Happenings

Burnout Paradise Coming to PS4

February 21, 2018 Happenings

I was pleasantly taken aback at this sudden announcement on the Playstation Blog about EA bringing the Burnout Paradise Remastered version for the PS4 on March 16th. For those who haven’t yet had a chance to experience its dynamic gameplay, this game was light years ahead of its competition at the time with its open world racing environment and game physics. The first time that I came to know of Burnout was on a PS2 at a friend’s place. More than anything, I was blown away by the car crash sequences, the gripping slo-mo of the the vehicles in a head-on collision as the controller provided a vibrating feedback until the wagons came to a complete standstill in a ‘wrecked’ condition. The physics engine was doing a tremendous job at simulating a catastrophic event.

Burnout Paradise - Crash Sequence

Needless to say, when I got my PS3 in 2011 Burnout Paradise was one of the first titles I bought on the PlayStation Store and I still play it occassionally. What I love about the game is that I don’t have to participate in the competitive events, there are a bunch of them btw, I can play the game at my own pace, much like Driveclub, or just drive aimlessly exploring the corners of ‘Paradise City’ in a variety of automobiles until my knuckles hurt. EA bought its maker Criterion Games and I never saw another release — I believe they integrated its awesome game physics in the subsequent NFS titles.

To be very honest, a series like Burnout deserved a reboot on the PS4 though a remastered version would suffice in its absence and I am looking forward to experiencing the fun again. And hey Sony, if you are so inclined on remasters for the PS4 mind having a look at the MotorStorm series?

Long Live Google Images!

February 17, 2018 Happenings Technology

There was something wrong with Google Images which I thought needed fixing. I was searching for some images and realized the results were not directly linking to the file like earlier and it opened the corresponding website in a new tab. My reaction was “…huh!?” The results were all broken, at times I couldn’t find that image on the page which left me frustrated. I realized today that Google has complied with the European Commission’s accusation of anti-competitive practices and removed some of its features.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] In 2017, Getty Images complained to the European Commission, accusing Google of anti-competitive practices. Google said it had removed some features from image search, including the “view image” button. Getty Images said it was a “significant milestone” but critics said the move was “a step backwards”. [/perfectpullquote]

They killed the core of the product and unless they revamp or rejig the platform I think Images is headed to the graveyard to join its mates. As part of that deal, Google has begun warning users about copyright infringement which, I thought, was understood that users bear responsibility for liabilities arising from copyright infringement & commercial use of photos. Meanwhile, they also stripped it of its fabulous ‘Search by Image’ function and here we were talking about machine learning for image processing (TensorFlow). Google was a valuable repository of images for reference and so much more to me, and now they have taken that away too. A prime example of how user-centric technology continues to be pushed back to medieval ages.

India Is No.1 In ODI Rankings

February 14, 2018 Happenings

Close on the heels of a remarkable world cup campaign by the U-19s, India has now toppled South Africa to take the no.1 spot in the latest ICC ODI Championship rankings which happened after they beat the Proteas by 73 runs in the 5th ODI at Port Elizabeth on Feb-13. India is also the top-ranked team in test cricket today.

The Indians have outclassed the opposition in 9 consecutive ODI bilateral series and are on a roll in the shorter format of the game at this point. Under Kohli’s captaincy, this team has won their first ever bilateral ODI series against South Africa which they’re leading 4-1 with one more match to be played. In their current form, I would have to admit they’re my favourite team to win the 2019 World Cup to be held in England & Wales provided they’d have sorted out their middle-order batting woes by then. Ironically, their next ODI series is in July versus England and it’d be interesting to watch the spinners perform in English conditions.

Here’s a list of India’s successive ODI bilateral series Wins from June 2016 to present Feb 2018:

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  • Vs Zimbabwe – 3-0 in Zimbabwe
  • Vs New Zealand – 3-2 in India
  • Vs England – 2-1 in India
  • Vs West Indies – 3-1 in West Indies
  • Vs Sri Lanka – 5-0 in Sri Lanka
  • Vs Australia – 4-1 in India
  • Vs New Zealand – 2-1 in India
  • Vs Sri Lanka – 2-1 in India
  • Vs South Africa – 5-1 in South Africa (1 match to go)

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West Indies had the most consecutive bilateral series wins of 14 between May 1980 – March 1988 so I am hoping we continue to win more matches!

SpaceX Launches A Dream Into Space

February 6, 2018 Happenings

It was business, as usual, today for SpaceX with their ambitious Falcon Heavy vehicle as I watched the rocket soar into the blue skies amidst cheers taking with it the aspirations of a billion humans to become interplanetary travellers. There was nothing about this first launch which would suggest SpaceX was testing this beastly projectile whose thrust would be equivalent to 18 Boeing 747 aircrafts or its technology of Falcon rockets with 27 core engines firing at full force during launch – the most by any working rocket, or even getting all the 3 stages back to the Earth safely. Everything went smoothly, just like the previous Falcon missions bringing SpaceX closer to realizing its potential of sending humans to Mars and beyond. For me though, that wasn’t the highlight of the launch today. What made it momentous was its rather uncommon payload of the ‘Starman’ in a SpaceX-designed space suit behind the wheels of Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster which is right now orbiting the Earth on its way to Mars and will orbit the Sun indefinitely. On the Falcon Heavy, only time would tell how this behemoth will disrupt the commercial space industry.

India U-19s Lift The Cricket World Cup

February 3, 2018 Happenings

Woke up to the news that the India U-19s cricket team – which had done extremely well in the tournament overall, had won the U-19 Cricket World Cup defeating Australia in the finals by 8 wickets. Opener Manjot Kalra remained unbeaten on 101 (102) and was declared the Player of The Match. India has most U-19 World Cup wins now with 4, second only to the Aussies with 3 wins. More than anything, this ought to be a proud moment for one of Indian’s greatest batsmen and now the U-19 head coach Rahul Dravid. Unfortunately, I was not able to catch on any of the live matches but I did see some clips of the captain Prithvi Shaw, who along with his teammates (I’m looking at you Porel and Nagarkoti) have become favourites to be picked for the India seniors’ team. It’s special to win a world cup alone, but what’s magnificent is to win it convincingly without losing a match in the tournament. Bravo Team India!

Source: Scorecard on ESPNCricInfo