XZoro

Game Informations Developers : Konami Digital Entertainment Toylogic. Released : September 24, 2019. Genre : Run and gun. Platforms : Microsoft Windows - Playstation 4 - Xbox One - Nintendo Switch. There are Contra games I still play annually to this day — and I'm not just referring to the original. I really have to give a ton of credit to Shattered Soldier and Neo Contra, the two (these days, low key) PS2 entries, for laying it down with two of the most fun co-op campaigns to date, and Arc System Works' Hard Corps: Uprising still looks beautiful (I can't believe it's been eight years). "Beautiful" isn't exactly how I'd describe Contra: Rogue Corps, but at a budget price it might suffice as a rainy day weekend type of game. Contra: Rogue Corps isn't solely a Konami internal project per se. It's actually co-developed by Toylogic, who mostly have done assistance/auxiliary work on a few big-name projects like Kid Icarus: Uprising and Psycho Break (Evil Within). However, Nobuya Nakazato directed it, who helmed the legendary Rocket Knight on Genesis, and had a hand in a ton of other games (including OG Contra joints). This mishmash of talent involved bleeds into the game itself, which is a roller coaster of a shoot 'em up. Rogue Corps attempts to continue the very loose "Alien Wars" timeline of the series proper, but really, all you need to know is that you're playing as a crazy dude (Kaiser), a panda (Hungry Beast), a badass woman (Ms. Harakiri), and a gross bug thing (Gentleman). Well, you should also take into account that Rogue Corps dials up the absurdity (beyond the 3D glasses and killer robot chicken from the oddball PlayStation entry Legacy of War) up to Borderlands levels. For example: Ms. Harakiri isn't just a bloodthirsty assassin, she has an alien embedded in her stomach that she keeps under control with a sword ("I would advise not getting killed by her"). Characters shout profanities on command, and there's these little transition animations that rule in a '90s cartoon sort of way that are super morbid. In one of the first cutscenes, the gang saves an innocent hostage from the alien menace, only for said hostage to melt horrendously by way of an acid bath moments later. To some extent this playful tone extends to the game itself: enemies can flip up and smash against the screen like a Super Nintendo brawler. It's cool and frequently silly, all to its benefit. But once you actually load up into the game itself (especially on Switch, where it looks particularly rough), that veneer starts to fall apart. Confusingly, Rogue Corps is actually broken up into multiple modes. The campaign, which features constant camera changes, is actually the main event and can be played via online or locally with multiple Switches. Then there's a strange PVP component, and the couch co-op portion (this is important) is actually a separate gametype that you need to unlock. We'll get to that. This is a messy game, there's just no other way to say it. There's no traditional pause in offline single-player, and I spotted menu typos ("allows here" instead of "allows her" in the loading screen tips menu), you name it. In some cases, "rough" is an understatement in reference to the aesthetics (again, on Switch, the version I played), and I just want to ask one question: is it possible to patch in a soundtrack? The practically non-existent one feels like a wasted opportunity when over-the-top crazy metal would have been a killer choice. Slowly but surely though Rogue Corps won me over...in flashes. When it comes down to it most of the levels are actually fun to play, offer interesting enemy placements, and funnel players into tense situations. I dig the multi-faceted approach to combat, which incorporates a (very powerful) arcadey dash, melee finishers, and slight platforming with a jump button. Locomotion is paramount, as Rogue Corps' constantly shifting perspective adds a lot of variety to the standard run and gun archetype. The cooling system (which overheats your guns if you use them too often) is going to be divisive, and I can certainly see where they were going with it. Swapping weapons is key, and the fact that you can't just hold one button down indefinitely adds some strategy to the mix — especially when coupled with some of the cascading, almost puzzle-like barrel explosions. It'll take some getting used to, but if you don't like how a certain gun works you can swap it out, and four characters with distinct special skills and loadouts is the sweet spot for a run and gun game like this. I also dig that you can customize your build and gear (it's part of the game's long-term appeal) even if it does get a tad unwieldy at times. As well as the typical "make your way through the level" adventure fare, levels are broken up by arena brawls, which are hectic as hell and easily the best part of the game. The whole cooling concept shines here as you need to regulate your weapons lest you get caught with your pants down, eaten alive by a swarm of zombie...things. When you have your back to the wall shooting out a screen full of enemies, you know they did something right. There's a structure it all too, and optional extra missions if you want more variety. Boss designs, on the other hand, can be just as messy as the framework. Some are really fun, MMO-like skirmishes that fill the screen with bullets and offer up generous attack telegraphs to keep you on your toes without feeling overwhelming. Collectibles can even pop up in the middle of a fight, which lends itself well to the whole entropic goal. Big bosses, on the other hand, can be extremely tedious, with tired "weak point" strategies and infrequent attack windows. I was not able to test out online play during this review period, but I did try out four-player co-op. It's a different campaign, intended as a side story, and the developer directly compares it to Gauntlet and Smash TV. It's...disappointing. Having to wait to unlock it (roughly an hour or more) with a group can be a drag, and it basically amounts to randomized dungeon runs where the enemy layouts don't always gel together swimmingly. Most of the people in my group weren't thrilled with it, and the entire time it was running I wished that the campaign had full couch support. Konami vows that more free DLC is on the way, and even teases something that has to do with Bill and Lance, the heroes of the original game. While none of those promises are factored in here, there is the chance that Rogue Corps could be improved upon over time and eventually become more than what it was at launch: similar to how Super Bomberman R turned out with subsequent performance and content patches. It's a shame because sometimes, even when I'm fighting the game, I'm enjoying myself. Contra: Rogue Corps needed more time in the oven, and I'm not sure the whole "segmented ways to play" concept is going to go over well with everyone. But when it's firing on all cylinders, there's some silly shoot 'em up fun going on

Nissan’s 2021 Rogue compact SUV remains on schedule for a fall 2020 launch despite its factories being closed until at least May due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to a report from Automotive News on the redesign of the Rogue, Nissan’s best-selling model by a significant margin and one of the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. The Rogue’s top-seller status persists in spite of its last major redesign happening the better part of a decade ago when the 2014 model debuted in 2013. In Cars.com’s most recent segment-spanning comparison test of compact SUVs, the Nissan finished last, with our judges giving it low marks for handling, powertrain (particularly its noisy continuously variable automatic transmission), and interior storage and quality. In a statement obtained by Automotive News, Nissan said, “At this time, our new-model launch programs for the U.S. are on track.” According to a report in Japan’s Nikkei daily business publication, production of the new Rogue was supposed to begin in May, but it now may be delayed until after summer to give facilities time to reopen and be ready for production. The new Rogue’s debut was initially planned for the 2020 New York Auto Show, which was scheduled to begin last week but is currently postponed until August. Given that the Javits Center, home of the show, is currently a COVID-19 field hospital, August feels optimistic. When, where or how the new Rogue will debut before its planned launch is unknown.

Comedian Ricky Gervais said the NHS heroes have been working for 14 hours per day, yet they have not been whining. The current lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has left many of us in despair. While some are happy to stay back at home and save their lives, others are constantly complaining about missing out on the social hangouts. Comedian Ricky Gervais did not like the privileged behaviour shown by many. He has criticised celebrities for complaining about being locked up in their mansions in Britain in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. Ricky insisted that instead of grumbling about having to stay indoors, these people should applaud the National Health Service (NHS) staff who are at the forefront of the battle, risking their lives against the deadly virus. In an Interview to The Sun, the 58-year-old English comedian said, “After this is over I never want to hear people moaning about the welfare state again, I never want to hear people moaning about nurses again. Or porters.” He further said the NHS heroes have been working for 14 hours per day, yet they have not been whining. In the interest of society, they have been “risking their own health and their families’ health but serving all of us selflessly”, he added. “But then I see someone complaining about being in a mansion with a swimming pool. And, you know, honestly, I just don’t want to hear it,” said Ricky. Ricky is currently promoting the second season of his Netflix show After Life. In the black comedy-drama web television series, he portrays a role of a journalist.

A 99-year-old army veteran who has raised more than £3m to help the NHS in the fight against Covid-19 has vowed to keep going even though he has smashed his original £1,000 target. Tom Moore aimed to complete 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden by Thursday, walking with the aid of a frame. However he has now said he will not stop and hopes to do another 100. NHS Charities Together, which will benefit from the funds, said it was "truly inspired and humbled". Nearly 170,000 people from around the world have donated money to his fundraising page since it was set up last week. Mr Moore began raising funds to thank the "magnificent" NHS staff who helped him with treatment for cancer and a broken hip. He hoped to walk 100 laps of the 25-metre (82ft) loop in his garden in Marston Moretaine, in 10-lap chunks, before his 100th birthday at the end of the month. As funds topped the £1m mark earlier, "Captain Tom", as he is known, described it as "almost unbelievable". "When you think of who it is all for - all those brave and super doctors and nurses we have got - I think they deserve every penny, and I hope we get some more for them too." Ellie Orton, chief executive of the charity on the receiving end of Mr Moore's fundraising, said: "I think I absolutely join the rest of the country in being truly inspired and profoundly humbled by Captain Tom and what he has achieved. "Thank you for being an inspiration and a role model." Money raised by him and others for the charity is being spent on well-being packs for NHS staff, rest and recuperation rooms, electronic devices to enable hospital patients to keep in contact with loved ones, and working with community groups to support patients once they have been discharged from hospitals. Mr Moore was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire and trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the army for World War Two. He rose to captain and served in India and Burma. "I do [laps] each day, so that eventually I'll get to 100, then after that I shall continue and do some more," he said. The support so far had been "absolutely fabulous", he added. "Let's all carry on and remember that things will get better," Mr Moore said. "We have had problems before - we have overcome them - and we shall all overcome the same thing again."

Game Informations Developers : Universomo(iOS), Blue Tongue Entertainment(Wii), BlitWorks(Pc). Released : April 27, 2017. Genre : Platform, puzzle. Platforms : Microsoft Windows - Playstation 4 - PlayStation Vita - Xbox One - Nintendo Switch - Wii - iOS - Android. the Wii had a ton of great games, didn't it? For every piece of shovelware there was a hidden gem like Zack & Wiki or Wario Land Shake It that fell by the wayside in favor of some of the console's huge hits. But alas, some of them have had a new lease on life on other platforms, and De Blob is seeing its rebirth a little late in game. Well maybe "little" is an understatement, as it's been nearly a decade. While the whole monochrome versus bright juxtaposition has been done to death by now, there was a time when De Blob was one of the only convincing projects that was tackling it. As a one-man army (the titular de Blob) fighting the evil INKT Corporation, this underdog against the conglomerate narrative is no less relevant than it was back then. Thankfully it's not plagued by underdeveloped cast members or lengthy cutscenes -- just rapid-fire action puzzles and a lot of experimentation. You see, de Blob needs to paint the town to make up for INKT's "war on color." Sometimes there's a point to it, and you're rescuing some oppressed citizens or something. Most of the time the game kind of just says "have fun and paint shit," which I very much appreciate. Blob will start as a neutral agent of color, but if he strikes Paintbots (with a modern Sonic-like slam) he can alter his hue If you don't know your primary color combinations you better consult a chart, as many puzzles involve swift alterations and precise tints. It's like a giant version of Tony Hawk Pro Skater's graffiti mode, but with an adorable set of semi-open worlds. Except here instead of dreading your inability to find that last mystery tape tucked away in some obscure area, you're mostly experiencing everything De Blob has to offer in a zen-like state. Missions are easygoing (if a bit limited in scope), and randomly coloring trees, citizens, buildings, or objects by simply making contact with them is really fun. The time limit tacked to each world seems unnecessary (it could have easily been taken out with the port and replaced with a separate speedrun mode), but it's forgiving, and the worlds aren't overly-gigantic -- in a good way. De Blob's main virtue is that it still holds up just as well as it ever did. It presents levels without the open world bloat and the art style is as eye-catching (and ear-catching, with an amazing funky soundtrack) as ever with some touch-ups. It's just a very well crafted, chill game in just about every respect. Take the HUD -- it's simplified and not in your face like other games. Your avatar sports a radial map on their person as opposed to entering an entirely new menu littered with hundreds of points of interest. You can do the missions in any given map, or mostly just paint things as you go to progress. My only real gripe is the camera. While I'm okay with mani[CENSORED]ting the right analog stick just fine it's frustrating when the game takes away your ability to even do that. There's a four-player multiple element but it's nothing more than an afterthought. It's thrilling for an hour or so, screwing around in its graffiti skirmish mode, races, or its rendition of tag, but it's clear that the game wasn't really built for it. The limited level pool and rulesets also don't do it any favors if you're looking to tweak anything for your group. Years later De Blob feels like a worthwhile experiment. It hits the ground running with its likable tone and doesn't really let up with its no-strings-attached sandbox approach. Ironically after seeing the landscape so packed with open world busywork since its retirement, it's a welcome respite.

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If you want to see what a moving W-16 engine looks like in miniature on your wrist, this is the only way to do it. The Bugatti partnership with Jacob & Co. is only a year old, but this is the third watch to come from it so far. With a price of $280,000, there are a lot of features to talk about. For instance, it has a shrunken version of the Bugatti Chiron's 16-cylinder engine that actually moves and is suspended on tiny shocks. If you're going to wear a crazy-expensive watch, it makes sense to choose one that simply epitomizes the pure pointlessness of a crazy-expensive watch. For example, this new "high-complication timepiece" from Jacob & Co features a miniaturized W-16 engine from the Bugatti Chiron. Sure, the watch costs $280,000, but, hey, look at all those moving pieces. To be sure, there is a lot of precise engineering at work in this Chiron-inspired wrist clock, which is officially called the Bugatti Chiron 16 Cylinder Tourbillon. The actual Chiron has a 1500-hp 8.0-liter 16-cylinder engine, which means that Jacob & Co's designers worked to get 16 tiny pistons that move a minuscule solid steel crankshaft as the focal point. That crankshaft is "one of the smallest and most complicated watch parts ever manufactured," the company says. That's just the kind of challenge that Jacob & Co designers seem to relish. Jacob & Co announced a partnership with Bugatti in March 2019, and company founder Jacob Arabo said at the time that the Chiron represented "perfectly refined engineering." The watchmaker has already released two other Bugatti-inspired timepieces, the Twin Turbo Furious Bugatti, of which only 18 were made, and the more widely available Epic X Chrono Carbon Bugatti (110 pieces). Jacob & Co has not yet announced how many Chiron watches it will make. However many get produced, the tiny engine in the watch doesn't always spin—"one push of the launch button and off it goes," Jacob & Co says—but to make sure you can see all those moving pieces when they do move, the watch has sapphire crystals on the top and sides. The watch movement is suspended in four places, thanks to pieces that look like shrunken shocks from the Chiron itself, Jacob & Co says. The sapphire crystal window that shows off the 16-cylinder tourbillon (that's watchmaker-speak for a device that was originally added to watches to improve accuracy but is today more of a " novelty and a demonstration of watchmaking virtuosity," as Wikipedia puts it) is even modeled after Bugatti's horseshoe grill. The crystals are housed in a 54-by-44-millimeter titanium case that was "inspired by the flowing lines of the Chiron," and there are tiny Bugatti logos as well. In other words, this watch takes a lot of cues from the $3 million Chiron and puts them on your wrist. There's another fitting comparison between the watch and the car, since a watch is about the only thing that will fit into the actual Chiron's tiny trunk.

KEPUH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Kepuh village in Indonesia has been haunted by ghosts recently – mysterious white figures jumping out at unsuspecting passersby, then gliding off under a full-moon sky. The village on Java island has deployed a cast of “ghosts” to patrol the streets, hoping that age-old superstition will keep people indoors and safely away from the coronavirus. “We wanted to be different and create a deterrent effect because ‘pocong’ are spooky and scary,” said Anjar Pancaningtyas, head of a village youth group that coordinated with the police on the unconventional initiative to promote social distancing as the coronavirus spreads. Known as “pocong”, the ghostly figures are typically wrapped in white shrouds with powdered faces and kohl-rimmed eyes. In Indonesian folklore they represent the trapped souls of the dead. But when they first started appearing this month they had the opposite effect. Instead of keeping people in they bought them out to catch a glimpse of the apparitions. The organisers have since changed tack, launching surprise pocong patrols, with village volunteers playing the part of the ghosts. President Joko Widodo has resisted a national lockdown to curb the coronavirus, instead urging people to practise social distancing and good hygiene. But with the highest rate of coronavirus deaths in Asia after China, some communities, such as Kepuh village, have decided to take measures into their own hands, imposing the ghostly patrols, lockdowns and restricting movement in and out of their village. “Residents still lack awareness about how to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease,” said village head Priyadi, “They want to live like normal so it is very difficult for them to follow the instruction to stay at home.”

Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus, is beginning to ease strict lockdown measures that have brought its economy to a standstill. People in manufacturing, construction and some services are being allowed to return to work, but must stick to strict safety guidelines. The rest of the po[CENSORED]tion must still remain at home. Almost 17,500 people with Covid-19 have died in Spain, but the rate of new infections has been falling. Italy - the hardest hit country in Europe, with almost 19,900 deaths - will allow a narrow range of firms to resume operations on Tuesday. Spain's health ministry said on Monday that the daily number of deaths had dipped slightly, with 517 reported in the previous 24 hours, compared with 619 announced on Sunday. The official total death toll is now 17,489. The number of new infections continues to drop, with 3,477 confirmed cases bringing the total to 169,496. "We are still far from victory, from the moment when we will recover normality in our lives," Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned over the weekend. "We are all keen to go back out on the streets... but our desire is even greater to win the war and prevent a relapse," he added. On Monday, the government lifted some of the restrictions put in place on 27 March and allowed businesses whose employees cannot work remotely to reopen. Officials intend to distribute 10 million face masks on public transport. The head of the regional administration in Catalonia, Quim Torra, said he would not comply with any easing of the lockdown for non-essential workers, warning that "the risk of a new outbreak and a second lockdown is enormous". Mr Sánchez said the decision was taken after consulting a committee of experts. He also noted that Spain had not entered the "second phase" of the fight against the coronavirus, when there would be any further loosening of the lockdown. That was at least two weeks away and would "be very gradual", he added. Builders can only work in areas away from local residents, so they cannot yet go back to doing home improvements. Spaniards go back to work By Guy Hedgecoe in Madrid The lifting of some lockdown restrictions in Spain today has meant a return to normality of sorts for many non-essential workers. Two weeks ago they were told to stay at home as the national lockdown was tightened. On the Madrid metro and at bus and railway stations, police handed out face masks to commuters as part of a national strategy, However, even at rush hour, use of Madrid's transport system was much lower than normal. Antonio Álvarez, a self-employed manual worker, described it as a relief to be able to resume work on the digging of a swimming pool on a private property near the capital. "I think the restrictions so far have worked. If they hadn't implemented them it would have been disastrous," he said. Easter is a major holiday in the Spanish calendar, usually packed with religious events and marking the beginning of a busy tourist season. But this year, for the first time since the 1930s, there were no Easter processions and bars, restaurants, beaches and squares across the country were empty. As an alternative, some churches streamed Catholic Mass into the homes of worshippers, while websites replayed footage of religious processions from previous years. Italy reported 431 new deaths on Sunday - the lowest for more than three weeks. However, the country is almost certain to join the United States on Monday with a death toll of more than 20,000. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said last week that the lockdown would continue until 3 May, but that a few types of shops and businesses would be allowed to reopen on Tuesday. They would include bookshops, stationers and shops selling children's clothes, he said. Factories will not reopen, although Mr Conte said he would continue to assess the trend of new infections and "act accordingly" if conditions allowed it. In Germany, where 3,022 people with Covid-19 have died, pressure is also growing from businesses for a plan on how to exit the country's lockdown. On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss a strategy with regional leaders. Elsewhere in Europe, the number of people who have died with the virus in the Netherlands rose by 86 to 2,823 on Monday. The total number of cases increased by almost 1,000 to 26,551. And in France, which is expected to extend its lockdown until 10 May, police said dozens of worshippers defied the measures to attend a secret Easter Mass on Saturday. A priest was fined while other churchgoers were given a warning, the AFP news agency reports.

Game Informations Developers : Cornfox & Bros.. Released : November 14, 2013. Genre : Action-adventure. Platforms : Microsoft Windows - macOS - Playstation 4 - PlayStation Vita - Xbox One - Nintendo Switch -iOS - Android. Wind Waker Light It isn't often here at Destructoid that we don't review a game that has been released for almost four years across seven platforms, but Oceanhorn is one of those cases. This Zelda-like started out as an iOS game way back in the age of Obama in the year 2013, before the dark times we currently live in. The developers at Cornfox & Bros. have managed to combine the setting of The Wind Waker with the multi-layered gameplay found in A Link to the Past in a serviceable game that isn't quite on par with an actual Zelda title. So, basically about what you'd expect from an indie attempting to clone one of Nintendo's biggest franchises. The story of Oceanhorn isn't all that interesting or important. You play as a boy who wakes to find out that his dad has set out to kill Oceanhorn, a mechanical monster that has terrorized the world they live in. You set sail (literally) to find and help him. Thankfully the sailing here is mostly automatic aside from aiming a gun (which you can only use on the boat for some reason) at some enemies, and obstacles; a process that is over in no time but quickly grows tiresome thanks to how often the game forces you to do it. There's a decent amount of islands to discover, all of which can be explored to their fullest in around 12 hours. The islands can consist of repetitive beachy overworlds, caves, dungeons, and, of course, a graveyard. Variety is not Oceanhorn's strong suit as nearly every island consists of the same handful of enemies and textures. Combat is very simple, consisting of swinging your sword, throwing bombs, shooting arrows, and blocking. Thanks to some basic AI most enemies can be taken down quickly just by running up to them and mashing the attack button, which I guess is understandable considering the original version of the game was made for touchscreen devices; that doesn't mean it is all that fun. A few other minor annoyances include having to use a menu to switch items when doing so on the fly could have been easily assigned to the shoulder buttons, and checkpoints right before one of the few bosses that force you to watch their introductions each time you die by their hand. Amateur mistakes, if I do say so myself. Worse is that there is a stamina meter for running, swimming, and eventually jumping and rolling. This meter takes far too long to refill and runs out quickly, and the same can be said for the mana meter which requires you smash pots or kill enemies to refill. Pots respawn whenever you enter and exit an area, allowing you to easily refill your mana, so having the meter at all is pointless and stamina only serves to slow down the player's progress. Two outdated and not at all fun gameplay elements I hope developers stop using, immediately. I don't mind how simple most things in Oceanhorn are except for the puzzles, if you can call them that. Most dungeons will have blocks that need to be pushed to specific spots clearly marked on the ground, or levers to be found and swiped to open gates or reveal chests. Rarely did I ever feel like I needed to think about what I was doing, which is alright if you're looking for a more casual escape from all the hardcore survival and multiplayer-only titles flooding the market these days. Performance-wise, the Nintendo Switch version of Oceanhorn looks a bit dated, but that makes sense considering this is based on the PC version of the game from two years ago. Plus, the Switch isn't exactly known for being a graphical powerhouse. That said, Oceanhorn manages to run at a pretty solid 1080 60fps docked, and 720p 60fps while handheld. Meanwhile, the wonderful soundtrack was composed by Kalle Ylitalo and has a few tracks by Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito who are known for their work on the scores of Final Fantasy and the Mana series, respectively. If you've got a hankering for a game with a stamina meter, sword swinging, and pot smashing, there is at least one other better title on the Nintendo Switch that I can think of, but Oceanhorn is an alright little throwback to retro Zelda titles that could help you bide your time between Nintendo's slow trickle of AAA games.

V2 Effect & Blur

The company says that the update should improve endurance and performance repeatability as well as quicken launch-control starts. Tesla says its latest over-the-air update increases the power of its Model S and Model X Performance variants. The update also bumps up the vehicles' thermal performance and endurance, Tesla claims. During a launch-control start, the Teslas go into a "cheetah stance," lowering their front suspension and adjusting the damping for better traction. When we recently pitted the Tesla Model S Performance against the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, one of the slights against the Tesla was the performance degradation after using its launch-control mode more than once. Tesla seems to have been paying attention and has now rolled out an update to the Model S and Model X Performance editions that includes higher thermal performance and includes a front-suspension-lowering "cheetah" launch mode. When Ludicrious+ mode is enabled, the front suspension lowers and the damping is adjusted to increase takeoff traction. According to Tesla, the update includes a peak power increase, more high-speed power at speeds over 80 mph, and higher thermal performance with better endurance so there is less degradation of power after repeated use. In other words, you can use Ludicrous mode repeatedly with less power loss than before. How can thermal performance be improved with software, you ask? Does this mean Tesla has just decided to let the battery pack and electric motors get hotter before pulling power? Yes, that's exactly what happened, Tesla telling us that it has increased the cells' maximum temperature and introduced new thermal models for the battery pack, powertrain hardware, and cells that control the limits of the powertrain. Of course, the biggest trick is making these changes while still being confident in the longevity of the battery pack and powertrain. There's nothing in the release notes about power gained, but back in October, CEO Elon Musk tweeted about this update, saying that it should add an additional 50 horsepower to the vehicles. The company also says that the user interface to enable launch mode has been simplified and that the process the driver has to complete to actually take off is more straightforward. Once the brake and accelerator are depressed, you now have 15 seconds to launch instead of the four seconds described on page 75 of the Owner's Manual from before the update.

As per the findings of a study, overweight and obese kids had a higher percentage of lower and upper limb fracture, as compared to ones with normal weight. Researchers say that pre-school children who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of bone fractures during childhood than normal-weight pre-schoolers. The study, published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, aimed to determine if having an overweight or obese range body mass index (BMI) at time of beginning school is associated with increased fracture incidence in childhood. "In a cohort of almost half a million children from Catalonia, Spain, we have found a strong association between pre-school overweight/obesity and the risk of fracture during childhood," said study senior author Daniel Prieto-Alhambra from the University of Oxford in the UK. According to the researchers, a dynamic cohort was created from children presenting for routine preschool primary care screening, collected in the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) platform in Catalonia, Spain. Data were collected from 296 primary care centres representing 74 per cent of the regional paediatric po[CENSORED]tion. The study included 466,997 children with weight and height measurements at age four years who were followed for a median of 4.9 years. The findings showed that fractures occurred in 9.20 per cent of underweight, 10.06 per cent of normal weight, 11.28 per cent of overweight, and 13.05 per cent of obese children. Compared with normal weight, overweight and obesity were linked with 42 per cent and 74 per cent higher risks of lower limb fractures, respectively, and a 10 per cent and 19 per cent higher risk of upper limb fractures, respectively. Overall, preschool children with an overweight or obese range BMI had increased incidence of upper and lower limb fractures in childhood compared with normal-weight kids. "More research is needed to further understand the mechanisms underlying this correlation," Prieto-Alhambra said.

The home secretary has said she is sorry if NHS staff feel there has been a failure to provide protective kit for those treating coronavirus patients. But Priti Patel said there were going to be problems during what she called an "unprecedented global pandemic". The British Medical Association earlier said that NHS staff were putting their lives at risk when treating patients. The health secretary said earlier that 19 NHS workers had died with coronavirus since the outbreak began. Speaking at Saturday's coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, the home secretary said: "I'm sorry if people feel that there have been failings. I will be very, very clear about that. "But at the same time, we are in an unprecedented global health pandemic right now. It is inevitable that the demand and the pressures on PPE and demand for PPE are going to be exponential." On Friday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there was enough kit for everyone and unveiled a plan to address shortages. He said the government was looking into how NHS staff who had died with the virus had been infected - adding that some may have caught it outside of work. "But that doesn't take away from the bravery of every single NHS worker," he said, adding that his "heart goes out" to those who have died and their families. Mr Hancock said he was "particularly struck at the high proportion of people from minority ethnic backgrounds and people who have come to this country to work in the NHS who have died of coranavirus". "We should recognise their enormous contribution," he added. Supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) in London and Yorkshire are at "dangerously low levels", according to the BMA. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said doctors were being forced into a corner and faced "heart-breaking decisions" over whether to carry on without proper protection. He said: "This is an immensely difficult position to be in, but is ultimately down to the government's chronic failure to supply us with the proper equipment." A nurse at Watford General Hospital in Hertfordshire, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the BBC he felt unsafe with the level of PPE he had been given. He said shortages meant those working on wards with coronavirus patients were only being given a surgical mask and plastic apron, rather than a gown covering the whole body. Last week a nursing assistant who had been looking after coronavirus patients at the hospital died. "We are scared because we are spreading the virus," he said. "We don't deserve it and our patients even more." 'Precious resource' The health secretary said 742 million pieces of protective gear had been delivered so far, saying: "There's enough PPE to go around, but only if it's used in line with our guidance. We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is." Mr Hancock said he was not "impugning anyone who works for the NHS" and "they do an amazing job". "But what I am reiterating, stressing, is the importance to use the right amount of PPE," he added. However, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was "insulting to imply frontline staff are wasting PPE" and the government "must act" to ensure sufficient supplies are delivered. stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) and that the problem lay in the distribution from warehouses to the front line. Some hospitals have reported receiving higher consignments of gloves, masks, gowns and aprons. But doctors and nurses have continued to report shortages. Care homes, pharmacies, GP practices and community health teams feel they are at the back of the queue for equipment to protect staff who may come into contact with patients who have Covid-19. There has also been confusion over how safety guidelines should apply. Now Matt Hancock has admitted there are global supply problems and says it is a "herculean effort" to get deliveries to health workers and a "huge task" to keep it going. He set out a series of measures to step up provision of equipment. He may be given credit for acknowledging the scale of the problem. But NHS and care staff won't take much notice of plans until they are reflected in reality on the ground. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has dismissed any suggestion that healthcare staff have been overusing PPE. RCN chief executive Dame Donna Kinnair told the BBC no PPE was "more precious a resource than a healthcare worker's life, a nurse's life, a doctor's life". "I take offence, actually, that we are saying that healthcare workers are abusing or overusing PPE," she told BBC Breakfast, adding that nurses were still telling her they did not have adequate supply of protective equipment. Meanwhile, the business organisation Make It British said the government had not yet taken up offers from some firms to help manufacture PPE. The group said at least 100 companies had responded to an appeal for help four weeks ago but had heard nothing since.

Game Informations Developers : Capybara Games. Released : December 14, 2018. Genre : Action-adventure. Platforms : Microsoft Windows - Playstation 4 - Xbox One. Capybara's new dungeon-delving adventure, Below, places a lot of confidence in its players. Aside from a few basic control prompts up front, the beloved indie studio offers almost zero explicit instructions. There's a fundamental faith that players will be inquisitive enough to glean all the details they need from visual cues woven into lavish world design and a super clean, super minimalist user interface. Early on, I found this approach totally engrossing. I love it when a game trusts me to figure things out on my own and, crucially, provides me with reasonable clues to help make those connections possible. Below is brimming with a-ha moments as you teach yourself how not to starve, how dungeon floors can (and can't) change from one permadeath run to the next, and what to do when everything goes to hell and you need to extract your gear from an inhospitable area that won't ever seem to end. In retrospect, it's a fairly simple game -- you only need to keep descending, one floor at a time, until you reach the mysterious bottom -- but the real trick is endurance. Below doesn't demand fast reflexes or a particularly quick wit, but it does require grit. One small slip-up can have devastating repercussions. It pains me to put it so bluntly. As I covered in my review in progress, the first several hours of Below will be audio-visual bliss for anyone who cherishes a sense of genuine discovery. In a year with some truly beautiful games, Capybara's tilt-shift art direction stands out, and composer Jim Guthrie is as on-point with palpably atmospheric tracks as I'd expect after his work on Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. It's not just the killer aesthetic that sets a promising tone. Below's light action-adventuring is much more enjoyable in the opening hours when its survival and roguelike elements don't feel so prickly. Say, for example, you run low on food. You might feel pressure to move a bit less methodically than you otherwise would in hopes of finding stray mice or plants you can chop up and nibble on. The shadowy monsters who roam Below's early levels only take a swipe or two at most. They aren't much of a threat, even in large groups. You're far more likely to walk into a stray spike trap or make some other critical error in the stifling darkness. If and when that happens, a new adventurer with none of your gear will appear on the island's surface for another attempt. You'll need to navigate back to your former body to find and reclaim the all-important lantern, an item that's mandatory for progression. The underground rooms will seem familiar but slightly fresh due to procedural generation, so there's added guesswork, and you won't have health or food reserves on-hand unless you make it a point to stock up. During the first half of the game, this is a setback, to be sure, but you can recover without taking a huge blow to your motivation to continue. You'll likely have a few shortcuts opened up by then and a basic grasp on the different layouts each specific floor and biome can take. It's tricky to see without the lantern's guiding light, but it's doable as long as you prepare appropriately and play cautiously. Later on, once you reach a brutal set of one-way floors with a looming presence following your every step, death can be utterly disastrous. Below morphs from repetitive to outright punitive. With a well-stocked hero, the situation is tense. With a new recruit who has to survive long enough to nab his predecessor's lantern and then keep going until he finds an escape route, it's hellish. I left off my review in progress venting these frustrations and wondering if the struggle could possibly be worth it. Nine more hours later, I've not only made it through the gauntlet, but I've since run back through the entire span of the game multiple times to locate the last few collectibles I had missed. Below's ending was about what I expected: gorgeous to look at and packed with more questions than answers. Some players will relish the challenge, but I just couldn't. Not in this game. Below puts its best foot forward in its early hours and then never stops losing steam. If the experience were somehow compressed into a tighter six- to eight-hour adventure, I'd confidently recommend it to a wide audience. As it stands, the game has a masterful command of ambiance, but it comes with too many caveats.

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Lifting coronavirus lockdown measures too early could spark a "deadly resurgence" in infections, the World Health Organization chief has warned. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries should be cautious about easing restrictions, even as some struggle with the economic impact. Europe's worst hit countries, Spain and Italy, are both relaxing some measures, while their lockdowns continue. Globally there are 1.6 million cases of coronavirus and 101,000 deaths. Speaking at a virtual news conference in Geneva, Dr Tedros said there had been a "welcome slowing" of the epidemics in some European countries. He said the WHO was working with governments to form strategies for easing restrictions, but that this should not be done too soon. "Lifting restrictions too quickly could lead to a deadly resurgence," he said. "The way down can be as dangerous as the way up if not managed properly." How are Spain and Italy easing curbs? The government in Spain is preparing to allow some non-essential workers in sectors including construction and factory production to return to their jobs on Monday. Spain recorded its lowest daily death toll in 17 days on Friday, with 605 people dying. According to the latest figures, Spain has now registered 15,843 deaths related to the virus. However, the government has urged people to continue to uphold social distancing rules over the Easter long weekend In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the national lockdown until 3 May, warning that the gains made so far should not be lost. However, a small proportion of businesses that have been shut since 12 March will be permitted to reopen on Tuesday. Mr Conte specifically mentioned bookshops and children's clothing shops, but media reports suggest laundrettes and other services may also be included. Only grocery stores and pharmacies have been allowed to operate since the lockdown started. The number of deaths in Italy rose by 570 on Friday, down from a daily figure of 610 the day before, and the number of new cases also slowed slightly to 3,951 from 4,204. The number of people who have died with Covid-19 in France went up by nearly 1,000 to 13,197 on Friday. However, the number of people in intensive care units fell slightly for the second day in a row. "We seem to be reaching a plateau, albeit a high level," Director of Health Jérôme Salomon said. Is the spread of the virus slowing? WHO head Dr Tedros welcomed the apparent slowdown in infections in some European countries on Friday. US officials also say the coronavirus outbreak may be starting to level off there. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said on Friday that while there were encouraging signs, the epidemic had not yet reached its peak. Meanwhile, Dr Tedros has warned that the virus is now spreading rapidly in other countries. He highlighted Africa, where he said the virus had reached rural areas. "We are now seeing clusters of cases and community spread in more than 16 countries" on the continent, he said. "We anticipate severe hardship for already overstretched health systems, particularly in rural areas, which normally lack the resources of those in cities."

Porsche announced that the last previous-generation 911 would head to the auction block later this month to help raise money for the United Way Worldwide’s COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund. The final 991-series 911, a Speedster, comes with more than just the car, though. The automaker is offering up a compelling, once-in-a-lifetime package that should be enticing for any Porsche enthusiasts while helping to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The winning bidder will get more than just the car as Porsche is pairing the 911 Speedster with a bespoke package filled with goodies. That includes a 911 Speedster Heritage Design Chronograph, though that’s not all. The winning bidder, along with one lucky guest, will also get an opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Porsche AG Weissach development headquarters. That personal tour includes “experiencing the test track” with Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser and Andreas Preuninger, heads of the 911 and GT model lines, respectively. Delivery will take place at a dedicated event in the U.S. with Porsche Cars North America President and CEO Klaus Zellmer hosting the handoff of the car. The winner will also get a book that highlights the completion of the last 991. The book will include photographs along with an original sketch by the Speedster design team. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to support the United Way Worldwide’s COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund. RM Sotheby’s is hosting the auction through its Online Only platform, and bidding will be open for one week. There’s no reserve. Bidding opens 11 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, April 15, and closes Wednesday, April 22, at 1 p.m.

A therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide affection, comfort and support to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, libraries or disaster areas. nteracting with a therapy dog for couple of minutes may help lower stress in physicians and nurses working in emergency departments, say researchers. A therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide affection, comfort and support to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, libraries or disaster areas. "Many healthcare workers and laypersons believe that dog-assisted support can improve emotional well-being in the healthcare setting, but little hard data exist to scientifically evaluate this belief, especially in emergency care," said lead author Jeffrey A Kline from the Indiana University in the US. In the 122-participant study, published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, emergency providers randomised to a five-minute interaction with a therapy dog and handler. The research found that emergency providers had a significant reduction in self-reported anxiety using a visual analogue scale compared with patients randomised to colouring mandalas for five minutes with coloured pencils. Also, at the end of the shift, emergency providers had lower salivary cortisol (a stress hormone) with either colouring or therapy dog interactions compared with controls. "We provide novel data to suggest that emergency care providers enjoyed seeing a dog on shift, and received a small benefit in stress reduction after the interaction. We still do not know the extent to which the benefit was from the dog, the handler, or the combination of the two," Kline added.

Game Informations Developers : Semisoft. Released : June 24, 2018 (Windows) / October 3, 2019 (PS4-Xbox One). Genre : Role-Playing. Platforms : Microsoft Windows - Playstation 4 - Xbox One - Nintendo Switch. Nostalgia is ridiculously powerful. Particularly in video games, we tend to get swept up in the nostalgia of our youth with experiences that shaped our taste in a genre or our interest in the medium altogether. Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds aims to tug on our nostalgia-filled heartstrings as a role-playing game from a bygone era. Developer Semisoft promised a PlayStation 2-style JRPG and, for better or for worse, it sure does feel like one. Legrand, much like the classic JRPGs of the PS1 and PS2 generations, uses turn-based combat. Anyone who's played a classic Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest title will feel at home. Before each round begins, you'll lock in an action for each of your characters and watch them play out. Legrand, however, asks you to remain a little more active while the action unfolds. You'll be given a spinning dial with a quick button prompt when each character goes to attack. Get the timing right, and you'll perform a successful action. Mess it up, and fail. It's really nothing new to the genre as games like Paper Mario have done this sort of thing before, but it does keep you a bit more engaged. And while it isn't particularly challenging to pull off, getting an experience bonus from having perfect timing is a worthy reward. Your active party can hold up to three characters, but you can swap members in and out as a bonus action on your turn, making it easy to change formation and exploit enemy weaknesses. Character placement also plays a role in strategy since you can place characters in the front or back row. Standing in the back will protect you from incoming melee attacks, but you'll only have access to ranged moves, making it the perfect posting for archers or casters. Combat is never all that challenging as you can examine weaknesses at any point in the conflict and adjust to exploit enemies accordingly. If any monster feels particularly powerful, it's best to just have the party guard until they've charged up their Arcana actions, special ultimate moves similar to Final Fantasy VII's Limit Break. The way item use in combat is handled feels notably dated and frustrating. Items need to be assigned from the bag to four item slots on a per-character basis. Even most original PlayStation RPGs knew that a catch-all item bag was the way to go. Having to make sure each of my six characters was outfitted with a variety of buff and healing items was an annoying chore. As a result, I stopped relying heavily on items a few hours in. Beyond the basic turn-based combat, Legrand introduces larger-scale army battles after a few hours. It functions as a simple, self-contained strategy game. You move your units like chess pieces along a grid and attempt to either target specific units, clear the board entirely, or gain control of territory depending on the victory conditions. It isn't a deep system, but it does keep things fresh between the normal combat encounters. Legrand's art combines hand-painted backgrounds with 3D character models. The result is some pretty stunning cityscapes, forests, and deserts that feel at odds with the unremarkable character models. I encountered more than a few irritating technical issues in my first few hours with the Switch version. Particularly on long play sessions, I had battles freeze up or even randomly crash the game. The autosave system made sure I never lost an insane amount of progress, but I was annoyed all the same. Our story is your standard fantasy fare. The protagonist, Finn, is a swordsman with amnesia who discovers with the help of a noble girl named Aria that he is one of the Fatebound, a group of legendary heroes destined to save the world from an ancient threat. Along the way, you'll get pulled into more significant political turmoil and interpersonal drama, but none of the characters are written strongly enough to really get you invested in all this world-building. Hell, Finn even manages to get himself embroiled in a love triangle despite being about as charming as a piece of driftwood. Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is what it claims to be: a role-playing game that feels old, for better or for worse. It won't wow you with storytelling or world-building, but the combat is serviceable, if not remarkably challenging. If you're a fan of old-school Japanese role-playing games, you'll find something to enjoy here. Just know that you're in for a game that, much like it claims to, feels dated.

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The coronavirus pandemic will turn global economic growth "sharply negative" this year, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. Kristalina Georgieva said the world faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. She forecast that 2021 would only see a partial recovery. Lockdowns imposed by governments have forced many companies to close and lay off staff. Earlier this week, a UN study said 81% of the world's workforce of 3.3 billion people had had their place of work fully or partly closed because of the outbreak. Ms Georgieva, the IMF's managing director, made her bleak assessment in remarks ahead of next week's IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. Emerging markets and developing countries would be the hardest hit, she said, requiring hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid. "Just three months ago, we expected positive per capita income growth in over 160 of our member countries in 2020," she said. "Today, that number has been turned on its head: we now project that over 170 countries will experience negative per capita income growth this year." She added: "In fact, we anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression." Ms Georgieva said that if the pandemic eased in the second half of 2020, the IMF expected to see a partial recovery next year. But she cautioned that the situation could also worsen. "I stress there is tremendous uncertainty about the outlook. It could get worse depending on many variable factors, including the duration of the pandemic," she said. Her comments came as the US reported that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits had surged for the third week by 6.6 million, bringing the total over that period to more than 16 million Americans. The US Federal Reserve said it would unleash an additional $2.3tn in lending as restrictions on activity to help contain the coronavirus had forced many businesses to close and put about 95% of Americans on some form of lockdown. Separately, UK-based charity organisation Oxfam warned that the economic fallout from the spread of Covid-19 could force more than half a billion more people into poverty. By the time the pandemic is over, the charity said, half of the world's po[CENSORED]tion of 7.8 billion people could be living in poverty. On Thursday, following marathon talks, EU leaders agreed a €500bn (£440bn; $546bn) economic support package for members of the bloc hit hardest by the lockdown measures. The European Commission earlier said it aimed to co-ordinate a possible "roadmap" to move away from the restrictive measures. Earlier this week, the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency, warned that the pandemic posed "the most severe crisis" since World War Two. It said the outbreak was expected to wipe out 6.7% of working hours across the world during the second quarter of 2020 - the equivalent of 195 million full-time workers losing their jobs. Last month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that the global economy would take years to recover. Secretary general Angel Gurría said that economies were suffering a bigger shock than after the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001 or the 2008 financial crisis.