Tag: there’s
Cosy coastal Galway cottage with incredible view on sale for £70k – but there’s a catch
Why There’s No Room For Suburbs In Open-World Games
Lazlow Jones, voice of GTA III’s Chatterbox FM and a longtime director, writer, and producer at Rockstar Games, agreed. But Rockstar itself made a gradual progression from the chaotic cities of GTA to the open natural worlds of Red Dead. Then the company brought the two together in GTA V. “When I was at Rockstar, we started off focusing on open world games set in urban areas because it gave us great density,” Lazlow began. “But over the years we expanded to rural environments while keeping them interesting and engaging.” […] Carly Kocurek, who teaches in the Game Design and Experiential Media program at Illinois Tech, says suburbs operate in the realm of “perceived beigeness” making it hard to imagine them as settings for the kinds of stories and worlds we see most often in open world games. To the extent that suburbia does show up strongly, these spaces often serve as a starting or transition point for a character, akin to maybe the first 10 minutes of a film, or the movie’s midpoint.
There are other design reasons why suburbs don’t feature prominently in video games and why sparse areas away from intriguing points of interest are often the first to get cut. “You’re really trying to compress a massive space in real life, into a virtual space which is actually really small. It’s like taking something and cutting it down by 10x,” explained Will Harris, who led the open world design team at Light Speed LA. Harris says that in world building, one of the first steps is thinking about defining features. What makes Chicago, for instance, feel different than Washington D.C.? Huge landmarks immediately orient us in a specific space and differentiate it from others. And woe unto you if you do try to architect suburbs in large numbers. Developers could try to build out distinct houses, began Erik Villarreal, an environmental artist at Visual Concepts/2K. “But this requires a developer to create homes that stand out from each other, which can be time consuming and tie up a lot of resources,” he said. Harris adds that there are only so many mechanics in sandbox gameplay and design. He calls the suburbs “interstitial spaces.” But the larger these spaces become, the more unwieldy, and the more quickly the player realizes that these spaces are superficial. We’ve all had the frustrating experience in gaming where we reach a certain part of a map, but then discover there’s nothing actually to do there. “So the Staten Island kit gets vaporized. We trim the fat.” Harris says.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
I’m a pest control expert – there’s an easy way to stop mice & rats entering your home… and it costs just £1 at Asda
A PEST control expert has revealed an easy way to stop mice and rats from entering your home – and it costs just £1 from Asda.
The expert took to TikTok (@twinhomeexperts) to tell his followers the genius way to get rid of pesky rodents.
A pest control expert shared his £1 hack to stop mice and rats from entering your home[/caption]
The clip, captioned: “RAT Hack we want to share…” begins by panning the bottom of a door with some strange looking materials in front of the gap.
A green mesh layer with a metal sponge can be seen blocking the gap beneath the door.
“If you have any potential sources of where you think the rats are coming in and out, what you can do is take a [metal] sponge, fill that particular hole.”
The metal will block the entry point rodents are using.
Laying a soft sponge that mice and rats can chew through before the metal one can act as proof that this is the entry point in use.
If there are chewed up bits of sponge before the wire mesh the following day, it proves rodents have been trying to gnaw their way through.
He then wrote: “Next step is to now investigate the exterior entry point, seal then trap”.
All this cheap hack takes is a steel wool sponge.
Asda sells spiral scourers for as little as £1.
The handy video racked up over 1,000 likes and viewers were quick to leave their thoughts on the useful tip.
One user wrote: “Great hack!”
Another said: “Smart tactic. I definitely need to do this in my garage”.
A third commented: “That’s interesting,” to which the pest expert replied: “They chew to get to the food”.
Twinhomeexperts are known by their 788k followers for posting home advice, pest control tips and handy how-to’s for home owners.
Their TikTok page has amassed a whopping 9.9million likes overall.
This comes after another pest expert revealed the three biggest mistakes homeowners make that invite ants and cockroaches into your house.
One more pest expert shared their handy tips on how to stop ants from attacking your home and laying eggs.
Another expert revealed the hidden signs that your home might be riddled with terrifying bugs.
And if you’re looking for a different cheap hack to get rid of rats – then this £2.39 product has you covered.
The Tell: There’s ‘a disconnect’ between stock-market rally and Fed pivot expectations
There’s no other mecha game quite like Armored Core
Q1 marked lowest VC funding for security in a decade, but there’s a silver lining
ChatGPT now allows users to turn off chat history but there’s a catch
I stopped wearing a bra and there’s no going back – I refuse to cage them after tasting freedom
NO bra, no problem is one woman’s new motto.
A mom and influencer haven’t looked back since she ditched the uncomfortable garment and she says she’ll never go back.
Chelsea, a mom, told her viewers to go braless[/caption]
Chelsea Delgado (@chelseadelgado_) shared her thoughts in a video with over 68,000 TikTok followers.
“Stop wearing a bra, there’s no going back,” she said, sporting a white T-shirt.
“You cannot put your boobs back in a jail once they have been freed, that’s all,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I refuse to cage them after tasting freedom,” she joked, adding the hashtags #freethetatas.
People took to the comments to share their thoughts.
“You were wearing one two days ago,” said one follower.
“And it was prison,” she joked, doubling down.
“I’m loving this loose oversized T-shirt trend for this exact reason,” said another.
“Same, this trend needs to stay,” Chelsea added.
“I agree, unharness them puppies and set them free,” said a third.
“Nothing wrong with some pokies coming through, let them bounce.”
“Exactly!! After the pandemic I’m not wearing a bra,” said a fourth.
She said she can’t go back to ‘caging’ her boobs after experiencing freedom[/caption]
CBI’s chances of survival shrink further after Chancellor says there’s ‘no point engaging’ with business lobby group
THE CBI’s chances of survival shrank further yesterday after the Chancellor said there was “no point” engaging with the organisation.
And a top fund manager said the lobby group’s sexual misconduct scandal risked putting women off business.
Jeremy Hunt said there was no point engaging when the CBI’s own members ‘have deserted them in droves’[/caption]
The CBI, which is meant to represent 190,000 members, is in meltdown as police investigate two separate rape allegations and inappropriate behaviour across the organisation.
When asked if the CBI could rebuild trust, its president, Brian McBride, said: “I simply don’t know.”
Dame Helena Morrissey, former boss of Newton Investment Management and director of a number of City firms, said the “horrible allegations” risked “putting women off joining industry”.
She told The Sun: “I don’t know why the CBI is still trying to cling on — it’s over.
“They cannot continue to represent business.”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told journalists: “There’s no point engaging with the CBI when their own members have deserted them in droves.
“We are not going to wait for a reinvention of the CBI or for the CBI to get back on its feet.”
On Friday, in the wake of fresh rape allegations, over 60 companies axed, paused or suspended their membership of the CBI, including Aviva, NatWest and John Lewis.
The lobby group has mothballed its operations until a meeting in June.
RISHI SCHMOOZES 200 CITY LEADERS
PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak proclaimed his Government was “unashamedly pro-business” as he launched a charm offensive to woo company bosses.
Yesterday’s “Business Connect” summit was an attempt to re-engage with hundreds of chief executives after contact with the scandal-rocked CBI was frozen.
Sources said the Government wanted to “lavish love” on business after years of tension.
It has been shaken by the success of Labour’s Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves having boardroom breakfasts with City chiefs in what’s become known as a “salmon and scrambled eggs offensive”.
Business confidence in the Government was rattled last year by the brief reign of Liz Truss and her mini-budget, which brought the financial system to the brink of collapse.
Company chiefs have also never forgotten Boris Johnson’s “F*** business” comment when he was Foreign Secretary.
Mr Sunak took to the stage to tell company chiefs: “We’ve got your back. We know the last year has not been easy but I believe we are turning a corner.
“Optimism and confidence are improving. Our job is to build on that positive momentum and that’s why we need to create the conditions for you to succeed and drive that growth.”
A major tech boss said: “It’s clear the Government wants to engage and listen. And that should be welcomed because business has fallen down the agenda.”
BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn said it was “good to have some engagement”.
And advertising tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell said: “Whatever the stimulus for this event is, the UK brand has been damaged, so any effort around that is a positive.”
Luxury handbag designer Anya Hindmarch called on the Government to appreciate Britain’s strong creative industries as a “marketing arm for the UK”.
She said: “It’s very easy to lose your edge — like sunburn, it can happen before you realise.”
Mr Sunak admitted he regularly bought Hindmarch bags for his wife and hailed the UK’s fashion universities as the best in the world.
But Burberry boss Gerry Murphy slammed the Government for failing to bring back tax-free shopping.
He said scrapping VAT relief was a “spectacular own goal” that had made the UK the “least attractive shopping destination in Europe”.
BANK RUN ON SUISSE HIT £55BN
CREDIT Suisse customers pulled £55billion out at the start of the year, the Swiss bank has revealed.
The lender yesterday admitted the true scale of the turmoil that preceded its state-engineered rescue by rival UBS.
It warned that it would not be profitable until 2024 after making a loss of 7.3billion Swiss francs (£6.6billion), the worst loss since 2008.
Credit Suisse was hit by market turmoil after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in the US in March, causing clients to withdraw funds.
The Swiss National Bank called the subsequent takeover “systemically important” to the global banking system.
There had been concerns that unless the run on Credit Suisse was stopped, it could spread.
BEN RUES GYM SLIP
GYMSHARK, the athleisure brand started by the UK’s youngest self-made billionaire, has posted a 40 per cent slip in profits on the back of rising costs and weakening demand.
Ben Francis, 30, set up Gymshark 11 years ago and it was valued at more than £1billion in 2020.
But pre-tax profits fell from £45.4million to £27.8million in the year to the end of July 2022, despite overall sales rising a fifth to £484.4million.
SHARES
BARCLAYS up 0.96 to 154.20
BP up 3.90 to 533.90
CENTRICA up 1.05 to 113.85
HSBC down 0.40 to 573.3
LLOYDS up 0.05 to 48.91
M&S up 0.75 to 164.65
NATWEST up 1.70 to 274.2
ROYAL MAIL up 3.80 to 254.60
SAINSBURY’S down 1.20 to 280.50
SHELL up 8.50 to 2,461.50
TESCO down 0.80 to 278.10
4MOST BONUS
AN employee-owned firm is giving 150 staff a £150,000 payday after selling a stake.
4most, a provider of risk analytics, was considering a stock market listing — but has now sold a 51 per cent stake to Phoenix Equity Partners.
The windfall for staff includes graduates who had been with the firm for only two years.