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I heard it from a colleague at the office… “there is gaming competition at Rajpura”. I didn’t pay any attention. There couldn’t be anything big in this part of the world. They only play CS. But my colleague, knowing about my connection with gaming from my regular rants about TAP, was intent on showing me the website. Is this really big enough that it has its own website? I saw the site here and it looked good. Damn they have big sponsors, and I knew… this is big. And so began… the rush to cover the event.
In case you didn’t know that Grand Theft Auto IV had Russian Connection, thanks to Mashkov, it now has an Indian Connection as well, thanks to late Amrish Puri. The rumor goes that the character of the main protagonist of GTA IV is based upon… Mugambo. Well, even if it’s a remote possibility, the uncanny resemblance is surely remarkable. I myself got the cooties looking at it. I’m not sure where it all started, but I found the link in the replies at the Kotaku thread I have mentioned above.
Okay, Barney says, before you slash the author of the article for posting it and spreading the panic.. (3 diggs so far.. panic?), just read it carefully. The article doesnt say that the world is going to end. Thats a whole different issue, which Barney will upload during the weekend. For the time being just chill your beers while the ice lasts…. glurp…..
Greenland’s ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer’s end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.
“The Arctic is screaming,” said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the government’s snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo.
Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.
This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: “At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions.”
So scientists in recent days have been asking themselves: Was the record melt seen all over the Arctic in 2007 a blip amid relentless and steady warming? Or has everything speeded up to a new climate cycle that goes beyond the worst-case scenarios presented by computer models?
“The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coal mine for climate warming,” said Zwally, who as a teenager hauled coal. “Now as a sign of climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of the coal mines.”
It is the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels that produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are responsible for man-made global warming. For the past several days, government diplomats have been debating in Bali, Indonesia, the outlines of a new climate treaty calling for tougher limits on these gases.
What happens in the Arctic has implications for the rest of the world. Faster melting there means eventual sea level rise and more immediate changes in winter weather because of less sea ice.
In the United States, a weakened Arctic blast moving south to collide with moist air from the Gulf of Mexico can mean less rain and snow in some areas, including the drought-stricken Southeast, said Michael MacCracken, a former federal climate scientist who now heads the nonprofit Climate Institute. Some regions, like Colorado, would likely get extra rain or snow.
More than 18 scientists said they were surprised by the level of ice melt this year. “I don’t pay much attention to one year … but this year the change is so big, particularly in the Arctic sea ice, that you’ve got to stop and say, ‘What is going on here?’ You can’t look away from what’s happening here,” said Waleed Abdalati, NASA’s chief of cyrospheric sciences. “This is going to be a watershed year.”
2007 shattered records for Arctic melt in the following ways:
552 billion tons of ice melted this summer from the Greenland ice sheet, according to preliminary satellite data to be released today by NASA. That’s 15 percent more than the annual average summer melt, beating 2005’s record.
A record amount of surface ice was lost over Greenland this year, 12 percent more than the previous worst year, 2005, according to data the University of Colorado released Monday. That’s nearly quadruple the amount that melted just 15 years ago. It’s an amount of water that could cover Washington, D.C., a half-mile deep, researchers said.
The surface area of summer sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean this summer was nearly 23 percent below the previous record. The dwindling sea ice already has affected wildlife, with 6,000 walruses coming ashore in northwest Alaska in October for the first time in recorded history. Another first: the Northwest Passage was open to navigation.
Still to be released is NASA data showing the remaining Arctic sea ice to be unusually thin, another record. That makes it more likely to melt in future summers. Combining the shrinking area covered by sea ice with the new thinness of the remaining ice, scientists calculate that the overall volume of ice is half of 2004’s total.
Alaska’s frozen permafrost is warming, but not quite thawing yet. But temperature measurements 66 feet deep in the frozen soil rose nearly four-tenths of a degree from 2006 to 2007, according to measurements from the University of Alaska. While that may not sound like much, “it’s very significant,” said University of Alaska professor Vladimir Romanovsky.
Greenland, in particular, is a significant bellwether. Most of its surface is covered by ice. If it completely melted - something key scientists think would likely take centuries, not decades - it could add more than 22 feet to the world’s sea level.
However, for nearly the past 30 years, the data pattern of its ice sheet melt has zigzagged. A bad year, like 2005, would be followed by a couple of lesser years.
According to that pattern, 2007 shouldn’t have been a major melt year, but it was, said Konrad Steffen, of the University of Colorado, which gathered the latest data. “I’m quite concerned,” he said. “Now I look at 2008. Will it be even warmer than the past year?”
Other new data, from a NASA satellite, measures ice volume. NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke, reviewing it and other Greenland numbers, concluded: “We are quite likely entering a new regime.”
Melting of sea ice and Greenland’s ice sheets also alarms scientists because they become part of a troubling spiral.
White sea ice reflects about 80 percent of the sun’s heat off Earth, NASA’s Zwally said. When there is no sea ice, about 90 percent of the heat goes into the ocean which then warms up everything else. Warmer oceans then lead to more melting.
“That feedback is the key to why the models predict that the Arctic warming is going to be faster,” Zwally said. “It’s getting even worse than the models predicted.”
More on this topic can be found here:
Before you read this memoir written by Subir Malik, who serves the Keyboard duties in the band Parikrama, go on and watch the videos of Parikrama’s performance at Download Fest. The song “Vapourize” …yes they do spell with a U, has to be the biggest rocker from Parikrama over the years and so was the performance:
Parikrama - Tears of the Wizard
And now, here is the article written for HT city by Subir himself, published on June 25th 2007, to give you an insight of our experience at the Download festival:
2 months of preparations, endless practice sessions, 479 hours on the internet, 1763 email exchanges with Phantom music, 14 hotels rejected for not having electric kettles, shopping sessions for Kohinoor pre-cooked food/clothes/Flat pin adapters/classic milds/Underwears and many other unmentionable miscellaneous items….AND then we were there, standing on the Moto GP Podium, at the legendary DONINGTON PARK, hoping to see Rossi up there, just a few weeks from the biggest day of our lives, the 10th of June 2007 A.D. Yes, we were playing the Download Festival.
The morning chill and fog still settling down,and we, 67 minutes before time (maybe our excitement), still looking for the open truck to take all our stuff to the mainstage. 8:07 am – the stuff is loaded and we are all seated in the transfer coach beaming with confidence, anxiety and waiting to see how the world looks from up there, up there on the mainstage. 08:16 am- we reach the band hospitality area of the festival, we cross a horde of green rooms, and they read Dream Theatre, Evanescence, Stone sour, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Chimaira and finally Parikrama.The room had everything a band needs before a show, big fat sofas, centrally air conditioned, loads of food, water, juices and 48 cans of chilled beer. Though, we used a few of the things provided, we left the beers, post 11:25 am.
08:39 am – We finally reach “up there” and it looks/feels wonderful. What a view man!09:16 a:m- We start setting up our backline backstage. 09:27 am: we are ready to go onstage, but the Maiden crew is doing a tech check, and it’s an experience to just see ‘em doing their stuff. 10:17 am – we finally get the go ahead to “occupy” the mainstage. The Download crew just rolls our stuff on trolleys to the stage. 10:51 a:m – we are through with a line check and ready to rock.
10:57 am – We do a band embrace, backstage, and here we are to start our set. There are about 20,000 people (rest are still sleeping, as it’s a wet cloudy day) waiting and they give us a really needed clap and cheers of acceptance, as we come back on the stage. 11:00
Finding any information on Rockstars’ GTA IV is really hard, as not much of it is available and in these hard times we are all just guessing that it will be awesome and as shocking as the early games have been. During these tough times, Game Informer has come out with a huge ten page exclusive on Grand Theft Auto IV, which includes tons of details about the game. Here I have tried to summarize some of the major features:
The protagonist’s name is Niko Bellic - an Eastern European immigrant who has come to Liberty City to live the “American Dream.” He was persuaded to move to Liberty City by his cousin Roman, who claimed to be living a wonderful life there with two beautiful women, fifteen sports cars, and lots of money etc. The plot thickens when we learn that Roman was infact telling a lie in order to hide his own failures. Roman is a polite guy, whereas Niko is ballistic and Roman needs Niko’s help to pay off his debts.
The game is set in Liberty City of 2007, but it is bigger than the Liberty City we saw in GTA III. Moreover there will be no planes in the game and the rumors are that there wont be any deserts or country sides either. The game only focuses on one city, and thats the reason for not having planes or helicopters at all. Rockstar wants the game to look and feel more realistic, thats why there wont be any jetpacks or rollerblades either. Motorbikes will remain though.
As far as the city goes, Rockstar has recreated 4 of the 5 main boroughs of New York. The missing one is Staten island. Senator Andrew Lanza (who was born there and is currently the Senate representative for the south of Staten Island) said, “I’m glad Staten Island is left out, frankly,” and he went on to described the game as “poisonous,”. He reflected on the real reason his borough did not make the cut.“Perhaps it’s because they know Staten Island is the safest place in the entire city,” The irony is the Staten Island will be the first downloadable content available for GTA IV.
As far as the gameplay and the feel of the game is concerned, Dan Houser has compared the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III. And here’s why: The game will only load once in the beginning and after that there will be no loading sequences in the game. Not even while moving from the interior of a building to the outside world. While you will walk you will be able to feel the weight of the body and the different surfaces will result in different walking animations. The physics have been improved and character animations are also above par. Its important to mention that there are many game screenshots available over the internet, but Rockstar has insisted that these screenshots are not representative of the quality of the game and the game will only look better as the release will draw closer.
In earlier versions of GTA, you received your missions from different persons, and somehow the game stuck to the storyline. It changes in GTA IV as the players will have a better control over their destiny. You will have more choices and options to work your way around in the game now as you will be able to contact the people thru your cell, directly talk to them or by many other ways to obtain information.
Rockstar have been emphasizing on the reality this time and that’s the reason why everything has been drawn closer to the life. Pedestrians will be more realistic as they will sit on benches, smoke cigarettes, read books and generally act like any real pedestrian would in the middle of a street. Even the police will make its presence felt in this draw of the game. Many crime experts were consulted in the making of the game and being a criminal will be harder this time around as it is in real life.
The insistence on reality will also reflect in the voice over of the game as this time around Rockstar hasn’t hired just big names, but have actually gone for hiring the voices that will suit the characters and their temperaments. Even the OST is not going to be a collection of namedropping of the big names. The music will be suiting the Liberty City of 2007 in all its glory. Now one wonders what will we have on the radios this time..!!
The game is being developed as a multiplayer but it wont be on a massive scale. Also Rockstar is going to launch a special edition of GTA IV on October 16 in North America and October 19 in Europe, the same day as the regular edition of Grand Theft Auto IV. The special edition will be presented in a customized Grand Theft Auto metal safety deposit box. The box will contain the Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system or the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, both with special packaging. Then there will be the Grand Theft Auto IV Art Book, featuring never-before-seen production artwork from the game. A selected soundtrack CD from Grand Theft Auto IV, featuring new material from top artists will also be there along with an exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys. And all this will come packed in a limited edition Rockstar duffel bag. The Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition is available for pre-orders today and will retail for $89.99 in North America.
While people will be getting their safety boxes, I’ll be more then happy if I could just get the game in India on time… There are many screenshots of the game available on net which make you go jump around in the room and here are some links for you:
Grand Theft Auto IV Preview [1UP]
Grand Theft Auto IV First Look [Gamespot]
GTA IV: An Introduction to Liberty City [IGN]
Source: [GTAIV.net]
Just as we announced before (Parikrama - Iron Maiden and Beyond), here is the complete confirmed list of Parikrama’s appearances in UK:
June 9th - Rios, Leeds, UK
June 10th- The Download Festival, Donington Park, UK
June 15th- The Underground, Camden, UK
June 19th - Charlotte Leicester, UK
June 20th - Civic, Wolverhampton, UK
June 22nd - Kingston, UK
The biggest attraction will be The Download festival in Donington Park, UK. But all in all the band will be going around in the British territories. With this Parikrama will become the first official Indian band to ever get such International exposure. This is what Rod Smallwood, Iron Maiden’s Manager has to say about the band:
“We were completely blown away by the intensity and passion of the India crowd and also by the quality of PARIKRAMA. I just didn’t realise there were metal/rock bands of this quality in India. I was so impressed by their playing and attitude and professionalism and all of the Iron Maiden band and crew watched and listened to their entire set backstage. So I asked the Download promoters Live Nation to add them to the bill opening our Maiden day, the Sunday, on the main stage.”
What’s the band’s reaction to all this sudden crash of exposure?
“They said we can’t believe that bands like this existed in India, give your CD’s and contacts. Four days later they send us a mail saying the whole band loved your music and phantom records told us we want you to play at the download festival,” - Subir, -Keyboard
“Honestly we don’t know. It can be a kickass performance with the audience enthralled or just go the other way. Lets be real, anything can happen,” - Nitin, -Vocals
“A musician there earns enough to buy that five million dollar mansion. I just want enough to afford a DDA flat” - Dilip -Drums
Parikrama hasn’t forgotten their loyal fan base in India either. Noticeably, they will be performing their all original sets in UK at all the gigs and for their Indian fans they did the same set at their gig in DV8, Connaught Place on May 25th and there will be the same gig tonight at CTC, Gurgaon at 8:00 pm.
No matter what the new age rockers have to say, no matter if they never came out with an album, no matter if the extra sensory metal heads of the contemporary times find it hard to identify with their sound, Parikrama has struggled real hard for more then a decade, and they had created a name and they have talent enough to win over the Iron Maiden A&R teams. It is time that Indian make an impact in the International arena. Godspeed..!!
Its been almost an year since Virgin Comics launched three all original comic series in the international market. Since then they have launched almost 50 issues under various series and certain independent graphic novels. Virgin has already made a stamp in the International arena with its magnificent art work. Now that their leading comic series: Devi, The Sadhu and The Snakewoman are about to get a new story arc, they have launched yet another series. This time around they are coming out with India Authentic series and the character is none other than Lord Ganesha.
The comic totally focuses on the Indian Mythology unlike the Ramayana reborn, which was a retelling of the original myth with new story elements and twists. Ganesha features the lineart from the hands of Satish Tayade and the myth has been scripted by Saurav Mahapatra. This is what the officials say about the series:
For generations, all enterprises in India have been launched with an invocation of His name. He is called the Vinayak - God of Endeavors, Vighneshwar - the Remover of Obstacles. Perhaps the most adored of all in the Indian Pantheon, Ganesha is the God that best represents India - benevolent, wise and noble.
Come with us on a journey to witness the origins of a God, a timeless tale of an inanimate golem crafted from primordial clay by Uma, the all-mother. His innocent bravado in defying Shiva, the mightiest of the Gods and even giving up his life to uphold a simple promise he made to his mother, the twist of fate that intertwines his destiny with another and the “rebirth” of the two as they become one.
I have already gone through the comic and I must say that this time around they are lacking in the artwork. If one compares it to their earlier issues, one can easily spot the weariness and the hurried frenzy at the hands of the coloring artists (three of them in this one, namely M. Vishwanathan, S.M. Bhaskar and R.C. Prakash). Most of the panels have flaws in them and certain characters lack the emotive feel completely. For instance at the bottom of page 9, the character of boy Ganesha is the worst portrayal I have ever seen. The face is nothing but a couple of random lines… this is definitely not expected of artists working at Virgin. Perhaps the best portrayal in the whole comic is that of Lord Shiva and the fight that commences between Lord Shiva and the Child avatar of Lord Ganesha. The ambiance of the landscape has surely been done well, but its no compensation for an average art concerning characters.
The story, as I said earlier is totally based on the Indian Mythology, but the comic’s pace is very, very fast. In the very first issue they have already covered the initial phase of the protagonist. Mostly we see comparisons being made to western philosophies and ideologies which totally confuse the rhythm of the story. A lot is being said, and at the same time a lot is being left untold… it really leaves the reader asking.. hey wait.. what about that?… and what about what you said on the last page… !!
As usual, the comic is very high on metaphors and similes, which are told with style as usual, but this time they went ahead and used the story of the elephant mother and her son as a visual metaphor in the storyline. This story which moves sideways with the main storyline serves as a metaphor initially and totally makes a bolting impact later, when we see its relation to the main plot. A really good device to narrate a story this vast.
Still the credit goes to the Virgin Comics for sticking to the Indian roots and not moving to the glorious superheroes to lure more readers. This indeed is a noble effort and moreover the stories do keep in touch with the real myth. So, lets hope the artists get back to their magnificent artworks back again and the scripter’s pen slows down the story a little bit in the coming issues, till then enjoy yet another effort from Virgin Comics.