Saturday 15 April 2017

game is coming to Android and iOS before 3DS

Last we knew, the new Professor Layton game's differences from prior releases were relegated to its protagonist and the absence of its original puzzle designer. Now word is out that Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy will arrive on Android and iOS this July 20th, ahead of its stateside debut on Nintendo's 3DS handheld. According to publisher/developer Level 5 (spotted by Kotaku), the only way to play on 3DS at launch will be with an imported version and a Japanese console. Domestically, a localized version will release at some point after the mobile versions.
Pricing is going to be interesting here. On 3DS it costs ¥4,800 ($44.20), while the mobile version is ¥1,900 ($17.50) -- less than half that. How? In-app purchases, of course. The press release stresses that you can play to the end without buying anything, though. Does that mean it'll only have half the puzzles? Or that side quests will be hidden in some way? That's anyone's guess for now.
We've seen disparities in pricing before with the mobile and handheld versions of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, for example, but not exactly like this. When Rockstar ported the handheld crime simulator to mobile devices, it was well after their initial release. Furthermore, the DS and PSP were kings of gaming on the go at the time -- Android devices and iPhones hadn't caught up just yet. Okay, the PSP was far less popular, but the point still stands.
That was in 2009. In 2017, things are a lot different. Sony's relationship with handheld gaming is... complicated, and the current 3DS is getting long in the tooth and waning a bit in popularity. So, maybe this move by Level 5 is prescient.

INDEPENDENT VIDEO GAME COMPANY STORMTIDE LANDS AT PSP


Independent video game company Stormtide has moved to Plymouth Science Park’s 25 acre site at Derriford, which hosts some of the country's premier science and technology businesses.
Success for start-ups on site is at 95 per cent which offers facilities including ultra-fast broadband, networking opportunities, a café and ‘breakout' areas where people can meet to exchange ideas.
The independent video game company is the brains behind Satellite Command, which uses real data from NASA to combine realistic graphics and physics simulation.
"The game has a real astrophysics simulation hidden behind gamification, designed to make astrophysics an approachable subject for a wide audience," says Stormtide founder and CEO James Baxter.
"Satellite Command takes you into orbit around Earth as you use your very own Space Agency to learn more about the planet and the Solar System."
The game has been developed internally with input from top space-industry experts.
"The idea behind the game is for you to start in orbit with one satellite and you build up your agency to become bigger and bigger," explains Baxter.
"The mission is based on real data showing Earth and Deep Space phenomena. It was shown at one of the biggest gaming events of 2016 and received rapturous applause.
“It's since been played by thousands of people from around the world."
The games’ on-screen simulations are designed to make astrophysics an approachable subject for a wide audience from school children to university students to adults wanting to explore Deep Space.
Plymouth Science Park is part-funded by the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (HotSW LEP) through their Growth Deal with Government and houses the largest concentration of businesses in the South West.

Utah judge calls ex-Mormon bishop convicted of rape an ‘extraordinarily good man’

PROVO, Utah  — A Utah judge is facing a deluge of complaints after calling a former Mormon bishop convicted of rape an "extraordinarily good man" who did something wrong, a judicial oversight organization said Friday.
The criticism began around the time Judge Thomas Low let Keith Robert Vallejo out of custody after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

Trump dumps Russia,

Once upon a time, Trump mused about how well he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would get along. Then-candidate Trump said Putin had declared him a "genius," criticized the Obama administration's tensions with Moscow and said it would be better "if we got along."
China, on the other hand, was a currency manipulator, a thief of US jobs that should no longer be allowed to "rape our country." If elected, Trump promised to impose heavy tariffs on Beijing and take it to court for shady trade practices.

Asian tag, but expect more pressure on trade

Fixing trade imbalances will be an issue for the U.S. in its dialogues with China and Japan, while the manipulator threat has been put on the backburner," a Japanese government official told Reuters.
The semi-annual U.S. Treasury currency report released on Friday did not name any major trading partner as a currency manipulator, although it seemed to leave open the option for action in the future.
Trump has softened his rhetoric against China's trade practices as Beijing has intervened in foreign exchange markets to prop up the value of its yuan, and as he looks to China for help dealing with rising tension on the Korean peninsula.
"I think the United States decided to forego (labeling China a currency manipulator) this time because it wants China's cooperation on North Korea," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
"Depending on how the North Korean situation develops, we don't know what will happen in half a year (when the next currency report is due to be published)."
NEW LANGUAGE
New language in the Treasury report citing a history of currency intervention in China, South Korea and Taiwan is in line with what experts say could be eventual changes to the criteria aimed at deterring future manipulation.
With Washington pushing a trade agenda aimed at reducing deficits, experts say the most logical option is to lengthen the time period for reviewing currency market interventions from 12 months to several years.
"One thing we noticed was the report touched on the previous history of (currency manipulation). They're telling us not to do so in the future and we have no intention of doing so," a senior South Korean finance official said.
"SCRUTINIZING" CHINA

The report showed the high priority the administration puts on addressing trade imbalances and said it would be "scrutinizing China's trade and currency practices very closely".

Why?

Janet Jackson's baby boy

My baby and me after nap time," Jackson wrote in the photo she shared that shows her hugging Eissa while he yawns.
Jackson, 50, and her husband, Wissam Al Mana, welcomed their first child in January after a "stress-free healthy delivery," a representative for the singer said.

Trump has yet to find a church home in DC

Methodist church, Jimmy Carter taught Baptist Sunday school and Barack Obama visited an Episcopal church near the White House.
As Easter Sunday arrives, President Donald Trump has not attended a church service in the capital since the worship events of his inauguration weekend.
Trump is spending the holiday at his private Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, where he often weekends. The White House would not say if he’d go to Easter services, but last year he attended the nearby Episcopalian church where he and Melania Trump were married.
Where the president worships is always of interest in Washington. But compared to the buzz in 2009 over whether the Obamas would join a church, there has been less chatter this year. Some of the more liberal churches oppose Trump’s policies. Also, he’s out of town a lot of weekends. And he’s not seen as a committed churchgoer anyway.

Friday 14 April 2017

Arkansas' multiple execution plan unravels after rulings

Arkansas' already compromised plan to execute eight men by the end of the month unraveled Friday, with a judge blocking the use of a lethal injection drug and the state's highest court granting a stay to one of the first inmates who had been scheduled to die.


Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state from using its supply of vecuronium bromide after a company said it had sold the drug to the state for medical purposes, not capital punishment. Griffen scheduled a hearing Tuesday, the day after the first execution was scheduled.
Griffen's order effectively halts the executions, which had dropped to six after Friday's state Supreme Court order blocking one execution and a federal judge halting another last week, unless it's reversed or the state finds a new supply of the drug.
Arkansas, which has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of drug shortages and legal challenges, had initially planned to execute eight before the end of April, when its supply of midazolam expires. That plan, if carried out, would have marked the most inmates executed by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office said she planned to file an emergency request with the state Supreme Court to vacate Griffen's order, saying Griffen shouldn't handle the case. Local media outlets had tweeted photos of Griffen at a demonstration held by execution opponents outside the Governor's Mansion earlier Friday.
"As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case," Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere said.


The order came the same day justices issued a stay for Bruce Ward, who was scheduled to be put to death on Monday night for the 1989 death of a woman found strangled in the men's room of the Little Rock convenience store where she worked. Attorneys asked for the stay after a Jefferson County judge said she didn't have the authority to halt Ward's execution. Ward's attorneys have argued he is a diagnosed schizophrenic with no rational understanding of his impending execution.
"We are grateful that the Arkansas Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for Bruce Ward so that they may consider the serious questions presented about his sanity," Scott Braden, an assistant federal public defender representing Ward, said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker is also considering the inmates' arguments that such a compressed schedule could lead to undue pain and suffering. Baker had not ruled by Friday evening. Arkansas scheduled the executions to take place before its supply of midazolam expires at the end of the month.
McKesson said it had requested Arkansas return its supply of vecuronium bromide after the San Francisco-based company learned it would be used in executions. The firm said Thursday night the state had assured it would return the drug and the company had even issued a refund, but it never was.
Under Arkansas' protocol, midazolam is used to sedate the inmate, vecuronium bromide then stops the inmate's breathing and potassium chloride stops the heart.
Baker is also considering a request from two pharmaceutical companies that their products not be used for capital punishment. Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. filed a court brief Thursday asking the court to prohibit Arkansas from using their drugs.
Arkansas' execution timeline drew condemnation from hundreds of death penalty opponents who rallied at the Capitol waving signs including a large banner that read, "We remember the victims ... But not with more killing." The rally was headlined by actor Johnny Depp and Damien Echols, who spent nearly 18 years on Arkansas' death row before he and two other men, known as the West Memphis Three, were freed in 2011 in a plea deal in which they maintained their innocence.
"I didn't want to come back, but when I heard about the conveyor belt of death that the politicians were trying to set in motion, I guess I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't come back and try to do something," said Echols, who now lives in New York.
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Associated Press writers Tafi Mukunyadzi and Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report.
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Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo

New Danbury urgent care center opening on Newtown Road

American Family Care is opening a third walk-in health clinic in Danbury, slated for June at 74 Newtown Road adjacent to the Texas Roadhouse restaurant nearing completion.
In addition to treatment, physicals and other services, the medical center will be equipped with a digital x-ray to diagnose injuries. No appointments are necessary, with hours running Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and until 5 p.m. weekends.

Doc Gooden to speak at Danbury Westerners’ breakfast June 9

The breakfast will kick off the Westerners’ 23rd season of play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a wood-bat summer showcase for many of the top collegiate players in the country, and a stepping stone for some on the way to a career in the major leagues. More than 140 Westerners players have been selected in the MLB Draft since 1995, and 20 former Westerners have made it to the majors, including Matt Joyce, Billy Burns, Adam Ottavino and 2010 Westerners pitcher Mike Hauschild, who made his big-league debut with the Texas Rangers last week.
Tickets for the breakfast are available online at DanburyWesterners.com. Individual tickets are available, as are tables of 10 for $350. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Call Westerners president Paul Schaffer at 203-241-4655.
The Westerners — an all volunteer, not-for-profit organization — are also seeking host families for this year’s crop of players. Email Shelley@danburywesterners.com for details.
After enjoying a hearty breakfast at the Amber Room, manager Josh Parrow and the Westerners will gear up for their home opener, set for June 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Rogers Park in Danbury against the Keene Swamp Bats. The NECBL has 13 teams spread across all six New England states. Each team will play a 44-game regular-season schedule, followed by the playoffs in early August.
The Westerners’ annual breakfast — a sort of unofficial start of summer in Greater Danbury for more than two decades — has included many memorable guests over the years, including Joe TorreTommy JohnGene MichaelGeorge FosterJohn Sterling and Jim Bouton, to name a few — and they’ll add Gooden to that list this year.
With the Mets, Gooden won the 1984 National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1984, the Cy Young Award in 1985 — with a 24-4 record, a 1.53 earned-run average and 268 strikeouts — and a World Series title in 1986. He was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career before problems with substance abuse took their toll, the details of which he detailed in his 2013 book “Doc: A Memoir.”
With the Yankees, he pitched a no-hitter in 1996 and won World Series titles in 1996 and 2000. In 16 big-league seasons with the Mets, Yankees, Cleveland IndiansHouston Astros and his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Gooden posted a 194-112 record with a 3.51 ERA and 2,293 strikeouts.

Class warns teens about “red flags” on human trafficking

I am disappointed and scared, in a way, because it can happen to anyone,” said Juliana Figueiredo, a 14-year-old from Bethel who completed the program at the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury.
Juliana, along with six other girls, learned facts and myths about pimps and traffickers, what makes young people vulnerable to trafficking and how to recognize recruitment tactics and other “red flag” behaviors.
“I’m probably going to be more aware of everything that’s going on to really make sure that this doesn’t 

Link here