Nikola Tesla is everywhere. We have Tesla AC power generation and supply, remotely operated vehicles, and he inspired radio and wireless power. In this book historian W. Bernard Carlson meticulously goes through the thought processes of how Tesla came up with these inventions, but also examines his great failures and repeated dips into depression.
Up until now I have mostly written reviews of cute unknown games. But some cute games manage to make the biggest of splashes, and find themselves on every Internet list, blog, and board game website. These games have the resonance to penetrate the minds of the most serious faced men, they stand out.
In Artificial Intelligence, neural networks have always fascinated me. Based on biological concepts similar to human brains, artificial neural networks consist of very simple mathematical functions connected to each other through a set of variable parameters. These networks can solve problems that range from mathematical equations to more abstract concepts such as detecting objects in a photo or recognising someone’s voice.
Under Europe lies a 27 km tunnel that is both the coldest and hottest place on Earth. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has already found out what gives mass to all the matter in the Universe. It is now trying to go even deeper into what makes up everything we see around us. Dr Marija Cauchi writes about her research that helped protect this atom smasher from itself. Photography by Jean Claude Vancell.
FLOAT was an interactive exhibition that explored light. The exhibition was launched as a one-off event of lit installations spread over the floors of the Faculty for the Built Environment (University of Malta) on the evening of 3 July 2015. The exhibition had aerial walkways, floating rooms, colour bursts, and cityscapes captured in panes of glass.
Gone are the days when learning a new language meant sitting in a classroom, reading books and practising with classmates. There are language learning apps, programs and games now. But can we really learn a new language just by using this technology? Veronica Stivala finds out. Illustrations by NO MAD.
Mecon is an ongoing research project for the 2015 edition of the IASS EXPO, themed Future Visions which is to be held in Amsterdam between June and August 2015. The project is to design and build a structurally innovative, deployable pavilion in a bid to celebrate Future Visions in the field of engineering design and innovation. Mecon is the solution created by a team of five recently graduated architects.
Indie games have allowed a new generation of creative developers to experiment. Nostalgia is a leading trope: defunct genres are being resurrected, and the 8-bit aesthetic is a stylistic trademark. Adhering to this practice, the first episode of Hotline Miami chewed-up old-school arcade games and nineties ultraviolence, mixing it up with a contemporary, psychedelic audiovisual blend.
Hotline Miami 2 keeps all of that with a set of new mechanics: players can now shoot sideways, roll under enemy fire, and brandish katanas. The game’s greatest merit is to carefully balance unabashed mayhem with careful strategy. You will need to memorise patterns and act quickly at the right time. And then, do it again and again.
As a sequel, Hotline Miami 2 feels rather conventional. As expected, every part of the game has been expanded and the game mechanics have been completely exploited. Its narrative has been exhausted and lost sequential logic. It now serves as a backdrop for yet another suicide assault.
Hotline Miami 2 is undoubtedly a joy: a well-crafted, ultrafast ride, with a fantastic, inspired soundtrack. The game is designed to satisfy its fanbase. The struggle continues between innovation and conservatism.