If you've been in the US your whole life, you're probably not aware of how popular the sport of cricket is globally. Around 2.5 billion people count themselves as fans, and Thursday marks the beginning of the most important event on the calendar: the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Scientists use Age of Empires 2 to investigate how ants wage war
15.09.2023 - 16:57 / rockpapershotgun.com
We often hear that videogames can have a positive impact upon the world, but this is the first time I've seen somebody use one - an antique strategy sim, no less - to advocate for appropriately balancing the level design of your front lawn so as to stop indigenous insects being overrun by smaller invading species. The scientific research paper in question - uploaded in August this year, and brought to my attention by RPS contributor and apparent ant enthusiast Matt Cox - sees researchers Samuel J. Lymbery, Bruce L. Webber and Raphael K. Didham use Age of Empires 2 to study how human shaping of the environment affects the balance of power between the indigenous Australian "meat ant", or Iridomyrmex purpureus, and the Argentine ant, or Linepithema humile, who are one of the world's more invasive ant species.
The paper takes inspiration from Lanchester's Laws, which I'm going to crudely summarise in the hope that no passing maths professor throws chalk at my head. Devised by M. Osipov and Frederick Lanchester before the First World War, these Laws set out to distil the likely tactical advantages and bodycount represented by new military technology down to a set of equations. Lanchester's Linear Law describes scenarios from the ambiguously defined ancient world, whereby soldiers with handheld weapons like spears can only fight one other soldier at once. Lanchester's Square Law, meanwhile, describes the effect of soldiers with modern weapons such as guns, showing that a slight superiority of starting numbers will snowball into an extremely one-sided victory. Or to put that another way, modern weapons allow for focus-firing.
The paper shows how the advantage possessed by the larger, stronger Australian meat ants (who are the modern troops in this analogy) versus the smaller, punier Argentine ants is cancelled out by choice of terrain. It illustrates this by setting up battles between the game's hard-wearing Teutonic Knights and relatively brittle two-handed swordsmen, on battlefields with or without chokepoints, then comparing the results to laboratory battles between the different ant species, with different real-life "RTS maps" created by gluing on strips of wooden board. Surprising few Age of Empires players, chokepoints make an enormous difference, and one takeaway is that clearing ground for human purposes is giving the tiny expansionist species the edge. Youtuber Spirit Of The Law has done a (pretty approachable) video, which spells out the supporting maths in more depth.
Under certain circumstances, the researchers note, the ants used in the lab battles refused to fight each other. This reflects the paper's own premise that "the human-mediated movement of ant species outside of their native
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gadgets.ndtv.com
05.10.2023 / 16:03
Cricket 24 First Impressions: Big Ant’s Latest Clunky Cousin of Sports Sims Stays at the Crease
It's difficult to translate the complexities of cricket into the cadence of a video game. Where the moment-to-moment dynamism of football and basketball lends itself naturally to arcade-style sports games like FIFA and NBA 2K, cricket's languid delights don't quite fit the formula. The usual sports sim approach, which is based on a 12-minute exercise in instant gratification, cannot capture the experience of a sport where a large chunk of a match is spent standing around. That's where Big Ant Studios' Cricket series takes a different route.
radiotimes.com
05.10.2023 / 11:09
One Punch Man: World pre-registration, beta and how to sign up
Everyone loves a superhero. And One Punch Man is a superhero like no other, surpassing more than 30 million copies of the Japanese manga and becoming a cultural hit all over the world.
destructoid.com
04.10.2023 / 19:31
Fortnite is adding individual age ratings for all of its experiences
In Fortnite’s goal to become “multi-game ecosystem” and a creative platform, Fortnite will soon require age rating for all first and third-party content. To make this happen, Epic has formed a partnership with the International Age Rating Coalition, or IARC. If you fashion yourself a creator on Fortnite, this new regulation takes effect starting on November 14.
polygon.com
04.10.2023 / 16:36
Sad Zelda Dad is still playing Tears of the Kingdom, but his marriage is doing better
If, like me, you got a little bit overinvested in the sad plight of the central character of one of Nintendo’s launch ads for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, then here is some balm for your soul: Sad Zelda Dad is back, and things are looking up for him.
gadgets.ndtv.com
04.10.2023 / 12:25
Assassin’s Creed Mirage Global Launch Timings Revealed: Details
Assassin's Creed Mirage is prepping to release this week, and before that, we've received global launch timings for the same. Ubisoft tweeted an infographic listing different timezones that point toward a staggered release — meaning the game unlocks at different times across the world. On console, the ninth-century Baghdad-set title goes live at midnight local time on October 5, which means the more impatient players can try changing their system's location to New Zealand to try and get in early. So far, the release schedule is straightforward, with preloading already live across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. However, the PC unlock is a tad confusing, with some regions getting a headstart by as much as a day.
videogameschronicle.com
03.10.2023 / 22:21
Fortnite is adding in-game age ratings for user-created content
All experiences published in Fortnite will soon be required to have an age rating in a move designed to protect players from accessing unsuitable content.
gamesradar.com
03.10.2023 / 14:27
Every single Fortnite creation is getting an official age rating next month
Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced it is working with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to add age ratings to all of its creations next month.
venturebeat.com
03.10.2023 / 13:33
Fortnite adds IARC age ratings to first- and third-party content
Epic Games and the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) are partnering to add age ratings to all Fortnite content. These ratings will apply to both first- and third-party content starting November 14.
theverge.com
03.10.2023 / 13:03
Fortnite is introducing age ratings for all of its Creative experiences
By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.
gamepur.com
29.09.2023 / 06:41
Counter-Strike 2: Long Queue Times in CS2 & How to Fix
With the release of Counter-Strike 2 players are swarming to see what this latest iteration has to offer. Unfortunately, that has led to a selection of errors during the launch period where players have been unable to access the game or enter a match.
pushsquare.com
28.09.2023 / 00:07
Cal Kestis Actor Cameron Monaghan Confirms Star Wars Jedi 3 Is Coming | Push Square
Cameron Monaghan, the actor behind Cal Kestis, the protagonist of both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, has confirmed that a third game is currently in the works.