor gripes in the grand RPG scheme of things, and Dragon's Dogma has everything that RPG-heads crave – you can lose yourself in tinkering around, collecting items, finding arcane quests and seeking random enemies for days. It's reassuringly complex, and astonishingly well-executed given that this is Capcom's first attempt at such a game. It may apparently have come from nowhere, but Dragon's Dogma has the wherewithal to go places. If you've extracted all you can from Skyrim, this will fill the resulting void in your life.

Max Payne 3 – review | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

As soon as the action kicks off, Dan and Sam Houser – the enigmatic siblings who run the Rockstar behemoth and steer its creative output – bring their obsession with genre cinema to the fore. Crammed into this story of a fallen cop seeking redemption as a bodyguard in the crime-ridden mega-city of Sao Paulo, there are snatches of Heat, Carlito's Way, Elite Squad and most obviously Man on Fire, Tony Scott's homage to bruised masculinity and doomed heroism. Indeed, Scott's entire ouvre is here; it's in the agonised self-loathing of the lead character, the brutality of the choreographed set pieces and the hallucinogenic lighting that floods every scene with woozy oranges and yellows. But here, this isn't just about style, it's about subjectivity. Payne is a drunken wreck, delirious with grief over the murder of his wife and daughter a decade ago. His battered state of mind is constantly communicated via a barrage of effects – from blurred, doubled graphics to saturated colours blooming over the screen like migraine flashes. It is a sustained conceit that, in less assured hands, could have become tiring and off-putting very quickly. Here, it's the most enthralling hangover you'll ever have. Because whatever else Max Payne 3 is, at its heart it's a blisteringly entertaining third-person shooter. Recruited as a private security contractor by an old police academy colleague, our hero is supposed to be looking after Rodrigo Branco and his brothers, a degenerate bunch of property magnates and party monsters, living the high life as the poverty piles up against their ultra secure apartment block. It all goes to hell when a street gang attempts to kidnap Rodrigo's trophy wife, and we're quickly drawn into a bloody war between drug runners, right-wing vigilantes and covert police forces who constantly clash and collude amid the squalor. This is a breathless hair-trigger blast-'em-up that veers thrillingly between high-class clubs and low-life strip joints, from million-dollar yachts to the tumbling corrugated iron shacks of the nightmarish favelas. Through 14 chapters, the memorable set-piece encounters pile on top of each other; a messy hostage exchange in a football stadium; a tense escape from a crowded bus station, a jail break that makes Oz look like Prisoner Cell Block H. It is relentless, pulverising stuff. The key to the game is the pitch perfect control system. A customisable auto-targetting system lets players select between hard or soft auto systems, the latter subtly guiding your reticule rather than aggressively yanking it toward specific enemies. Both are smart, seamless and intuitive, allowing newcomers to acclimatise to the turbo-charged pace. There's also a free aim system for veterans, happy to do their own thing with the rather sensitive cross hairs. Manoeuvering within the environment is super slick too. Hitting "X" gets you into cover from which you can easily target enemies, or blind shoot for a more cautious spray-and-pray approach. Disengaging just takes another tap on "X", while pressing "A" gets you to roll out of cover, allowing Max to speedily traverse an environment without providing too much of a target. Eventually, you start reading locations in micro-seconds, working out how to strafe the floor plan from object to object; enjoying the feel of it. You know you're in good hands when merely getting in to cover feels fun and expressive. At the core however are bullet time and shootdodge; the twin engines in Payne's brutal, hyper-stylised combat machine. Essentially, they're tweaked updates on the standard recipe – get kills to fill the meter, then press right analogue to go into slow-mo bullet mode, allowing our anti-hero to take out multiple targets while the enemies are still getting their bearings. These have always been the signature components of the Payne experience, but here, within a series of hugely complex environments, and powered by Natural Motion's advanced character animation physics, they lead to moments of absolutely thrilling action, which perfectly blend the interactive and the cinematic. There's a possibility it ought not be this utterly satisfying to dive headfirst down a stairwell, firing twin Uzis at a roomful of coke-frazzled gang members, but you feel it every single time. Even when you crash into a table (I've done this a lot), or accidentally leap off the side of a boat (this too). We have been promised an interactive tribute to those balletic John Woo sequences for years, and now we have it. Unlike most Rockstar titles, Max Payne 3 is an entirely linear experience – there is some room to explore certain sections, but we're locked into a narrative corridor and rocketing toward a single inescapable conclusion. While that's hugely restrictive compared to the open worlds of GTA and Red Dead, it has also allowed Rockstar to sharpen its narrative skills – the labrynthine plot, while hardly revolutionary, is involving and carefully delivered, and there are several engaging little side-stories, from unrequited love affairs to the tragic tale of a much-loved local footballer who fails to escape the violence of the favela. Together with snatched news reports and plenty of discoverable clues, these add some depth to the chaotic through-line, and give us sense of this vast, corrupt universe operating just out of Max's field of vision. Holding all this together is James McCaffrey's masterful performance as Max. His gruffly delivered mental monologue is a world-weary, Picaresque diatribe – part-classic Noir voice-over, part-raging suicide note. There's plenty of pitch dark humour in there, of course, but the over-riding subtext of loss and hopelessness is Rockstar at its indulgent, nihilistic best. On top of the 10-hour(ish) campaign, there's an arcade mode, split into two options: Score Attack gets you to re-attempt any chapter you like for the highest score possible, adding multipliers to consecutive or stylish hits; New York Minute is all about finishing missions as quickly as possible, earning extra time from kills. Both have global high score tables, but players can also compare scores against their friends, which should keep competitive Payne fanatics amused from sometime.

Max Payne 3 – review | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

As soon as the action kicks off, Dan and Sam Houser – the enigmatic siblings who run the Rockstar behemoth and steer its creative output – bring their obsession with genre cinema to the fore. Crammed into this story of a fallen cop seeking redemption as a bodyguard in the crime-ridden mega-city of Sao Paulo, there are snatches of Heat, Carlito's Way, Elite Squad and most obviously Man on Fire, Tony Scott's homage to bruised masculinity and doomed heroism. Indeed, Scott's entire ouvre is here; it's in the agonised self-loathing of the lead character, the brutality of the choreographed set pieces and the hallucinogenic lighting that floods every scene with woozy oranges and yellows. But here, this isn't just about style, it's about subjectivity. Payne is a drunken wreck, delirious with grief over the murder of his wife and daughter a decade ago. His battered state of mind is constantly communicated via a barrage of effects – from blurred, doubled graphics to saturated colours blooming over the screen like migraine flashes. It is a sustained conceit that, in less assured hands, could have become tiring and off-putting very quickly. Here, it's the most enthralling hangover you'll ever have. Because whatever else Max Payne 3 is, at its heart it's a blisteringly entertaining third-person shooter. Recruited as a private security contractor by an old police academy colleague, our hero is supposed to be looking after Rodrigo Branco and his brothers, a degenerate bunch of property magnates and party monsters, living the high life as the poverty piles up against their ultra secure apartment block. It all goes to hell when a street gang attempts to kidnap Rodrigo's trophy wife, and we're quickly drawn into a bloody war between drug runners, right-wing vigilantes and covert police forces who constantly clash and collude amid the squalor. This is a breathless hair-trigger blast-'em-up that veers thrillingly between high-class clubs and low-life strip joints, from million-dollar yachts to the tumbling corrugated iron shacks of the nightmarish favelas. Through 14 chapters, the memorable set-piece encounters pile on top of each other; a messy hostage exchange in a football stadium; a tense escape from a crowded bus station, a jail break that makes Oz look like Prisoner Cell Block H. It is relentless, pulverising stuff. The key to the game is the pitch perfect control system. A customisable auto-targetting system lets players select between hard or soft auto systems, the latter subtly guiding your reticule rather than aggressively yanking it toward specific enemies. Both are smart, seamless and intuitive, allowing newcomers to acclimatise to the turbo-charged pace. There's also a free aim system for veterans, happy to do their own thing with the rather sensitive cross hairs. Manoeuvering within the environment is super slick too. Hitting "X" gets you into cover from which you can easily target enemies, or blind shoot for a more cautious spray-and-pray approach. Disengaging just takes another tap on "X", while pressing "A" gets you to roll out of cover, allowing Max to speedily traverse an environment without providing too much of a target. Eventually, you start reading locations in micro-seconds, working out how to strafe the floor plan from object to object; enjoying the feel of it. You know you're in good hands when merely getting in to cover feels fun and expressive. At the core however are bullet time and shootdodge; the twin engines in Payne's brutal, hyper-stylised combat machine. Essentially, they're tweaked updates on the standard recipe – get kills to fill the meter, then press right analogue to go into slow-mo bullet mode, allowing our anti-hero to take out multiple targets while the enemies are still getting their bearings. These have always been the signature components of the Payne experience, but here, within a series of hugely complex environments, and powered by Natural Motion's advanced character animation physics, they lead to moments of absolutely thrilling action, which perfectly blend the interactive and the cinematic. There's a possibility it ought not be this utterly satisfying to dive headfirst down a stairwell, firing twin Uzis at a roomful of coke-frazzled gang members, but you feel it every single time. Even when you crash into a table (I've done this a lot), or accidentally leap off the side of a boat (this too). We have been promised an interactive tribute to those balletic John Woo sequences for years, and now we have it. Unlike most Rockstar titles, Max Payne 3 is an entirely linear experience – there is some room to explore certain sections, but we're locked into a narrative corridor and rocketing toward a single inescapable conclusion. While that's hugely restrictive compared to the open worlds of GTA and Red Dead, it has also allowed Rockstar to sharpen its narrative skills – the labrynthine plot, while hardly revolutionary, is involving and carefully delivered, and there are several engaging little side-stories, from unrequited love affairs to the tragic tale of a much-loved local footballer who fails to escape the violence of the favela. Together with snatched news reports and plenty of discoverable clues, these add some depth to the chaotic through-line, and give us sense of this vast, corrupt universe operating just out of Max's field of vision. Holding all this together is James McCaffrey's masterful performance as Max. His gruffly delivered mental monologue is a world-weary, Picaresque diatribe – part-classic Noir voice-over, part-raging suicide note. There's plenty of pitch dark humour in there, of course, but the over-riding subtext of loss and hopelessness is Rockstar at its indulgent, nihilistic best. On top of the 10-hour(ish) campaign, there's an arcade mode, split into two options: Score Attack gets you to re-attempt any chapter you like for the highest score possible, adding multipliers to consecutive or stylish hits; New York Minute is all about finishing missions as quickly as possible, earning extra time from kills. Both have global high score tables, but players can also compare scores against their friends, which should keep competitive Payne fanatics amused from sometime.

German Reunion Pains Inform Attitude Toward Greece - NYTimes.com

 

To an extent not often appreciated by outsiders, the lessons provided by that experience — with the nation pouring $2 trillion or more into the east, by some estimates, to little immediate benefit — color the outlook and decisions of policy makers and the attitudes of voters, a majority of whom would like to see Greece leave the euro zone, polls show. Most economists agree that Germany could do more to help revive growth throughout the euro zone, and there are reports that Chancellor Angela Merkel is preparing to propose a major European Union plan to accomplish that. But the German reluctance to underwrite the economies of Greece and other struggling countries is not just a matter of the parsimonious Germans hoarding their funds, as it is so often portrayed, but a sense that subsidies do not breed successful economies. “Money alone doesn’t help,” said Simon Huber, 44, out for a stroll recently near Sendlinger Gate here. “You’re only saved when you save yourself.” Though regularly lectured by their colleagues across the Atlantic about the need for stimulus measures to reverse the sagging fortunes of countries like Greece and Portugal, German experts believe they have a lot more experience trying to revive uncompetitive economies locked in currency regimes after nearly 23 years of dealing with the former East Germany. “We performed a real-life experiment,” said Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research here. While unemployment in the former West Germany is 6 percent, it remains stubbornly higher, at 11.2 percent, in the east. In 2010 gross domestic product per capita was more than $40,000 in the former West and just under $30,000 in the former East, compared with 1991 figures of $27,500 in the West and about $12,000 in the East. But much of the narrowing in the gaps between east and west, experts say, is attributed to the migration of job seekers westward as much as to any significant improvement in the east. There have been success stories in the revival of cities like Dresden and Leipzig, and some regions, especially on the southern edge of the former East Germany, are doing better. But the eastern part of the country today is known for perfectly rebuilt town squares that sit empty for much of the day and new stretches of autobahn with few drivers on them. “Germany made huge investments in infrastructure in East Germany,” said Klaus Adam, a professor of economics at the University of Mannheim. “The hope that the rest would follow has not been fulfilled. You need to get the productivity figures up.” While much of Europe follows the lead of President François Hollande of France in calling for jointly issued debt, or euro bonds, as the solution to Europe’s troubles, a vast majority of Germans reject the idea. To German ears, the demand for euro bonds sounds less like a technical solution to the crisis than a way to use Germany’s good credit rating to push off difficult but necessary reforms. “You don’t entrust your credit cards to anyone if you can’t control the spending,” said Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, in an interview Friday with the French newspaper Le Monde. “Pooling debt is not the right tool for growth,” said Mr. Weidmann, a former economic adviser to Chancellor Merkel. “This would pose both legal and economic problems. I don’t think we’ll be successful in trying to resolve the debt crisis with more debt outside the regular budgets.” Ms. Merkel dominated the political decision-making in Europe for much of the crisis, culminating in the signing in March of the fiscal pact to reduce budget deficits by 25 of the 27 European Union countries. But countries like Greece and Spain have underperformed economically and been unable to rein in their deficits as quickly as promised. 1 2 NEXT PAGE » Jack Ewing contributed reporting from Frankfurt.

Dragon's Dogma – review | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

That's why so many developers and publishers have recently opted to play things safe by making low-budget mobile, social or download games. So Capcom deserves all the plaudits known to mankind – it's difficult to imagine how it could have undertaken a riskier project than Dragon's Dogma. Not only is it a full-blown, open-world RPG (and therefore eye-wateringly expensive to develop), but it's the Japanese developer-publisher's first, which partly explains why it is arriving in such an unheralded manner. Luckily – and a tad unexpectedly – it's shot through with quality, and surely destined to become a cult classic. Dragon's Dogma starts in time-honoured fashion, as far as RPGs are concerned, with an extensive character customisation phase, the ability to choose your sex and character class (warrior, mage, ranged-weapons specialist and all the usual suspects are available) and a typically mediaeval setting. The intro shows a dragon arriving to terrorise your sleepy seaside town; you take up arms against it, but it singles you out and rips your heart out. However, you miraculously survive, and find yourself lionised as The Arisen (and not the first Arisen, you learn, in the land of Gransys). So you embark on a quest to find the dragon that stole your heart, saving Gransys from the forces of evil in the process. So far, so bog-standard, you might think. But the whole Arisen thing has a point beyond adding a layer of back-story. Your semi-undead status means that so-called pawns will follow you: also semi-undead, they won't act autonomously, but otherwise seem like perfectly normal beings. So, you get to pick a main pawn, who stays with you throughout the whole game and levels up as you do, plus two other pawns, thus generating a full questing group. As you play, you encounter countless supplementary pawns, who you can hire on the spot. It's crucial to do just that, since not only can you adjust your party's skill-base that way (if, say, you need to draft in an extra mage), but you can find replacement pawns with better skills and stats than your current ones. You can also hire and fire pawns at rift-stones, found it most settlements, forts and the like. The pawn system works beautifully as, indeed, do most other aspects of Dragon's Dogma. It looks pretty good – something like a cross between Skyrim and Dark Souls. The crucial battle system is exemplary: as you learn new attacks, you can assign them to your button of choice, and you can acquire stat and skill-enhancing perks. Early on, you learn the importance of your kit. If you're a warrior, for example, a better sword makes your attacks way more effective – and there are three upgrade levels for each item of your equipment (upgrading requires workmen, money plus raw materials). It's tempting to pick up every item you come across, but too much kit makes you awfully sluggish, so you learn to store inessential kit and distribute the rest among your pawns. Again, the inventory system is pretty well designed. All Dragon's Dogma's processes, then, are nicely designed, as you would expect with competitors such as Skyrim out there. But it could still fall into the trap of being generic. Happily, it doesn't – indeed, it has loads of character, and plenty of the quirkiness for which Japanese games are renowned. There are some superb, mythology-inspired enemies to fight, such as griffins and chimeras, which are part-serpent, part-lion and part-goat. And, taking a cue from Shadow of the Colossus, you can grab onto them and climb towards their weak spots – hacking away at them, for example, in mid-air. While there are countless sub-quests to perform (such as eliminating bands of thieves, clearing mines of ogres, shadowing cultists and so on), the main storyline sees you increasing your renown until the Duke invites you into his castle, at which point things really begin to take off. Typically, your first encounter with the Duke sees you wearing a jester's hat, and being caught in the Duchess's bedchamber lands you with a spell in the dungeon. It isn't, of course, perfect: like all open-world RPGs, you will encounter the odd bug and moment of raggedness. You can lose something like half an hour's play if, say, you encounter a major enemy unexpectedly at night having forgotten to save for a while; and your pawns can annoy you with their repetitive banter (although you can actually influence your main pawn's conversational skills). But those are minor gripes in the grand RPG scheme of things, and Dragon's Dogma has everything that RPG-heads crave – you can lose yourself in tinkering around, collecting items, finding arcane quests and seeking random enemies for days. It's reassuringly complex, and astonishingly well-executed given that this is Capcom's first attempt at such a game. It may apparently have come from nowhere, but Dragon's Dogma has the wherewithal to go places. If you've extracted all you can from Skyrim, this will fill the resulting void in your life.

German Reunion Pains Inform Attitude Toward Greece - NYTimes.com

 

To an extent not often appreciated by outsiders, the lessons provided by that experience — with the nation pouring $2 trillion or more into the east, by some estimates, to little immediate benefit — color the outlook and decisions of policy makers and the attitudes of voters, a majority of whom would like to see Greece leave the euro zone, polls show. Most economists agree that Germany could do more to help revive growth throughout the euro zone, and there are reports that Chancellor Angela Merkel is preparing to propose a major European Union plan to accomplish that. But the German reluctance to underwrite the economies of Greece and other struggling countries is not just a matter of the parsimonious Germans hoarding their funds, as it is so often portrayed, but a sense that subsidies do not breed successful economies. “Money alone doesn’t help,” said Simon Huber, 44, out for a stroll recently near Sendlinger Gate here. “You’re only saved when you save yourself.” Though regularly lectured by their colleagues across the Atlantic about the need for stimulus measures to reverse the sagging fortunes of countries like Greece and Portugal, German experts believe they have a lot more experience trying to revive uncompetitive economies locked in currency regimes after nearly 23 years of dealing with the former East Germany. “We performed a real-life experiment,” said Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research here. While unemployment in the former West Germany is 6 percent, it remains stubbornly higher, at 11.2 percent, in the east. In 2010 gross domestic product per capita was more than $40,000 in the former West and just under $30,000 in the former East, compared with 1991 figures of $27,500 in the West and about $12,000 in the East. But much of the narrowing in the gaps between east and west, experts say, is attributed to the migration of job seekers westward as much as to any significant improvement in the east. There have been success stories in the revival of cities like Dresden and Leipzig, and some regions, especially on the southern edge of the former East Germany, are doing better. But the eastern part of the country today is known for perfectly rebuilt town squares that sit empty for much of the day and new stretches of autobahn with few drivers on them. “Germany made huge investments in infrastructure in East Germany,” said Klaus Adam, a professor of economics at the University of Mannheim. “The hope that the rest would follow has not been fulfilled. You need to get the productivity figures up.” While much of Europe follows the lead of President François Hollande of France in calling for jointly issued debt, or euro bonds, as the solution to Europe’s troubles, a vast majority of Germans reject the idea. To German ears, the demand for euro bonds sounds less like a technical solution to the crisis than a way to use Germany’s good credit rating to push off difficult but necessary reforms. “You don’t entrust your credit cards to anyone if you can’t control the spending,” said Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, in an interview Friday with the French newspaper Le Monde. “Pooling debt is not the right tool for growth,” said Mr. Weidmann, a former economic adviser to Chancellor Merkel. “This would pose both legal and economic problems. I don’t think we’ll be successful in trying to resolve the debt crisis with more debt outside the regular budgets.” Ms. Merkel dominated the political decision-making in Europe for much of the crisis, culminating in the signing in March of the fiscal pact to reduce budget deficits by 25 of the 27 European Union countries. But countries like Greece and Spain have underperformed economically and been unable to rein in their deficits as quickly as promised. 1 2 NEXT PAGE » Jack Ewing contributed reporting from Frankfurt.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – review | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

GR:FS adopts a close up third-person perspective, but plays very much like an FPS, packed with in-your-face action right from the offset – something that might surprise fans of the series. With four acts – set in Africa, Pakistan, Russia and Norway – GR:FS fits so much into its generic 14-mission campaign it can feel a bit rushed. There are obvious debts to Crysis 2 and Deus Ex, particularly with futuristic gear such as the camoflage suit offering ghostly protection provided you don't move too fast or fire a weapon. But some ideas are both original and superbly realised. Take the Sync Shot, where you can paint up to four targets for team mates to establish line of sight for a coordinated kill. It's a great idea that's bound to be copied by others, as will some of the gadgets. From the brilliant Warhound mobile artillery platform that launches mortars or sidewinder missiles according to remote commands, to the portable UAV's that hover above the battlefield picking out targets, GR:FS has the kind of gadgets James Bond would kill for. And although we're used to seeing intelligent HUDs these days, GR:FS has one of the best – including a super sharp Magnetic View mode, which picks out armed enemies and other metal objects such as landmines. GR:FS also keeps the gun club happy with a massive selection of more than 50 weapons – each of which can be customised – in seven categories with more than 600 separate components. From sniper scopes to armour-piercing rounds, custom stocks and retractable undercarriages, there are so many choices it's tempting to keep replaying levels until you find your ultimate combo. It's fun to play too, with a learning curve that tempts you with new gadgets every few levels and some decent squad AI to back you up. And although making progress is heavily geared towards finding and taking cover, it makes this easier with a cover-dash command that lets you sprint between them by holding down the X key. However, there are some problems. For starters, the engine is far better at depicting gizmos than environments, with largely flat textures, cramped locations and occasional graphical glitches throughout – even in cutscenes. It's also ironic that most of the eye-catching moments – the sandstorms and blizzards or the way the screen shakes when under suppressing fire – are also ones that reduce your visibility to near zero. GR:FS is also very linear, with each level providing a single objective and only additional challenges for, say for killing 15 enemies in Magnetic mode. Admittedly, giving total player freedom would undermine the squad-based ethos, but without being able to issue movement commands, straying from a narrow focus risks losing sensor lock and a return to the last checkpoint. Speaking of which, although most of the cut-scenes are forgettable, they're also un-skipable, meaning you may see them repeatedly after restarts. Luckily, when the single player game is done, there's plenty more to get on with. GR:FS multiplayer is very much a work in progress, and there are some stability, balancing and lobby issues with U-Play still to be sorted, but it's clear the developers have been busy since their recent 600,000-player beta test. The original three multiplayer modes – Conflict, Saboteur and Guerilla – have been boosted with 3 more: Decoy, Siege and a split-screen Co-Op Campaign. Conflict has two teams competing to see who can fulfill the most objectives in 15 minutes. Saboteur is a race to carry a bomb to the rival team's detonation area. Decoy and Siege are best-of-three modes; the first a slightly confusing one involving one real objective and two decoy traps, the second with no respawns and both teams up against the clock to claim or defend a base. Finally, Guerilla is a Horde variant where your team has to withstand 50 waves of increasingly hostile enemies. With character classes that owe a clear debt to Battlefield 3, you get a choice of three to start with and two more unlocked on reaching level 50. Scouts are basically snipers, fleet footed and supported by camo suits. Engineers can hack enemy scanners for intel, but are also useful in close combat. Finally, there's Riflemen, who can lay down suppressing fire and soak up more damage. Whichever character or mode you choose, GR:FS is unashamedly team focused, with frantic battles best won by supporting your colleagues and additional bonuses, upgrades and kill-streaks awarded for objectives solved by teamwork. This won't please lone snipers or last-man-standing fans, but when it works with the right compadres, GR:FS is a refreshing alternative to the usual FPS machismo. However, with only two maps for each multiplayer mode and four for Guerilla, Ubisoft is not exactly splashing out on content. This may be due to a premium DLC pack coming in July with more maps, weapons and upgrades, but including a few more maps would have been a nice reward for a patient Ghost Recon community that now risks being divided between DLC haves and have-nots. GR:FS is so nearly a landmark game. It's busting with great gadgets, challenging and unusual to play and committed to a true co-op spirit that most rivals have long since abandoned. If only it looked a little better, had a few more maps and U-Play made it easier to find a quick online match-up with your mates. Even so, it's a worthy alternative to any FPS and puts the Ghost Recon franchise right back at the cutting edge

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – review | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

GR:FS adopts a close up third-person perspective, but plays very much like an FPS, packed with in-your-face action right from the offset – something that might surprise fans of the series. With four acts – set in Africa, Pakistan, Russia and Norway – GR:FS fits so much into its generic 14-mission campaign it can feel a bit rushed. There are obvious debts to Crysis 2 and Deus Ex, particularly with futuristic gear such as the camoflage suit offering ghostly protection provided you don't move too fast or fire a weapon. But some ideas are both original and superbly realised. Take the Sync Shot, where you can paint up to four targets for team mates to establish line of sight for a coordinated kill. It's a great idea that's bound to be copied by others, as will some of the gadgets. From the brilliant Warhound mobile artillery platform that launches mortars or sidewinder missiles according to remote commands, to the portable UAV's that hover above the battlefield picking out targets, GR:FS has the kind of gadgets James Bond would kill for. And although we're used to seeing intelligent HUDs these days, GR:FS has one of the best – including a super sharp Magnetic View mode, which picks out armed enemies and other metal objects such as landmines. GR:FS also keeps the gun club happy with a massive selection of more than 50 weapons – each of which can be customised – in seven categories with more than 600 separate components. From sniper scopes to armour-piercing rounds, custom stocks and retractable undercarriages, there are so many choices it's tempting to keep replaying levels until you find your ultimate combo. It's fun to play too, with a learning curve that tempts you with new gadgets every few levels and some decent squad AI to back you up. And although making progress is heavily geared towards finding and taking cover, it makes this easier with a cover-dash command that lets you sprint between them by holding down the X key. However, there are some problems. For starters, the engine is far better at depicting gizmos than environments, with largely flat textures, cramped locations and occasional graphical glitches throughout – even in cutscenes. It's also ironic that most of the eye-catching moments – the sandstorms and blizzards or the way the screen shakes when under suppressing fire – are also ones that reduce your visibility to near zero. GR:FS is also very linear, with each level providing a single objective and only additional challenges for, say for killing 15 enemies in Magnetic mode. Admittedly, giving total player freedom would undermine the squad-based ethos, but without being able to issue movement commands, straying from a narrow focus risks losing sensor lock and a return to the last checkpoint. Speaking of which, although most of the cut-scenes are forgettable, they're also un-skipable, meaning you may see them repeatedly after restarts. Luckily, when the single player game is done, there's plenty more to get on with. GR:FS multiplayer is very much a work in progress, and there are some stability, balancing and lobby issues with U-Play still to be sorted, but it's clear the developers have been busy since their recent 600,000-player beta test. The original three multiplayer modes – Conflict, Saboteur and Guerilla – have been boosted with 3 more: Decoy, Siege and a split-screen Co-Op Campaign. Conflict has two teams competing to see who can fulfill the most objectives in 15 minutes. Saboteur is a race to carry a bomb to the rival team's detonation area. Decoy and Siege are best-of-three modes; the first a slightly confusing one involving one real objective and two decoy traps, the second with no respawns and both teams up against the clock to claim or defend a base. Finally, Guerilla is a Horde variant where your team has to withstand 50 waves of increasingly hostile enemies. With character classes that owe a clear debt to Battlefield 3, you get a choice of three to start with and two more unlocked on reaching level 50. Scouts are basically snipers, fleet footed and supported by camo suits. Engineers can hack enemy scanners for intel, but are also useful in close combat. Finally, there's Riflemen, who can lay down suppressing fire and soak up more damage. Whichever character or mode you choose, GR:FS is unashamedly team focused, with frantic battles best won by supporting your colleagues and additional bonuses, upgrades and kill-streaks awarded for objectives solved by teamwork. This won't please lone snipers or last-man-standing fans, but when it works with the right compadres, GR:FS is a refreshing alternative to the usual FPS machismo. However, with only two maps for each multiplayer mode and four for Guerilla, Ubisoft is not exactly splashing out on content. This may be due to a premium DLC pack coming in July with more maps, weapons and upgrades, but including a few more maps would have been a nice reward for a patient Ghost Recon community that now risks being divided between DLC haves and have-nots. GR:FS is so nearly a landmark game. It's busting with great gadgets, challenging and unusual to play and committed to a true co-op spirit that most rivals have long since abandoned. If only it looked a little better, had a few more maps and U-Play made it easier to find a quick online match-up with your mates. Even so, it's a worthy alternative to any FPS and puts the Ghost Recon franchise right back at the cutting edge

Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 2 | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

On the 25th anniversary of the genesis of his game series Metal Gear, creator Hideo Kojima reflects on a career spent battling the stigma of working in video games in the second of a two part interview feature, exclusive to the Guardian Share 42 Email Solid Snake ... Kojima named his lead character after Snake Plissken, who was played by Kurt Russell in the John Carpenter film Escape From New York Despite finding like-minded individuals at Konami, Kojima's first couple of years at the studio were far from easy. For one, his directorial ambition was fiercely at odds with its orthodox Japanese institutional hierarchy. "Lost World was the first project I was assigned to and the game was cancelled after six months," he says. "It was a serious blow to all of us on the team. I couldn't believe it. After that I began to work on Metal Gear. Konami wanted a war game, because they were incredibly popular at that time. But I didn't want to make the same as everyone else so I started thinking of ways in which I could subvert the genre." It was at this point that Kojima's love for film came into play. "I remembered the film The Great Escape and thought this would be a good approach for something distinct. My first concept was for a game in which you were a prisoner of war and simply had to escape. If you were caught you'd be brought back to the prison. The idea was for a non-combat game. "But I had such a hard time convincing people. I had so many things going against me at that time. For one, my first game had been cancelled, so I hadn't released anything yet. Then I was working in quite a large creative group, and I was the youngest. Finally, the type of game I wanted to make didn't exist at that time. The odds were stacked against me and it was very hard to earn the trust of the team." After a few months of failing to make his voice heard, Kojima managed to convince the most senior member of the team to meet with him. "He listened to my frustrations," Kojima says, "and then approached one of the higher-ups in the company who must have seen something in me as he invited me to pitch my ideas for Metal Gear in front of everyone. Everyone in the team saw that it was a revolutionary idea, I think, and from then on, I had their support." The first Metal Gear was developed for the MSX, a home computer format that enjoyed a fraction of the market share of Nintendo's inaugural games console, the Famicom. While many would have seen being told to make a game for underdog technology as a drawback, Kojima turned it to his advantage. "The MSX audience was more technologically savvy than the Famicom audience and as such the game had a much wider influence than it perhaps might have if it had just released on Nintendo's hardware. "We spent a long time working on animations that wouldn't have been possible on the Famicom. I would go so far to say that, had I been working in the Famicom department from the beginning I probably wouldn't have come up with the idea for Metal Gear. The features of the systems are so different. And the game concept wouldn't have passed Konami's internal processing, which required more mainstream, family-friendly titles for the Famicom." Following the success of the game Konami commissioned a sequel, this time for the Nintendo hardware. As Kojima had been hired to work in the MSX division, he was kept separate from the Famicom team, only hearing about the project second hand. "I heard about Snake's Revenge through rumours, initially," he says. "I was quite new at the company and had no influence on the other departments. "Then one day I met someone on the train who worked in the Famicom department. He used to work for me and was now working on the sequel. He said: 'I don't think this is a true sequel. I think you should make the true sequel.' So on my way home I began to think about what that might look like. Without that encounter I probably wouldn't have pursued a proper sequel, and there might never have been a Metal Gear Solid." Kojima was merely a game designer at that time, and had no detailed knowledge of the budgets involved, but the trust he had gained from the first game caused Konami to pour more money into his sequel. "Because we were making a war game, Konami wanted the experience to be authentic, so every week they paid for us to visit a forest in the mountains nearby. We would dress up in military uniform and play games there. It was a good time." Even at this early point in his career, Kojima's directorial flair was irrepressible, and, without programming knowledge, he found himself frustrated by having to rely on programmers to bring his vision to life. "I would tell the programmers what I wanted to show on screen, when I wanted the dialogue to display, or a music cue to sound," he says. "But they wouldn't do it how I wanted. They would change it slightly to what they thought was best. "It was hugely frustrating making games at that time for me. I wanted to control everything. So, after the second Metal Gear launched, I developed my own scripting engine and decided to work on adventure games so that I could have complete control over when the animation played or when the music triggered. That's when I developed Snatcher and Policenauts. It was a way to take creative control back from the programmers." But by 1998, Kojima had been promoted to a managerial role at Konami, and enjoyed autonomy to choose the people he wanted on the team – staff who would complement his vision. One such hire was Yoji Shinkawa, an artist that Kojima hired straight out of college in 1994. "Shinkawa was born to be a video game artist," says Kojima. "As soon as I knew I was to be making Metal Gear Solid, I asked Shinkawa to join the team and his work, as much as anything, defined the series from there on." Metal Gear Solid's development coincided with a technological shift in the medium, that brought with it creative challenges: the move from 2D graphics (and the accompanying gameplay) to the third dimension. Kojima's team developed a 3D engine from scratch for the game and Shinkawa would work from home for months at a time creating the 3D models that would populate the game. "Yoji created real life 3D plastic models of all of the game's vehicles and as he used so many chemicals, he had to work from home as the fumes were harmful to the rest of the team," Kojima says. "I would visit his apartment every day to check that he was OK. The first time I went there the floor was covered in plastic parts." The game launched to critical acclaim and commercial success. Its brilliance was in the packaging of the idea, couching the hide-and-seek act of creeping through the shadows in a tight, carefully orchestrated scenario in which one man must infiltrate a radioactive waste facility armed with little more than a radio, a bandana and a packet of cigarettes. Despite the one-man army set-up, Metal Gear Solid's narrative offers more layers of complexity than a Rambo or a Bond movie, Kojima shying away from a chance for a character to soliloquise on the nature of warfare, or the role of solider pawn, those very same figures controlled by the player, on the battlefield. I ask whether the reaction to the game surprised him, or whether he knew he had created something special. "We worked so hard on that game that there wasn't even time to think about how it might be received," he says. "We were just making the game that we wanted to play and I don't think I had any expectations that it was going to be a big game. So when I heard it was selling well in America it didn't feel real. "I think the first time the game's success struck me was when I came to London in 1999. We visited Forbidden Planet to promote the game. I walked in and the shopkeepers knew about me. I couldn't believe it. It was the most surprising moment in my life." Despite this success, Kojima was most interested in impressing the woman who had supported him from the very beginning: his mother. "About that time I heard that my mother had stopped telling her friends what I did for a living," he tells me. "She was hugely supportive in the beginning. But after a decade or so her friends' sons and daughters all had high positions in big companies. I think she felt a little awkward about what I did by this point." But Metal Gear Solid's success convinced Konami to plough a huge amount of money into its sequel, developed for Sony's PlayStation 2. "We had so much more budget so we were able to go to Hollywood and hire a composer [Harry Gregson-Williams]," he says. "That was a huge moment for me, made all the better because Harry had heard of my games." Following Metal Gear Solid 2's release, Kojima was listed by Newsweek as one of the 'Top 10 People To Watch In 2003'. "After that, my mother began to tell all of her friends about what I did," says Kojima, laughing. "It was sweet. By that time she was 70 years old. But she decided that she was going to play through my games. "It took her an entire year to complete Metal Gear Solid 3. She would get her friends to help her. When she defeated The End [a character the player faces off against in one of the game's final missions] she called me up and said: 'It is finished'." Today, there is little that Kojima would change about his career, and he has no regrets: "Looking back, I am thankful that I didn't go into the film industry," he says. "If I had joined that industry I wouldn't have been able to make the kind of films I wanted to, and I really enjoy the games I make now." Indeed, Kojima has lost none of his infectious energy and drive to create. He arrives to work at 6.30am each day, and spends an hour meditating on his life before heading into the business of the day, which is split equally between managerial responsibilities and creative ones. "I wouldn't have taken the managerial role if I wasn't heavily involved in the creative process too," he says. "I have to have a creative role otherwise I simply wouldn't come into work. I try to always have a game design role as part of my responsibilities at any one time. If I didn't have this, I wouldn't be able to do what I do." One part of his daily ritual stems from even earlier than his formative days working as a game designer for the MSX. Now 48, Kojima's father's influence on him is still very apparent in his routine. Every day, no matter how busy his schedule, the designer takes 90-odd minutes to watch a film at his desk. "It's part of my ritual to watch a new film every day, no matter what," he says. "It's important to me." Sensing that the habit is as much a tribute to his father's demand that the family watch a film a day as it is a way to draw creative inspiration from another medium, I venture the question: "Do you think your father would have been proud of what you do?" "I don't think..." he says, quietly. "I mean. If he was still alive… Well, I don't think he would be unhappy about my choice."

With Confession in the Patz Case, the Difficult Work Begins - NYTimes.com

 

It should be a detective’s dream come true. The police have their man, their investigation sewn up with a tidy bow of his own damning words. Far from it, for now the police must try to prove that he did what he said he did. And in the case of the suspect, Pedro Hernandez, and the boy, Etan Patz, that is not going to be easy. In many ways, this confession is a worst-case scenario of corroboration, starting with the body. The police said Mr. Hernandez confessed to strangling Etan in the basement of the SoHo bodega where he worked in 1979 and dumping the body in a bag with the garbage on the street. Had he buried it in a lot someplace, the police could dig, but Mr. Hernandez’s version of events renders the haystack too big, the needle almost certainly gone for good. The prosecution of Mr. Hernandez ground forward on Friday, with his arraignment on second-degree murder charges. At the same time, officers tried to return to the past, stepping down into the basement of what is now a boutique eyeglasses shop to document its current appearance, not even pretending to believe there are any clues to be found. The modern training that detectives receive goes out the window here: video from street cameras; incriminating e-mails; MetroCard swipe data; cellphone logs. “Time is an enemy here,” said Vernon J. Geberth, a retired New York City police lieutenant commander in the Bronx. He said he was struck by the absence of corroborating details in the news accounts of Mr. Hernandez’s confession. “I have to ask myself a question, do they have something they’re not telling us?” he said. So how do you corroborate Mr. Hernandez’s story? A New York detective and an assistant district attorney, both veterans and both speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not involved in the Patz case, spoke of ways to tackle such a difficult case. “Usually, there is a scene, usually there is a body,” the prosecutor said. “If you don’t have physical evidence that points to your guy, you go into your guy’s background. How did his mother treat him? Why this? Did his brother die? So, he wanted revenge? You look for family members, you look for relatives, you look for teachers. Why would he do such a thing?” “You want to make sure he’s not a chronic confessor,” the detective said. Many books are about those who confessed to crimes they did not commit. Detectives have most likely returned to Mr. Hernandez’s story. “You always go back for more detail, more detail, more detail,” Mr. Geberth said. “The confession is usually devoid of a lot of facts. They just want to get it out. Once it’s out, the barrier has been crossed.” The need to confess behind him, the suspect may relax. “Get him something to eat, something to drink. ‘By the way, did you speak to anybody? Did you go to work the next day, or take the day off?’ Important things.” The police know who worked at the bodega in 1979 because several employees were interviewed when Etan disappeared. Did Mr. Hernandez say or do anything strange at that time? Mr. Hernandez’s family said he spoke of having done “a bad thing and killed a child in New York,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Thursday night. The detective I spoke with said he would return to those people, and find others. “What he said to them, when he said it, what details he gave. What was his demeanor? Has he ever admitted to doing anything else?” He would try to find other people with whom Mr. Hernandez spoke about the boy. “Interview people who haven’t come forward.” The detective said he would have revisited the scene with the suspect as it was in 1979, in a room with photographs from that time. “I would take the photographs and say, ‘Point to where you met him. Point to where he was,’ ” the detective said. “I’d have him put an ‘X’ on it with a Magic Marker and sign it.” Why? “Great evidence in court,” he said. “When you go to court, you not only have his statement saying that’s what happened, but you have evidence for jurors to see.” Jurors. That there are 12 people walking around who may one day sit in judgment of Mr. Hernandez is what has the police hunting for proof and for the holy grail — motive, the prosecutor said. “Corroboration is such a legal thing, it’s a thin requirement,” he said. “The question is, do you get the jury to believe this is the real thing?” Jurors, he said, “care about why.” E-mail: crimescene@nytimes.com Twitter: @mwilsonnyt

Regulators’ Role at Chase Scrutinized - NYTimes.com

 

Roughly 40 examiners from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and 70 staff members from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are embedded in the nation’s largest bank. They are typically assigned to the departments undertaking the greatest risks, like the structured products trading desk. Even as the chief investment office swelled in size and made increasingly large bets, regulators did not put any examiners in the unit’s offices in London or New York, according to current and former regulators who spoke only on condition of anonymity. Senior JPMorgan executives assured the bank’s watchdogs after the financial crisis that the chief investment office, with hundreds of billions in investments, was not taking risks that would be a cause for concern, people briefed on the matter said. Just weeks before the trading losses became public, bank officials also dismissed the worry of a senior New York Fed examiner about the mounting size of the bets, according to current Fed officials. The lapses have raised questions about who, if anyone, was policing the chief investment office and whether regulators were sufficiently independent. Instead of putting the JPMorgan unit under regular watch, the comptroller’s office and the Fed chose to examine it periodically. The bank pushback also suggests that JPMorgan had sway over its regulators, an influence that several said was enhanced by the bank’s charismatic chief executive, Jamie Dimon, long considered Washington’s favorite banker. Now, as regulators scramble to determine whether the chief investment office took inappropriate risks, some former Fed officials are asking whether the investigation should be spearheaded by the New York Fed, where Mr. Dimon has a seat on the board. Some lawmakers and former regulators also have reservations about the comptroller’s office, which is investigating the trade and was the primary regulator for JPMorgan’s chief investment unit. “The central question is why Jamie Dimon was able to so successfully convince both its regulators that there was nothing to see at the chief investment office,” said Mark Williams, a professor of finance at Boston University, who also served as a Federal Reserve Bank examiner in Boston and San Francisco. “To me, it suggests that he is too close to his regulators.” Regulators, for their part, say they cannot micromanage a bank or outlaw its risk taking and did not bow to bank pressure when assigning examiners. William C. Dudley, president of the New York Fed, has said that JPMorgan’s losses did not pose a threat to the bank’s viability. In a statement on Friday, the comptroller of the currency, Thomas J. Curry, said, “I am committed to ensuring this agency provides strong supervision for all of the institutions we oversee.” Regulators are not typically stationed at divisions like JPMorgan’s chief investment office, which are known as Treasury units. The units hedge risk and invest extra money on hand, and tend to make short-term investments. But JPMorgan’s office, with a portfolio of nearly $400 billion, had become a profit center that made large bets and recorded $5 billion in profit over the three years through 2011. Officials of JPMorgan declined to comment on its relationships with regulators. Long before the recent trading blunder, JPMorgan had a pattern of pushing back on regulators, according to more than a dozen current and former regulators interviewed for this article. That resistance increased after Mr. Dimon steered JPMorgan through the financial crisis in better shape than virtually all its rivals. “JPMorgan has been screaming bloody murder about not needing regulators hovering, especially in their London office,” said a former examiner embedded at the bank, adding, in reference to Mr. Dimon, “But he was trusted because he had done so well through the turmoil.” Even now, executives at JPMorgan disagree with some regulators over how quickly the bank should unwind the soured trade, according to people briefed on the negotiations. JPMorgan would like to be done with the bad bet that has resulted in at least $3 billion in losses already, but senior executives argue it is a delicate process, especially as traders and hedge funds on the opposite side of the trade seize on the fact that JPMorgan is under pressure to exit the position.

Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out – interview part 2 | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

On the 25th anniversary of the genesis of his game series Metal Gear, creator Hideo Kojima reflects on a career spent battling the stigma of working in video games in the second of a two part interview feature, exclusive to the Guardian Share 42 Email Solid Snake ... Kojima named his lead character after Snake Plissken, who was played by Kurt Russell in the John Carpenter film Escape From New York Despite finding like-minded individuals at Konami, Kojima's first couple of years at the studio were far from easy. For one, his directorial ambition was fiercely at odds with its orthodox Japanese institutional hierarchy. "Lost World was the first project I was assigned to and the game was cancelled after six months," he says. "It was a serious blow to all of us on the team. I couldn't believe it. After that I began to work on Metal Gear. Konami wanted a war game, because they were incredibly popular at that time. But I didn't want to make the same as everyone else so I started thinking of ways in which I could subvert the genre." It was at this point that Kojima's love for film came into play. "I remembered the film The Great Escape and thought this would be a good approach for something distinct. My first concept was for a game in which you were a prisoner of war and simply had to escape. If you were caught you'd be brought back to the prison. The idea was for a non-combat game. "But I had such a hard time convincing people. I had so many things going against me at that time. For one, my first game had been cancelled, so I hadn't released anything yet. Then I was working in quite a large creative group, and I was the youngest. Finally, the type of game I wanted to make didn't exist at that time. The odds were stacked against me and it was very hard to earn the trust of the team." After a few months of failing to make his voice heard, Kojima managed to convince the most senior member of the team to meet with him. "He listened to my frustrations," Kojima says, "and then approached one of the higher-ups in the company who must have seen something in me as he invited me to pitch my ideas for Metal Gear in front of everyone. Everyone in the team saw that it was a revolutionary idea, I think, and from then on, I had their support." The first Metal Gear was developed for the MSX, a home computer format that enjoyed a fraction of the market share of Nintendo's inaugural games console, the Famicom. While many would have seen being told to make a game for underdog technology as a drawback, Kojima turned it to his advantage. "The MSX audience was more technologically savvy than the Famicom audience and as such the game had a much wider influence than it perhaps might have if it had just released on Nintendo's hardware. "We spent a long time working on animations that wouldn't have been possible on the Famicom. I would go so far to say that, had I been working in the Famicom department from the beginning I probably wouldn't have come up with the idea for Metal Gear. The features of the systems are so different. And the game concept wouldn't have passed Konami's internal processing, which required more mainstream, family-friendly titles for the Famicom." Following the success of the game Konami commissioned a sequel, this time for the Nintendo hardware. As Kojima had been hired to work in the MSX division, he was kept separate from the Famicom team, only hearing about the project second hand. "I heard about Snake's Revenge through rumours, initially," he says. "I was quite new at the company and had no influence on the other departments. "Then one day I met someone on the train who worked in the Famicom department. He used to work for me and was now working on the sequel. He said: 'I don't think this is a true sequel. I think you should make the true sequel.' So on my way home I began to think about what that might look like. Without that encounter I probably wouldn't have pursued a proper sequel, and there might never have been a Metal Gear Solid." Kojima was merely a game designer at that time, and had no detailed knowledge of the budgets involved, but the trust he had gained from the first game caused Konami to pour more money into his sequel. "Because we were making a war game, Konami wanted the experience to be authentic, so every week they paid for us to visit a forest in the mountains nearby. We would dress up in military uniform and play games there. It was a good time." Even at this early point in his career, Kojima's directorial flair was irrepressible, and, without programming knowledge, he found himself frustrated by having to rely on programmers to bring his vision to life. "I would tell the programmers what I wanted to show on screen, when I wanted the dialogue to display, or a music cue to sound," he says. "But they wouldn't do it how I wanted. They would change it slightly to what they thought was best. "It was hugely frustrating making games at that time for me. I wanted to control everything. So, after the second Metal Gear launched, I developed my own scripting engine and decided to work on adventure games so that I could have complete control over when the animation played or when the music triggered. That's when I developed Snatcher and Policenauts. It was a way to take creative control back from the programmers." But by 1998, Kojima had been promoted to a managerial role at Konami, and enjoyed autonomy to choose the people he wanted on the team – staff who would complement his vision. One such hire was Yoji Shinkawa, an artist that Kojima hired straight out of college in 1994. "Shinkawa was born to be a video game artist," says Kojima. "As soon as I knew I was to be making Metal Gear Solid, I asked Shinkawa to join the team and his work, as much as anything, defined the series from there on." Metal Gear Solid's development coincided with a technological shift in the medium, that brought with it creative challenges: the move from 2D graphics (and the accompanying gameplay) to the third dimension. Kojima's team developed a 3D engine from scratch for the game and Shinkawa would work from home for months at a time creating the 3D models that would populate the game. "Yoji created real life 3D plastic models of all of the game's vehicles and as he used so many chemicals, he had to work from home as the fumes were harmful to the rest of the team," Kojima says. "I would visit his apartment every day to check that he was OK. The first time I went there the floor was covered in plastic parts." The game launched to critical acclaim and commercial success. Its brilliance was in the packaging of the idea, couching the hide-and-seek act of creeping through the shadows in a tight, carefully orchestrated scenario in which one man must infiltrate a radioactive waste facility armed with little more than a radio, a bandana and a packet of cigarettes. Despite the one-man army set-up, Metal Gear Solid's narrative offers more layers of complexity than a Rambo or a Bond movie, Kojima shying away from a chance for a character to soliloquise on the nature of warfare, or the role of solider pawn, those very same figures controlled by the player, on the battlefield. I ask whether the reaction to the game surprised him, or whether he knew he had created something special. "We worked so hard on that game that there wasn't even time to think about how it might be received," he says. "We were just making the game that we wanted to play and I don't think I had any expectations that it was going to be a big game. So when I heard it was selling well in America it didn't feel real. "I think the first time the game's success struck me was when I came to London in 1999. We visited Forbidden Planet to promote the game. I walked in and the shopkeepers knew about me. I couldn't believe it. It was the most surprising moment in my life." Despite this success, Kojima was most interested in impressing the woman who had supported him from the very beginning: his mother. "About that time I heard that my mother had stopped telling her friends what I did for a living," he tells me. "She was hugely supportive in the beginning. But after a decade or so her friends' sons and daughters all had high positions in big companies. I think she felt a little awkward about what I did by this point." But Metal Gear Solid's success convinced Konami to plough a huge amount of money into its sequel, developed for Sony's PlayStation 2. "We had so much more budget so we were able to go to Hollywood and hire a composer [Harry Gregson-Williams]," he says. "That was a huge moment for me, made all the better because Harry had heard of my games." Following Metal Gear Solid 2's release, Kojima was listed by Newsweek as one of the 'Top 10 People To Watch In 2003'. "After that, my mother began to tell all of her friends about what I did," says Kojima, laughing. "It was sweet. By that time she was 70 years old. But she decided that she was going to play through my games. "It took her an entire year to complete Metal Gear Solid 3. She would get her friends to help her. When she defeated The End [a character the player faces off against in one of the game's final missions] she called me up and said: 'It is finished'." Today, there is little that Kojima would change about his career, and he has no regrets: "Looking back, I am thankful that I didn't go into the film industry," he says. "If I had joined that industry I wouldn't have been able to make the kind of films I wanted to, and I really enjoy the games I make now." Indeed, Kojima has lost none of his infectious energy and drive to create. He arrives to work at 6.30am each day, and spends an hour meditating on his life before heading into the business of the day, which is split equally between managerial responsibilities and creative ones. "I wouldn't have taken the managerial role if I wasn't heavily involved in the creative process too," he says. "I have to have a creative role otherwise I simply wouldn't come into work. I try to always have a game design role as part of my responsibilities at any one time. If I didn't have this, I wouldn't be able to do what I do." One part of his daily ritual stems from even earlier than his formative days working as a game designer for the MSX. Now 48, Kojima's father's influence on him is still very apparent in his routine. Every day, no matter how busy his schedule, the designer takes 90-odd minutes to watch a film at his desk. "It's part of my ritual to watch a new film every day, no matter what," he says. "It's important to me." Sensing that the habit is as much a tribute to his father's demand that the family watch a film a day as it is a way to draw creative inspiration from another medium, I venture the question: "Do you think your father would have been proud of what you do?" "I don't think..." he says, quietly. "I mean. If he was still alive… Well, I don't think he would be unhappy about my choice."