California CO2 market players eyeing nuclear plant woes

SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:54am EDT

SAN FRANCISCO

Aug 22 (Reuters Point Carbon) - Newly announced major layoffs and a prolonged outage at a major nuclear power plant have raised concerns that the price of carbon allowances for California's forthcoming cap-and-trade program will rise sharply, market participants said Tuesday.

Southern California Edison (SCE), owner of theSan Onofre nuclear power plant in southern California, announced on Monday night it will lay off 730 employees this year to cut costs, a move that comes as the plant's owners acknowledged that it will be a long time before the carbon-free nuclear plant will fully return to service.

The 2,150-MW San Onofre plant has not produced electricity since January 31, when a radiation leak was discovered in one of the plant's two units.

The outage has been a major driver of California carbon allowance (CCA) futures prices on exchanges this summer because SCE has been forced to fire up older, carbon-emitting natural gas plants to replace the lost electricity.

SCE is the largest emitting utility in the state, and has a big compliance obligation under the cap-and-trade program, which will hold its first allowance auction in November.

On Tuesday, CCAs were trading above levels seen late last week, with four trades for a total of 35,000 allowances clearing in the $17.50-$17.75 per tonne range, market sources said.

"San Onofre is the big wildcard in the CCA market right now," said Jeff King, managing director of environmental markets at Scotiabank.

"If that plant stays down for an extended period of time, it means higher compliance costs for the rest of California," he said.

It was difficult to say whether the layoff announcement had any direct impact on prices, sources said, although there is no question in the minds of market participants that a prolonged outage at San Onofre would raise the price of CCAs.

"I would say a longer shutdown is bullish," a broker said Tuesday.

LAYOFFS

Even without the shutdown, SCE utility would be announcing the layoffs, which will reduce the plant workforce to 1,500 employees, said Jennifer Manfre, a company spokeswoman.

"SCE has concluded that SONGS' staffing and costs are significantly higher than other similar dual unit, non-fleet nuclear power plants," the company said in a statement.

But the shutdown, stemming from premature wear to the plant's steam generators, didn't help, the company said.

"The steam generator issues at SONGS also require that SCE be prudent with its future spending while SCE and regulators review the long-term viability of the nuclear plant," it said.

PROLONGED OUTAGE

"The reality is that the Unit 3 reactor will not be operating for some time," it said, referring to the unit where the leak was discovered earlier this year.

The closure of the 2,150-megawatt SONGS, which typically supplies the state with about 8 percent of its electricity, has at times strained the power grid during the warmer-than-usual California summer.

Grid operators have fired up some vintage natural gas-powered facilities and asked Californians to conserve electricity during peak hours to prevent rolling blackouts.

So far, good planning and an impressive response from consumers to public pleas for conservation has kept the juice flowing uninterrupted in the state this summer. (Reporting by Rory Carroll)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/us-california-carbon-idUSBRE87L06720120822

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Roofing System Primer: Hints in Maintaining Your Flat Roofing System

As they are simpler to look over and climb up on, less pricey to refurbish, and much simpler to care for, flat roofs are a preferred form of framework that most home owners in Toronto like to have in their homes. Unlike the standard sloped roofing system you often see in most homes, flat roofs are entirely horizontal. If you have one atop your house, and wish to keep its integrity, follow these tips.

'Ponding'

Flat roofing systems are susceptible to 'ponding' due to the fact that water coming from rainfall or snow could accumulate and go stale in pools. If left without treatment, this could result in leaks which could result in damage in the home from water entering the structure. Regularly examining and removing the water from the roofing system every time there's a huge rain generally helps.

Splitting

Due to natural calamities such as typhoons, hails, and downpours, splitting of roofing system sheets could also be an issue. Splitting could also be the result of unsatisfactory workmanship in the roof construction. This could be in the form of splits or cracks present on the parallel joints of the roof's insulation.

Blistering

You need to keep an eye out for signs of blistering in your flat roofing system. This forms in the felt layers of the roof due to air trapped within the felt, causing it to blister and separate. To mitigate this, you need to engage the services of a flat roof repair Toronto professional. Such a professional can manage any sort of complication of the kind, as they are proficient in identifying components in your flat roof that need the most attention.

Membrane Fasteners

Fasteners are what keep your flat roofing system hanging together. If one of them gets loose, this could have a causal sequence on the rest of the fasteners--hence, affecting the structural integrity of your entire roofing system. Detachment can be due to the pressure the rood experienced from water saturation. If this happens, it'll probably need the services of a flat roofing Toronto expert for the setting up of brand-new ones.

Snow Removal

Excessive snow gathering in your flat roof can cause it to collapse, and endanger your home. Make sure to consistently remove built up snow--particularly if it's already 12 inches deep. If you're not comfy shoveling snow, you can always ask specialists of flat roofs Toronto residents prefer to do the job for you. Check out servicemagic.co.uk/tips-and-advice/flat-roof-maintenance.html for more information.

For more details, search flat roof repair toronto, flat roofing toronto and flat roofs toronto in Google for related information.

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A Review On Stopping Smoking Once And For All : : Critical Care 2011

A serious smoker will have cigar ashtrays, cigar cutters, a cigar case, and maybe a humidor. Electronic cigarettes are way less expensive in the sense that it can reused for more than three hundred occasions in comparison to the normal cigarette which you have to buy every single day. There are several adverse on your sexual health. In addition the honey and nectar shops have to be reinstated. Click here for more on holders and such for cigarettes or cigarette cases.

Make a list of the few of them, so that it?s easy to evaluate them on the basis of cost. Your voice if it had become hoarse will now turn clearer. As soon as you find a brand name or two that you really appreciate, keep a lot available so that you can provide guests a great cigar when you?re enjoying their company. By not smoking, you can save your self a sizable sum of cash every year.

Following about two months I found my cravings had gone, and I handled myself to a saturday and sunday absent with the money I?d saved. So, quit cigarette smoking and lead your lifestyle freely the way in which you want. The device is battery driven. If you would like to flip your cigar smoking behavior into a severe recreational exercise that complements your lifestyle, step up the way you method your cigar smoking.

This excess of acids frequently flows back into the esophagus and leads to gastrointestinal reflux. Even the childbearing age of those women get shortened due to the impact of nicotine. Knowing how to stop smoking cigarettes will be the initial step into using control of one?s lifestyle. The longer phrase advantages of not smoking consist of a decreased opportunity of cancer and heart assault, actually after 10/15 years of stopping smoking the chances of getting heart assaults goes back to the same chances of getting it is a non smoker, so you are back to in which you began before you started smoking.

Find out the payment modes available on the company site so that you are able to choose a convenient 1. An additional choice is to spray a very good mist of thoroughly clean water onto them, but not sufficient to make the hive damp,especially if it is not a hot day. The advantages of not cigarette smoking far outweigh the advantages of cigarette smoking. The advantages of not smoking are wonderful, on average you can conserve around 3000 per annum by not smoking.

The amount 1 Free self improvement website for men! No matter how you take a look at it the financial benefits of not smoking are huge! Each one of these unsightly stains will go and there will probably be marked improvement in the epidermis condition if you do not smoke any much more. Finding a way for how you can stop.

Time is our most valuable commodity for the easy reason that we can by no means purchase back again time! I started off using nicotine patches but I didnt last lengthy with them. It is also said to trigger an instinct within the bees which makes them believe that there is a forest fire which leads to them to begin eating their honey stores in planning for leaving the hive. Many smokers can get reduced sperm count as the sperm created by the physique fails to survive lengthier.

The very first in the advantages of not cigarette smoking I will talk about is cash, this really is one which is not discussed largely, as even though it is important it is not connected to your well being and most individuals prefer to talk about the well being connected advantages of not cigarette smoking. Begin with the cigar by itself.

Source: http://www.criticalcare2011.org/a-review-on-stopping-smoking-once-and-for-all

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Put Roof First: Things that Let You Decide Which Roofing System to ...

A roofing system is to a home as the cranium is to the human head. This shows why looking after the roofing system is so delicately important. This essential building component houses not only walls and furniture, but loved ones, cherished possessions, and even irreplaceable papers, records, and memoirs. Most individuals deem their residences as the supreme comfort zone which requires the ultimate in roof protection.

The aesthetics of home is greatly grounded on the look of its roofing system. More significantly, this framework needs to have the functionality of providing defense while offering convenience to the household. Expert carpenters and roofing system experts do not just offer us a directory of roof designs and shade, but also look into the different factors for why particularly selected roof suit specific residence requirements. Picking the right one is a procedure that involves sophisticated analysis and assessment

Good Professional Roofer

Always bear in mind that if you do not know how to do things, there are consistently people who can be engaged to do them for you. Welcoming a skilled and certified professional roofer would assist in figuring out the suitable roofing system for your home. This professional could describe problems like crack detection, air flow, and woodworking among others.

Roofing System Usage and Design

In Canada, roof services operate round-the-clock. This is undoubtedly a huge country with roof companies serving clients in different regions throughout Canada. Toronto roofers, for example, get professionals' help on what to build, considering how other people and the community see the structure's design. They also honestly confer with the future citizens on the qualities of their roof, just how long it is anticipated to endure, and what brand-new conveniences the roof may provide.

Roof Upkeep

Every physical device or system needs refreshment or renovation at some point in its service life. Roofing systems need to be regularly retouched and repaired to continue securing the home. Toronto roofing companies deliver the whole plan to property owners, including the required routine maintenance services.

Toronto roofing companies are at par with the globe's finest, appreciating high ratings and recommendations given by their consumers. Indeed, roofing systems, like the crowns of our heads, should be cared for if they are to shield the cherished contents of the whole framework. For more details about roofing systems, go to http://www.ehow.com/list_6502341_different-types-roofing-systems.html.

For more details, search toronto roofers, toronto roofing and toronto roofing companies in Google for related information.

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Stanford's Self Driving Car Tops 120mph On Racetrack

kkleiner writes with this snippet: "Just as Google's self-driving Prius goes for distance, recently passing 300,000 miles, Stanford's self-driving Audi TTS instead has the need for speed. The Audi, known as Shelley, sped around the Thunderhill Raceway track north of Sacramento topping 120 miles per hour on straightaways. The less than two and a half minutes it took to complete the 3-mile course is comparable to times achieved by professional drivers." Now if only Montana could take a cue from Nevada's rules for self-driving cars, and bring back "reasonable and prudent" speed regulation, driving out west could get a lot more exciting.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/lcE2ifBvr64/stanfords-self-driving-car-tops-120mph-on-racetrack

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Factory Conditions Improve Where iPads Are Made

The Fair Labor Association has released a report documenting improvements in working conditions at three huge factories in China that make some of Apple's most popular products ? like the iPhone and the iPad. The factories are owned and run by Foxcon, and they employee hundreds of thousands of workers.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The outcome of that case hasn't been the only thing weighing on Apple. There have been complaints about working conditions at factories that make Apple products in China. But yesterday, the Fair Labor Association released a report documenting improvements in conditions at three huge factories that make products, like the iPhone and iPad. The factories are owned and run by Foxconn. They employ hundreds of thousands of workers. And as NPR's Steve Henn reports, some labor advocates hope changes at those factories could ripple through the entire industry.

STEVE HENN, BYLINE: Apple invited the Fair Labor Association into three Foxconn factories this past winter. The FLA surveyed tens of thousands of workers and found hundreds of problems with working conditions. In response, Auret van Heerden, president of the FLA, says Foxconn and Apple promised fixes.

AURET VAN HEERDEN: Most of the health and safety action items have been completed.

HENN: But one of the biggest challenges facing Foxconn and Apple is figuring out how to eliminate illegal overtime in all of their plants. This is a chronic problem in China. And many workers don't want 60 or 70 hour work weeks to disappear.

HEERDEN: So the blogosphere, you know, workers in China are very active on what they call the microblogs.

HENN: And right now these microblogs are full of workers complaining that hours and overtime pay are dropping. So Auret Van Heerden says Foxconn is raising hourly wages at the same time it's reducing overtime.

HEERDEN: So they're desperately trying to hire more workers at the same time. And, of course, that means offering a better package.

HENN: To make this work and also Apple's production quotas is a challenge.

HEERDEN: It is having this ripple effect through the labor market, because Foxconn is already starting to draw workers away from competitors and from other industries.

HENN: For years, Apple has been the subject of intense criticism about both labor and environmental problems in its supply chain. Activists say this is why: They believe if they can force reforms at Apple's largest suppliers, competition will force other industry players to follow along.

Linda Greer is the director of health programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Last year, Chinese environmentalists and the NRDC targeted Apple's Chinese suppliers for releasing toxins into the air and water. Greer says, at first, Apple was dismissive. But after environmentalists had proven some of their charges, Apple took action

LINDA GREER: They moved very aggressively on the problems that they found.

HENN: Now she'd like to see Apple become a company that aggressively polices its supply chain, looking for polluters

GREER: And then disqualifies factories from continuing business with them, if they are recalcitrant about cleaning up.

HENN: Greer says no factory want to lose Apple's business and many of these factories make products for other companies too. In this way, activists like Greer at the NRDC and Van Heerden at the Fair Labor Association hope that reforms at Apple will have a larger impact. But when I ask Van Heerden how much work there is left to do, he sighs.

HEERDEN: There's a lot. There really is a lot.

LI QIANG: (Foreign language spoken)

HENN: Li Qiang is the director of China Labor Watch.

QIANG: (Foreign language spoken)

HENN: Li Qiang says earlier this year, his group found and photographed underage workers at a plant that makes electronics for Samsung.

Samsung sent a team from Korea to investigate, but the company hasn't yet published what it found.

Steve Henn, NPR News, Silicon Valley.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/22/159710456/chinese-factories-improve-conditions-where-ipads-are-made?ft=1&f=1007

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Why We're Losing the Password War [Security]

LinkedIn, eHarmony, Yahoo—it seems like we hear about a new hack just about every week now. We all know the password rules—don't use your mom's maiden name, don't use your pets name, use numbers and random letters. But despite those guidelines, we could be more screwed than we even thought. Ars Technica has a good look at why it's so bad. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/kCVlEDPJShg/why-were-losing-the-password-war

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Self-charging power cell converts and stores energy

ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2012) ? Researchers have developed a self-charging power cell that directly converts mechanical energy to chemical energy, storing the power until it is released as electrical current. By eliminating the need to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy for charging a battery, the new hybrid generator-storage cell utilizes mechanical energy more efficiently than systems using separate generators and batteries.

At the heart of the self-charging power cell is a piezoelectric membrane that drives lithium ions from one side of the cell to the other when the membrane is deformed by mechanical stress. The lithium ions driven through the polarized membrane by the piezoelectric potential are directly stored as chemical energy using an electrochemical process.

By harnessing a compressive force, such as a shoe heel hitting the pavement from a person walking, the power cell generates enough current to power a small calculator. A hybrid power cell the size of a conventional coin battery can power small electronic devices -- and could have military applications for soldiers who might one day recharge battery-powered equipment as they walked.

"People are accustomed to considering electrical generation and storage as two separate operations done in two separate units," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We have put them together in a single hybrid unit to create a self-charging power cell, demonstrating a new technique for charge conversion and storage in one integrated unit."

The research was reported Aug. 9, 2012 in the journal Nano Letters. The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The power cell consists of a cathode made from lithium-cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) and an anode consisting of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes grown atop a titanium film. The two electrodes are separated by a membrane made from poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) film, which generates a piezoelectric charge when placed under strain. When the power cell is mechanically compressed, the PVDF film generates a piezoelectric potential that serves as a charge pump to drive the lithium ions from the cathode side to the anode side. The energy is then stored in the anode as lithium-titanium oxide.

Charging occurs in cycles with the compression of the power cell creating a piezopotential that drives the migration of lithium ions until a point at which the chemical equilibrium of the two electrodes are re-established and the distribution of lithium ions can balance the piezoelectric fields in the PVDF film. When the force applied to the power cell is released, the piezoelectric field in the PVDF disappears, and the lithium ions are kept at the anode through a chemical process.

The charging cycle is completed through an electrochemical process that oxidizes a small amount of lithium-cobalt oxide at the cathode to Li1-xCoO2 and reduces a small amount of titanium dioxide to LixTiO2 at the anode. Compressing the power cell again repeats the cycle.

When an electrical load is connected between the anode and cathode, electrons flow to the load, and the lithium ions within the cell flow back from the anode side to the cathode side.

Using a mechanical compressive force with a frequency of 2.3 Hertz, the researchers increased the voltage in the power cell from 327 to 395 millivolts in just four minutes. The device was then discharged back to its original voltage with a current of one milliamp for about two minutes. The researchers estimated the stored electric capacity of the power cell to be approximately 0.036 milliamp-hours.

So far, Wang and his research team -- which included Xinyu Xue, Sihong Wang, Wenxi Guo and Yan Zhang -- have built and tested more than 500 of the power cells. Wang estimates that the generator-storage cell will be as much as five times more efficient at converting mechanical energy to chemical energy for as a two-cell generator-storage system.

Much of the mechanical energy applied to the cells is now consumed in deforming the stainless steel case the researchers are using to house their power cell. Wang believes the power storage could be boosted by using an improved case.

"When we improve the packaging materials, we anticipate improving the overall efficiency," he said. "The amount of energy actually going into the cell is relatively small at this stage because so much of it is consumed by the shell."

Beyond the efficiencies that come from directly converting mechanical energy to chemical energy, the power cell could also reduce weight and space required by separate generators and batteries. The mechanical energy could come from walking, the tires of a vehicle hitting the pavement, or by harnessing ocean waves or mechanical vibrations.

"One day we could have a power package ready to use that takes advantage of this hybrid approach," Wang said. "Almost anything that involves mechanical action could provide the strain needed for charging. People walking could be generating electricity as they move."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications, via Newswise. The original article was written by John Toon.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Xinyu Xue, Sihong Wang, Wenxi Guo, Yan Zhang, Zhong Lin Wang. Hybridizing Energy Conversion and Storage in a Mechanical-to-Electrochemical Process for Self-Charging Power Cell. Nano Letters, 2012; 120809113842007 DOI: 10.1021/nl302879t

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Pu7t1lxGOXg/120821143614.htm

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From The Ooze Comes Inspiration ? A Reawakening Of Game ...


I?ve just returned from an amazing week at Edinburgh Interactive 2012, a yearly UK games industry conference in Scotland?s beautiful capital. EdInt takes place annually during the Fringe, the UK?s biggest comedy festival, which means you?re attending a funference full of fun people in the industry of fun, smack in the middle of a citywide funfest. What could be more fun than that? That?s right, nothing. Everything else sucks by comparison.

My session topic in the program was Bridging Gaming Styles in the New Reality, which, between you and me, sounded a bit yawn, but it kinda had to in order grab those transmedia monetizing gamificators in the audience, otherwise they would have skipped out for a pee and a tweet. By Slide 3, the actual content of my session took a bit of a left turn, but regardless everyone stuck around for a fun ride, a few laughs, and a different take on the industry than they were probably used to.

With lofty aspirations, I took on the Evolution of Games as a Biological Life Form. I?m not talking about evolution in the business sense or strategic sense, but in the Darwinian sense.

I began with the primordial ooze of Pong, from which we learned that dots on a cathode ray tube could be fun and quarter-worthy if arranged in the proper order. I then took the audience through evolutionary developments like diversity (the anything-goes games of the 1980s), complexity (Moore?s Law of Console Buttons), mutation (games shifting and merging and twisting to spawn new genres), and extinction (the killing off of the simple, unprofitable genres from the console market, rendering them only fit for the lunch hours of casual browser-game scavengers).

Then along came the smartphone, and suddenly half the population now has a personal game console in their pocket. All those casual game styles deemed extinct (a.k.a. unprofitable) by the console have been brought back to life. The battle for supremacy is raging anew.

It was a pretty good talk, if I may pat my own back. Best of all, it got me and a lot of the audience thinking about their long-dead favourites, and how they?re seeping back into the mobile industry. Furthermore, the games of old and games of new now seem to be mating and producing offspring in ways nobody could have predicted. It?s like dinosaurs and mammoths suddenly roaming the earth again, mating with modern day horses and house cats. Who knows what?s going to come out the other end?

I?m really enjoying some of these mashups; I love wacky hybrids and genre-crossers? the first-person word-scramblers, the pattern-matching dungeon-bashers, the point-&-click-platformer-punchups, the family-friendly-survival-horror-sandbox-gamblers (truth be told I haven?t run across this last one, but I?m waiting for the day). I love when a developer takes two separate genres ? best if one is traditionally hardcore and the other traditionally casual ? and squashes them together into a new freakish crossbreed.

I thought I?d pass on a few of my recent favourite hybrids of the past little while. When I say ?favourite? it could be for a number of reasons: seamlessness, cleverness, the quality (or rough-around-the-edges crudity) of the design, and in some cases it?s not the game itself but the audacity of the combination and the potential it could hold for an even-better Version 2.

RPG + Card/Gambling = Sword & Poker

The RPG is a surprisingly versatile game genre, covering everything from platformer to hack-n-slash to real time strategy, but it seems the old turn-based nature of foe fighting is an open window to just about every kind of game style out there. Traditionally, we?re talking dice around a table, but on the mobile it can be just about anything. Even? poker?

Sword & Poker (actually I?ve got Sword & Poker 2, so it?s already doing fairly well for itself) has a lovely simplicity to the artwork, story, and gameplay. It begins with the simple yet unnecessary explanation ?This is the story of a magical world based on cards? after which your character works her way through floors of a tower challenging cute beasts ? mushrooms, baby birds, broccoli ? to poker duels.

In my opinion, it?s a perfect example of what could have been ?just a card game? but was turned into something with story and shape and direction, and thus made it that much more appealing.

8-bit Arcade/Action + Rhythm = The Bit.Trip series

I?m really impressed with what Gaijin Games been coming out with in the past year. There are about 7 games in the series, but for the sake of simplicity I?ll focus on just one of them: Bit.Trip Beat Blitz.


I find it amazing that no one?s come up with this one before, but it?s brilliant. The Bit.Trip guys have started with Pong ? a heaping scoop of ooze from the dawn of time ? and simply added an 80s synthesized backbeat to it. Rather than just protecting your endzone from a single ball (block), a series of rhythmic balls (blocks) are coming at the paddle.

What?s more, they?re not always coming in straight lines. There are sine waves and stoppers and troopswaves and supersizers that are all hitting your paddle in time to the music, and because of the music, you?re going ?damn, I know that thing?s going to hit me on the beat, but where the @$%# is it headed?? It?s surprisingly challenging.

The clincher for me came when I got dangerously low on power. See, in the thick of it it?s all psychadelic colourful rhythmic shapes swirling around in the background for eye candy, but when you?re near death, they strip out all the distractions for you, and it?s good old white-on-black Pong again. It totally works. Grab the whole series.

2D Platformer + Puzzler = Continuity 2: the Continuation

I had seen the original Continuity as a browser game a couple of years ago, and (relying entirely on my own sketchy memory rather than actual research) it was a gold medal winner of a student gaming award. I wasn?t able to find the original on the App Store (side note: in my opinion, calling it ?2? may end up hurting their sales, since rarely to people buy the second without the first? may want to remedy that with a re-release, guys).

Anyway, this too is brilliant. On its base level it?s a 2D maze/platformer; a stick man runs about in a series of simple caves and tunnels, grabbing coins and a key, then searching for the exit. Nothing you?ve never seen before in terms of left-right-jump. But, on its second tier, it?s a shifting puzzle; you have three (or five or eight or more) blocks of tunnels which you can push around on a higher plane to rearrange like a magic square. The tunnel that got you from the cliff to the coin shifts to become the one that gets you from the key to the door.

As most games, it starts easy and builds quickly to difficult, challenging, and even frustrating? but it?s a really good kind of frustrating. Most games nowadays are all about constant reward and constant success ? after all, they want you to finish it ? but this is a throwback to the days when you couldn?t just walk through to the end. It takes some serious thinking, and the success is that much sweeter as a result.

Continuity 2 is a perfect example of the sort of game that sports that rough-around-the-edges feel, and makes you realise that they were built solo, or with a small team with more passion than cash. It?s an idea that needed to get out of an indie developer?s head and onto a screen in whatever form. And Continuity 2 is a fantastic idea.

I think it?s an ideal time to be an indie developer. I?m a sucker for a good idea, in whatever raw form I may discover it, and the games that come out of the indie market are fueled by ideas first, profit second.

If you were to ask me what the next big idea is going to be, I?ll happily admit that I don?t know. After all, evolution has no endgame, does it? The chimps of today aren?t going to become the humans of tomorrow. The strong adapt to the new environment, mutate and make babies, and who knows from what small corner of the swamp the next mutation (or, God forbid, entirely new original idea, if there are still some left) is going to come from?

Where? Now, THAT I felt I could answer. It?s the outer circle of the games industry ? the indies ? that are always going to provide us with the new ideas, because when you?re an indie, the idea is the only thing that matters. Big business has to answer to market tests, focus groups, and bottom lines, but little guys aren?t afraid to chuck something out there to see what happens.

We should be supporting the little guys with big ideas (which is why, contrary to most of my articles, I actually bought the full versions of these). If you see something out there that?s good, but has the potential to be great, please shell out the couple of bucks you would have otherwise spent on bottled water or something, and encourage the little guys to change the course of evolution.

If you?d like to see my whole session on the Darwinian Evolution of Gaming, check me out on the @EdiInteractive Youtube channel.

If, on the other hand, you don?t care about game industry trends and would rather just see a really awesome Ecto-1 I made out of Legos after my four year old went to bed, here?s that: http://www.beimers.com/index.html?page=adventurer.
(I tried a DeLorean yesterday but I don?t have enough grey slanty bits to pull it off. I am accepting requests though.)

Source: http://appaddict.net/2012/08/20/from-the-ooze-comes-inspiration-a-reawakening-of-game-design-deemed-extinct-by-the-console/

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