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Yes, it really has been that long since Bayonetta and Vanquish backflipped into our lives, and they honestly haven’t aged a day. SEGA has brought these two beloved gems onto modern platforms with a bang, ensuring they look and run better than ever. Offered at an appealing price with enough new bells and whistles to warrant a revisit, the Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle is an easy sell for action newcomers and veterans alike, especially if you didn’t have a chance to experience these classics back in the day. While a few extra bonuses would have been lovely, it’s hard to complain about what’s on offer here.The Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One may divide some fans, but I’m glad it exists at all. Vanquish is a third-person shooter originally released in 2010 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It didn’t look like much in still images, with its futuristic powered armor and smoking hero, but it played fast, with an emphasis on speed and aggression that was missing from so many games of its time. It never found commercial success, but quickly became a cult classic after its launch. It’s fascinating to go back to the game today and play something that, in many ways, feels like a precursor to Warframe. Bayonetta is a third-person brawler from 2009 that also came to PS3 and Xbox 360 first, but was later ported to the Wii U to be sold along with its sequel. The game starred a sexy witch who fought her enemies with an acrobatic assortment of moves that incorporated magic, firearms, and of course her amazing hair. Did the world need a hornier version of Devil May Cry? No, but we’re thankful PlatinumGames thought we did. Bayonetta found a little more mainstream success than Vanquish did, although both games have always been more influential than po[CENSORED]r. They’re still well worth playing in 2020, just as much for the enjoyment of the action itself as well as the history of both games.Sega’s new $39.99 collection includes both games, playable at 60 frames per second in 1080p on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, or at 60 fps in 4K on the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. That’s a very nice visual upgrade, and after spending a few hours with both games I can report that those numbers aren’t an exaggeration. This is the most attractive, most approachable way to play either game. It’s just that this upgrade isn’t, in itself, new for hardcore fans who own gaming PCs. Sega brought both Bayonetta and Vanquish to PC in 2017, allowing players with the right hardware to bring the games up to, or past, 4K at 60 fps. Both games are rated “very positive” on Steam, with thousands of reviews. This new bundle offers the same level of performance for the higher-end consoles, without the PC versions’ ability to unlock the frame rate or resolution for either game, but doesn’t do much else. Playing Vanquish or Bayonetta in 4K on a console is certainly a treat, but the textures and models themselves haven’t been updated in any way my eye could make out. That makes this a very pure re-release, sharpening the design without changing it in any way; anyone hoping for noticeably updated textures will be disappointed. Doing a proper remaster of the game would also likely drive up the cost, with little evidence that it would lead to more sales, so I understand the approach. It’s just important that people understand what they’re getting into. There are also no behind-the-scenes documentaries, concept art, or any kind of archival anything from either game included in the bundle. You get the games, and those games perform better on newer hardware, but that’s the extent of the package. Both titles are such singular, stylish releases that the stories about their creation have to be interesting; I wish they could have been told and included here. But in terms of a clean, simple release of two classic games at a fair price, playable this smoothly at this high of a resolution on modern consoles? It’s hard to complain. If you’ve ever wanted to play Bayonetta or Vanquish on your current-generation console, or have yet to pick up the PC releases, this is a great excuse to do so.First released in 2009, Bayonetta has since cemented itself as a modern classic. It takes the acrobatic combat and electric pace of Devil May Cry and enhances it with some truly unique twists. It’s faster, more ambitious, more daring and overblown in the best possible way. Even after 11 years, it still plays beautifully, although it doesn’t reach the heights of its equally fantastic sequel. Hideki Kamiya’s wondrous adventure of excess has you playing as the titular character of Bayonetta, an unstoppable woman capable of transforming her hair into everything from skimpy clothing to otherworldly beasts the size of skyscrapers that eat enemies alive. Instantly iconic upon her debut, this stylish witch backs an even bigger punch many years later. Bayonetta introduces Witch Time, a mechanic which has become a common mechanic across Platinum’s library. By dodging at the exact moment you’re struck, Bayonetta can slow down time for a few short moments. This means you take no damage, and have a precious couple of seconds to build up a combo and dish out some massive punishment. After all this time it still feels wonderful, applying a sense of distinct rhythm to each encounter. Levels are short and sweet, often only featuring a handful of battles before you’re rewarded a grade and thrust into a cutscene and/or storefront to restock or sit down to some exposition. This stop and start pacing won’t be for everyone, especially since at times it can feel like you don’t have enough time to sink into combat before immediately being pulled away. On the flipside, this also amounts to massive amounts of replay value as you slowly but surely nail each facet of Bayonetta’s arsenal. I could spend hours nailing down why Bayonetta is so brilliant. It’s fantastical architecture tinged with European influences echoes the thematic elements of angels fighting against demons perfectly, while Bayonetta is a fierce sex symbol who screams female empowerment, owning her sexuality and using it to put idiots in their place. It’s badass, and it’s criminal we’ve been waiting so long for the third game. We might not have realised it at the time, but Vanquish was one of the finest follow-ups a studio has ever made, establishing a killer streak that wouldn’t falter until the underwhelming Legend of Korra in 2014. Shinji Mikami’s absurdly manic cover-based shooter takes the formula established by Gears of War and other noughties blockbusters and promptly leaves them in the dust. Vanquish is short and sweet, with the solo campaign coming in at only 6 hours or so depending on the difficulty. While its length has been rightfully criticised, every passing second is an adrenaline-fueled moment of brilliance. You are Sam Gideon, a DARPA agent armed with the Augmented Reaction Suit. This highly advanced piece of technology allows you to burst across the environment with rocket thrusters, sliding across the floor and leaving hostile Russian androids in the dust.It supersedes the need for cover, confidently thrusting a middle finger up towards its contemporaries at the time. It showed that Japanese developers weren’t afraid to compete with western giants, arguably beating them at their own game. The plot is stupid yet simple. A rogue military force known as The Order of the Russian Star has commandeered a solar energy transmitter aboard a intergalactic colony to wipe San Fransisco off the map, and it’s your job to venture into space and stop him. Characters spew forth corny lines pulled straight from Aliens and Starship Troopers, fully aware of the overall narrative’s rampant absurdity. It’s brilliant, executed with such a style that it’s surprisingly easy to take seriously. If you’re like me, you’ll be punching the air with pompous glee as Gideon kicks the head off a giant robot before punching a hole in his chest. Blink and you’ll miss them quick-time events that result in death can be irritating, one of the few signs of age Vanquish happens to show. Otherwise, the combat is exquisite. Every firefight offers rampant room for experimentation, with weapons ranging from standard assault rifles to futuristic lasers that lock onto multiple baddies from afar. You’ll see Sam’s entire arsenal in the opening hour or so, meaning the rest of the game is spent mastering it. Darting from cover, sliding towards a robot and launching them across the stage with a swift uppercut is always satisfying, although death can come quickly if you’re careless. Vanquish is bittersweet, leaving me desperate for more as the credits rolled, but the journey is so, so worth it. It’s a bombastic rollercoaster that rarely gives you a moment to breathe, holding you with grip of a futuristic mech and never letting go. Aside from the campaign you can partake in some optional challenges to earn trophies, but these are fun distractions rather than essential. Much like Bayonetta, there’s a lot of replay value in the flexibility of combat encounter alone. One of my only major qualms with this collection is the lack of worthwhile extras. It’s fairly barebones, presenting both games as individual applications without much in between. Unlockable concept art, trailers or even a soundtrack player would have gone a long way in praising the legacy of Platinum’s finest, but it sadly wasn’t meant to be. Verdict For a reasonable price you can own Bayonetta and Vanquish – two of the greatest action games ever made, and they’ve aged like a fine Japanese wine, proving exactly why PlatinumGames is the best in the business when it comes to character-driven action experiences.Arguably no types of video games vary more wildly in quality than that of remasters. Sometimes you’ll have games that have received quality touch-ups, but don’t really include anything else in the larger package to really make it worth a purchase. In other instances, the remastering job itself will almost make the visuals worse than they were before (looking at you, Batman: Return to Arkham). And in the absolute best cases, you’ll get games that are stellar ports to new platforms and also include bonus features galore. It’s really hard to ever know what you’re going to get when publishers decide to slap a fresh coat of paint on games from the past and bring them to modern consoles. For the Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle, this remastered collection tends to sit in the first camp. Even though it was great for Sega and PlatinumGames to bring back both of these beloved action titles to celebrate each game’s 10-year anniversary, I’m also hard-pressed to wonder why they did so in the first place. Other than something nice for collectors in the way of the physical version, Sega didn’t opt to include anything else of note in this Bayonetta & Vanquish bundle which seems like quite a missed opportunity.

Diluvion is in that most tragic class of disappointing game: the kind with great ideas. There's so much to love and appreciate on the surface that the game's profound awkwardness and convoluted mechanics just hurt to experience. It presents an unusual take on a post-apocalyptic society where humanity doesn't go to space or live in the nuclear wastes. Instead, they're forced to build civilization anew underwater, with steampunk-inspired submarines and habitats as their only means of shelter. Humanity's only hope of breaking through the oppressive ice above is a godlike ancient artifact lying at the bottom of the ocean. As the captain of your own tiny vessel, you are tasked with recruiting a capable crew, building a ship strong enough to withstand the crushing ocean depths, and locating the powerful artifact before anyone else. As you creep your way to the bottom of the ocean, you'll often have a checklist of parts to grab, people to see, and enhancements to make. Much of your journey is spent scavenging supplies and key items in uncharted danger zones infested with landmines and sea creatures--and it's hard not to be affected by seeing how many other vessels tried and failed to infiltrate the same areas. One of the more chilling commonalities along the way is finding merchants who were stranded in isolated areas, waiting for someone to come along to give them the jump they needed to escape.Diluvion is a perfect example of how a video game can get so much right, only to be almost wrecked by one or two critical flaws. In Diluvion’s case, these flaws are baffling, because they could have easily been foreseen and fixed with some proper testing. Instead, they weren’t, turning Diluvion into a huge missed opportunity – one that despite its beauty and atmosphere will probably leave you with mixed feelings when all is said and done. It is an ambitious title that has a lot going for it, so it isn’t hard to recommend. If you dive into it though, you should do it with the knowledge that it may stretch your tolerance for bad game design to the breaking point.Diluvion takes place after a great cataclysm has doomed civilization to an undersea existence. What remains of humanity now lives in the ocean, under a thick sheet of ice that covers the entire world. You, as the newly minted captain of a submarine, take on the quest to find a great artifact that may restore mankind to its former glory. During your journey, you visit various locales like magnificent natural formations, huge sunken wreckages, trading posts, and cities. As you progress, you find all kinds of hidden treasures as you defend yourselves from a variety of dangerous foes. If you boil Diluvion down to its basic elements, it plays a lot like a space sim, but underwater, where everything moves very slowly. Like a space sim, you have two basic attacks. The first is a basic, short range, low accuracy attack that shoots scrap metal at enemies. The second is the torpedo, a guided underwater missile that locks onto enemies with devastating effect. Although these mechanics may seem familiar, they will take some getting used to if you haven’t played a submarine game before. In Diluvion, everything, both you and your enemies, moves slowly. Your submarine has a lot of inertia, it turns slowly, and it generally isn’t capable of outrunning anyone. You also have virtually no way of evading attacks if somebody has you dead-to-rights; if you get too close to an overpowering enemy it will destroy your ship before you can escape. It feels very much like you are piloting an underwater behemoth in the game, which seems to be precisely what Diluvion is aiming for. Fighting enemies can be a rough challenge, one that will likely end in your death until you have grasped the game's controls. The game benefits from this sense of danger in the end, because it forces you to be cautious and smart about how you use your resources. The combat works well and is appropriate for what the game is supposed to be, but this doesn’t always make it enjoyable. There isn’t much of a variety in the tactics that you can use to defeat enemies – you usually just aim at an enemy and spam them as much as possible with rapid fire and torpedoes. Or, if necessary, you keep your distance and just spam them with torpedoes while shooting the ones that they launch at you. There is a terrific leviathan boss battle at the end of each act that provides a change of pace. The combat in the game is otherwise fairly repetitive. Thankfully, Diluvion isn't always fear and dread. The journey's gentle pace leads you to treasure every new landmark you come across--many awe-inspiring in either scale or design. Towns are elaborate wonders of construction. Most checkpoints are man-made structures overtaken by ice or algae. Diluvion's most notable accomplishment is its score, a beaut symphony that haunts every mile you journey in-game, accentuating the wonder in one scene, ratcheting up the tension in another. The more shallow sections of ocean are bright, wondrous places that you can find yourself wandering around aimlessly with a sense of peace and calm. The ancillary, narrative experience of Diluvion is a fine one. It's the act of actually having to play the game that causes the whole thing to dissolve. Interacting with other characters takes on a lighter tone, with the view switching from the artfully rendered 3D ocean to 2D when docking at towns or with other subs. There's an element of repetition here, since many of the stock NPCs are copy-pasted throughout the entire game, and most of them are interactive only to issue random grunts and sighs. The ones who do talk, however, speak in snappy, often funny lines of dialogue, with more than few characters worthy of endearing themselves over time--especially your erstwhile crew, who will interact not just with their captain but with each other when they're docked. The relationships tend to fall by the wayside as exploration ramps up, but it's always welcome when the game takes a breath and allows your helmsman to give the history of a new area or lets your crazy gunner talk rings around the submissive sonar expert. The ancillary, narrative experience of Diluvion is a fine one. It's the act of actually having to play the game that causes the whole thing to dissolve. Diluvion is marred by unintuitive controls and one of the most needlessly convoluted user interfaces in recent memory. This is a problem that truly shows its ugly face when your sub is forced into a fight. Your attack options are limited to begin with: you can fire shrapnel--or later on, homing torpedoes--at your enemies, and maneuver slowly around them. That's about the extent of your tactics, and in practice, most naval battles in the game resemble less Assassin's Creed: Black Flag than a toddler crashing two submarine toys against each other going “pew-pew!” before eventually deciding one of them gets to win. When you're not fighting, you're exploring. You'll get a constant, easy-to-follow list of tasks for every mission, most of which just revolve around traveling to an unknown area and scanning for a particular type of resource. Errand-running aside, the game completely flounders when it comes to the actual act of navigating Diluvion's vast ocean. There is an in-game map that doesn’t actually show the player's location relative to any of the landmarks they've visited. Your waypoint function is a school of golden fish who come to help only when they feel like it and often swim through walls--something you cannot do. Checkpoints are frequently miles away from where you've traveled, and running out of air during the journey back is something that occurs frequently until you invest the hefty funds required to buy a new air tank. Occasionally, even if you are able to reach a specific location, the game has a nasty habit of not telling you that you need to hear a specific conversation before a particular event is actually triggered. For every one fresh, intriguing, and delightful element Diluvion brings to the table, the act of getting to experience any of it is an exercise in frustration. These are the problems that plague Diluvion, and far too often, the persistent state of your sub is “hopelessly lost.” The game tries to make you do some actual navigational heavy lifting, which is admirable, but you're stuck with a limited pool of resources (like air and food for the crew) that restrict how long you can spend out in the unknown before desperately needing to refuel. And therein lies the true tragedy of Diluvion. For every one fresh, intriguing, and delightful element it brings to the table, the act of getting to experience any of it is an exercise in frustration. And while the story answers the questions posed at the outset, more often than not those answers aren’t worth the Sisyphean effort it takes to find them. Boss fights are well conceived, but once the initial shock of many of the creature designs fades away, you're left with the fact that all these problems multiply in the face of larger enemies. More powerful gun upgrades help later, but combat in general is a slapdash affair that builds dread for the wrong reasons.Combat isn’t the main attraction for Diluvion though. Where this game really shines is with its brilliant art direction and gorgeous, exotic visuals. The game boasts of being inspired by Jules Verne, and it hits that mark perfectly with its combination of steampunk design and alien scenery. Despite the its post-apocalytpic premise, the game's world is a charming one. It is a distant future world where 1930s submarine technology fits right in. Attention to detail is impressive, like the little streams of bubbles that come from your ship when you change elevations. Your ship looks particularly inspired, especially towards the end of the game when you have fully decked it out with upgrades. What will probably blow you away though is the variety of bright, colorful environments that the world has for you to discover. Diluvion is a gorgeous game with a huge world for you to explore – one that is delightfully free of copy-and-paste and full of one breath-taking vista after another. Much of the game takes place deep underwater with no natural light, but there is plenty of glowing marine life and brightly lit machinery to make up for it in most spots. The best example of this dynamic at work is the old sewer pipe system that you find about halfway through the game – a colorful network of tunnels with some jaw-dropping visuals. It is because of the beautiful scenery that the game maintains its sense of exploration and adventure throughout its 20-hour run length. How could anyone not want to be a submarine captain and explore this world? The atmosphere in the game is aided by some terrific audio when it comes to both music and sound effects. The music that plays while you are peacefully exploring is lovely, and the battle music is appropriately exciting (albeit repetitive as the combat itself). The sound effects are a perfectly chosen blend of classic submarine noises like muffled underwater explosions, sonar pings, the “whoosh!” of the torpedoes as they are fired, and random creaks and groans. Suffice it to say, the strength of Diluvion lies in its presentation.To make matters worse, the game has a map, but it doesn’t actually mark your location on that map. (Why doesn’t my submarine have a stupid navigator?). Since you are underwater, it is very easy to get disoriented and lose sense of where you are or where you are supposed to be going – something that happens frequently when you get attacked or something else diverts you from your mission. To make matters even worse, your crew slowly consumes oxygen while you are travelling, which means that you must find some way to replenish your air periodically. Your exploration sessions are frequently cut short by the need to circle back to base so that your crew doesn’t suffocate to death, a round trip that may take you ten or more minutes. Sometimes, you explore so far away from oxygen sources that you die and you have to revert back to your last checkpoint, which could have been 20 minutes ago. The air supply mechanic makes perfect sense within the game and it adds a welcome element of survival and challenge. However, it accentuates the major problems that the game has with its lack of directions and quest markers. It is a shame that the game so frequently bogs down in these quagmires. The game’s tendency to bog down in long, boring searches is its biggest problem, but it has some other minor issues as well. The game is very sloppy in some other areas, particularly its dialog and storytelling. The game frequently references the world’s back story as if expecting you to know all of it, but it never actually lays out that back story in a codex or a dialog dump. There appears to have been a rich world conceptualized for this game, but for some reason an explanation of that world is sorely missing from the game. NPCs are mostly signposts who issue one or two lines of generic dialog, with the exception of important story NPCs who might have four or five lines of dialog that don’t always make sense. There is barely any explanation given to you for why you need to fulfill each of your quests, and by the end of the game there is a good chance that you will have forgotten why you started off on your adventure in the first place. The end comes kind of suddenly, with a final scene that might leave you scratching your head. It feels as if a more ambitious story existed at one time, but chunks of it were cut out of it to make the game’s release date.

Towards the top of the range are SRi VX-Line Nav and Ultimate Nav, which each start from £27,620, but the headline introduction is the new GSi, which packs a turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces 227bhp and 258lb ft. This power is delivered through a nine-speed automatic gearbox. Priced from £38,850, the high-performance executive hatchback has also been fitted with four-wheel drive that utilises a torque-vectoring system to improve handling in corners. The GSi also gets Brembo four-piston brakes, new adaptive Flexride suspension, bespoke 20in grey alloy wheels and tweaks to the steering set-up. The details of the GSi were revealed alongside full details of a revamped engine line-up for the Insignia. The entry-level unit is a three-cylinder 1.4-litre turbo petrol with 143bhp and 174lb ft, using a six-speed manual gearbox for WLTP-certified fuel economy from 45.6mpg. As well as the 227bhp version, the 2.0-litre engine will be offered in 197bhp guise from SRi Nav upwards, using the nine-speed automatic ’box. This is the first Vauxhall engine to feature cylinder deactivation to reduce fuel consumption. The lower-powered version achieves WLTP fuel economy of up to 37.2mpg, compared with the more powerful unit's 33.2mpg.There will be one diesel engine in the launch line-up: a 1.5-litre three-cylinder producing 120bhp and 221lb ft and returning an official 57.6mpg. A 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel will be launched later this year. Vauxhall says the three-cylinder engines are up to 50kg lighter than the versions featured in the outgoing model. Confirmation of the engine line-up comes shortly after Vauxhall revealed a number of exterior changes and upgraded interior technology for the Insignia. The front has been restyled, with an expanded, chrome-edged radiator grille and adaptive-beam Intellilux LED headlights leading the raft of revisions. Vauxhall claims the facelifted Insignia looks “lower and wider than before” without any specific dimension changes, while the overall design is intended to be “sharper and more coupé-like”. Inside, the graphics on the navigation system have been improved to give what Vauxhall claims is a “fresher, more modern appearance”, alongside new wireless smartphone charging. Vauxhall will be hoping that sales for the Insignia improve with the new design, as they have more than halved in Europe over the past decade. In response to this, the range was recently thinned, with the Sports Tourer estate variant being taken off sale.

Covering roofs and walls of buildings with vegetation is a good way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And these green roofs and walls make cities look nicer. Toronto’s central business district adopted a policy of establishing green roofs on around half of all city buildings in 2009. Research shows this could reduce maximum city temperatures by up to 5C. We spent the past 12 months analysing the case for more greenery on Australian city buildings, drawing on international comparisons. We’ve shown that a mandatory policy, coupled with incentives to encourage new and retrofitted green roofs and walls, will provide environmental, social and business benefits.These include improved air quality, energy conservation and reductions in storm water runoff from buildings, which would decrease flash flooding. Green roofs and walls also become new habitats for biodiversity and can be pleasant spaces for social interaction in dense urban areas. We found numerous studies confirming that greenery on inner city buildings reduces the urban heat island effect, which is when city centres are hotter than surrounding suburban and outer urban areas. We examined international case studies of cities embracing green roofs and walls to review policy frameworks which could be suitable for Australia. A range of measures and policies exist and vary depending on building types (buildings need specific features to host vegetation) and the degree to which policies can be enforced. Singapore is leading in this area. It markets itself as a “garden city” to attract investment, visitors and commerce. Green roofs and walls are a vital and visual manifestation of this policy. Greenery is ingrained in Singapore’s development sector and is boosted by incentives, grants, awards, certification schemes and government led development. Through this voluntary-heavy (yet supported) effort, Singapore increased its number of green roofs and spaces ninefold between 2006 and 2016. Rotterdam’s efforts weren’t as extensive as Singapore’s, but the city more than doubled its green roof area from 2012-2017 through incentives, grants, tax benefits and demonstration projects. London increased its total green roof area more than fourfold from 2005-2016. This was partially achieved through a biodiversity action plan. And Toronto has the second largest area of green roofs of the four cities we studied. This has been delivered through a mandatory policy, introduced in 2009, that requires all new developments with roofs of 2,000 square metres or more to install green roofs. We modelled what could be delivered in Sydney and Melbourne based on the measures taken in Singapore (which is voluntary-heavy), London (voluntary-light), Rotterdam (voluntary-medium) and Toronto (mandatory). We combined this with data on actual green building projects in 2017 in Sydney and Melbourne to show the potential increase of projects in each city based on the four policies. In the Sydney local government area, 123 green roof and wall projects were under way in 2016. In the Melbourne local government area, 28 green roof and wall projects were under way. Sydney and Melbourne have green roof and green wall policies aligned with their 2030 and 2040 sustainability targets, launched in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Sydney has the Green Roofs and Walls Policy Implementation Plan, while Melbourne has the Growing Green Guide 2014. These policies appear most aligned with the voluntary-light approach adopted in London. Sydney had a 23 per cent increase in green roofs since its policy launch, although this was from a very low starting point. Melbourne also reports an increase in green roofs and walls, though the amount of uptake isn’t publicly available. There are, of course, barriers to greening up buildings. These include costs as well as lack of experience in the industry, especially in terms of construction and management. Professional capacity for green roofs is still in a developing phase and further training and skill development are needed. Around 87 per cent of the building stock Australia will have in 2050 is already here, and a large proportion of existing buildings could be retrofitted. We recommend a voluntary approach using a mix of initiatives for building owners, such as tax benefits and credits in green building tools. Focusing on new buildings is likely to lead to more modest growth rates in the short to medium term, relative to alternative approaches such as retrofitting. The annual growth rate of new stock is around 1-3 per cent, which means that policies focusing on new stock will have a substantial impact over the long term. However, in the short to medium term, a retrofit policy would have greater impact given the numbers of existing buildings suitable for this. Local government areas can also promote the evidence showing the lift in property values in areas with more green infrastructure – in some instances up to 15 per cent. This should encourage voluntary uptake. Sara Wilkinson is an associate professor at the School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney; Paul J Brown is a senior lecturer in creative intelligence for the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation and a senior lecturer in Accounting at UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, and Sumita Ghosh is a senior lecturer at the School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney. This article was originally published on TheConversation.com

After intense political back and forth, Wisconsin is set to hold its presidential primaries and elections for many state and local offices on Tuesday. The controversial election day comes after the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned an executive order issued by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to delay in-person voting until June 9, followed by a U.S. Supreme Court order on Monday evening to cut off an extension for absentee voting.The state had been the subject of criticism across the country throughout March, as more than a dozen other states delayed their elections due to coronavirus fears. Wisconsin officials issued a stay-at-home order for the state two weeks ago. What is the structure of the election? Wisconsin has an open primary, meaning that voters can request a ballot for either party's contest. Voters will have the option of casting their ballots in person Tuesday, but it may not be easy for those willing to go. Polling places were consolidated and modified to follow social distancing guidelines, and there's expected to be a shortage of about 7,000 poll workers as many decline to work amid the pandemic. Voters can submit absentee ballots in person until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the result of the last-minute U.S. Supreme Court ruling, overturning a federal judge's ruling that had extended the deadline until April 13. Absentee ballots submitted by mail will be accepted until that date, but must be postmarked by Tuesday (April 7). A lower court ruling said that county clerks have to hold results until April 13, and yesterday's court action did not appear to change that. How many delegates are at stake for Democrats and Republicans? There are 84 pledged delegates at stake in the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary, with 55 assigned at the district level and 29 that will be assigned at the state level. Delegates will be allocated proportionally at either level after a candidate surpasses a 15% threshold.There are 52 pledged delegates at stake in the Republican presidential primary. President Trump is not facing significant competition and is expected to win all 52 delegates at stake. The president has already surpassed the GOP threshold needed to secure the nomination. What does a Wisconsin win mean for Sanders and Biden? Former Vice President Biden maintains a significant delegate lead over Vermont Sen. Sanders, after winning a majority of state primaries in March. According to NPR's delegate tracker, Biden has 1,217 pledged delegates and Sanders has 914 pledged delegates. Sanders would need 64% of the remaining delegates in play to win the nomination, while Biden needs 46% of remaining delegates. Biden has solidly led polling in Wisconsin since early March. A Biden win in Wisconsin would further widen his lead over Sanders and likely increase calls for Sanders to drop out of the race, something his campaign is reportedly weighing. If Sanders has an upset victory, he will remain behind in the overall delegate race, but would gain much-needed momentum that could drastically alter the trajectory of the campaign. What does the Wisconsin electorate look like? Wisconsin voters played a large role in shaping the 2016 election. Sanders won the state in the 2016 primary and Trump went on to carry the state in the general election, turning Wisconsin red for the first time in over 30 years. With the caveat that voter turnout could be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Wisconsin's 2016 Democratic electorate was more than 80% white and majority female, and nearly 60% of the electorate was over 45 years old. When can we expect to see results? Possibly not until Monday, April 13, due to a federal court ruling last week. This is the same ruling that extended absentee voting until that same date, later to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices did not resolve part of the lower court ruling that also stopped county clerks from releasing election returns until April 13. So, even though all ballots will be cast or postmarked by the end of the day, we may not see any results when the polls close at 9 p.m. ET. What's next? Alaska is holding a party-run Democratic presidential primary on Friday, but voting is being conducted exclusively by mail. With many primaries being delayed until the summer, refer to NPR's election calendar for updates on approaching elections.

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Hunter and Frozen These types of zombies are best

Nick: Rei- Real name: Rei How old are you?: 18 Which Games you play? and for how long?(each of them): Counter Strike for 2 years and Need for Speed for 1 month Where are you from?(country and city): Albania Pogradec Describe yourself(at least 50 words): i am very intelligent and friendly boy also.I am good boy at telling funniest things and very active everyday.I like to help a lot of users who are in CSBD because we all need each other.I enjoy working at CSBD and contributing to it.I am very respectfull boy and i like to solve problems. Note some of your qualities: I want do my best and giving my maximume at every project and also staying active at community and at teamspeak. Tell us some of your defects: i dont have any defect because i learn from my mistakes and helps by others Had you before any kind of responsabilities(describe it): yes i was have a lot or responbilltities becuase i had to take care of server and also take care for my team On which category/categories have you been active lately?(describe your activity): in devil club and Downloads but this section is deleted now Which category/project you want to care off?(choose from THIS LIST): Devil Club and CS Resources Science and Technolgy and Frequently Asked Questions How well you speak english?(and other languages):i speak very well albanian and well english Do you use TS3? Do you have an active microphone?: i use micrpohone every day becuase i talk to my freinds at ts3 and also i use it everyday with staying most active on iy Contact methods:https://www.facebook.com/cekicirei.cekicirei?ref=bookmarks Last request:

It has proven time and time again that it can surmount obstacles far larger than than we ever expected. Franchise giants such as Overwatch, Doom and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have found comfortable second homes on the hybrid system, albeit with a few noticeable compromises. Now, 4A Games is set to join this esteemed club with the release of Metro Redux, bringing a duo of post apocalyptic shooters to the platform with frankly stunning results, especially when the context of their original release is taken into account. Proving a testing bed for modern hardware upon their original launch, both Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light have been brought to Nintendo Switch with an astounding splash. Like most porting efforts, this isn’t the ideal way to experience these games. If you’re in possession of a more powerful console or gaming PC, we’d opt for improved performance and visual features over the convenience of portability. However, there’s no denying what has been achieved here. Aside from a few visual blemishes, Metro Redux shines on the Nintendo Switch. Now let’s dive in and discover why. The Metro franchise is based on the novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, following a character called Artyom in a world ravaged by nuclear winter. After the bombs dropped on Russia, the environment becomes awash with unstoppable snow, deadly mutants and lethal radiation. So, humanity finds shelter in underground subway tunnels, parts of human infrastructure that are miraculously untouched from apocalyptic devastation. Remnants of the human race spend decades underground, forming a new society with their own political ideologies and methods of survival, learning to adapt with horrific creatures who also call these dim, dark caverns their home. Travelling between settlements should be an easy task, but here it’s a matter of life and death. So, you remain isolated, with rangers such as Artyom being one of the brave few who dares rise to the surface. It’s a compelling premise, and one that makes for a horrendously tense survival horror experience. But Metro isn’t like traditional shooters. The guns and equipment you carry are heavy and unwieldy, damaged after years of ageing in a society that doesn’t have the resources to maintain them. Firearms are prone to jamming, while precious items such as medkits and gas masks are few and far between. This makes each new section a beautifully tense experience, whether you’re navigating claustrophobic tunnels in the company of radioactive tarantulas or braving the surface where winged beasts lay, waiting to swoop down and carry you away. You rarely feel safe, which makes the moments of quiet oddly whimsical. There’s still beauty to be found in this world, you just need to work unbelievably hard to uncover it. 4A Games has done a brilliant job bringing Metro 2033 and Last Light to Nintendo Switch, ensuring both titles run at a relatively solid 30 frames per second with a stable resolution in both portable and docked mode. They look excellent – without directly comparing them, they honestly stand up against their console counterparts. Obviously, specific graphical features such as enhanced lightning and improved textures are lacking, and certain things look undeniably blurry from a distance. However, in the grand scheme of things, such instances aren’t so easy to notice when playing on the small screen. On such a size the world and characters look exceptionally sharp, with performance drops and potential latency issues falling to the wayside on both the launch console and Lite model – each of which I used for this review. When docked the occasional blemishes were noticeable, an evident blur seen across certain environments while turning the camera. It’s far from unplayable. One qualm I have with portable play is that both games are overwhelmingly dark, given the majority of your time will be spent underground with little more than a torch lighting your way. This can make parsing exactly what’s in front of you a little difficult unless the brightness is pumped all the way up, both in the game and on the system itself. This feels like a weird oversight, since I literally couldn’t see where I was going when playing on the Switch Lite in the office, straining my eyes to decipher where enemies were; or if I was just walking blindly into a nearby wall. Knowing this, Metro Redux could be something for playing in the comfort of your own home, perhaps fitting in a few spooky sessions before bed instead of grinding through it on the morning commute. Lighting issues aside, 4A Games has produced two excellent ports here, and the attractive gameplay loop of exploration, stealth and visceral gunplay remains intact. Metro doesn’t have the satisfying twitch shooting from Call of Duty; in a way it almost feels frustrating as you deal with unwieldy weapons prone to breaking under your command. But the mechanics breed paranoia, making the world feel more threatening and alive as a result. It’s a delight to play, and feels like a small miracle on the Switch. Verdict Metro Redux is yet another triumphant port for the Nintendo Switch, presenting a duo of brilliant survival horror shooters to an audience who might have never experienced them before. While they’re certainly burdened with noticeable visual compromises, they still look and perform competently enough that you’ll hardly notice the difference. Like many porting jobs, this isn’t the ideal way to experience these games. However, they primarily exist to serve a new audience, while offering hardcore fans another avenue to experience them. Metro Redux for the Nintendo Switch isn’t without issue then, but it’s hard not to be taken aback by what’s been accomplished here.

What makes Bleeding Edge stand out is the esteemed studio behind it. Ninja Theory has built a reputation on tight, responsive single-player experiences that focus on impactful melee combat, and it’s that very blueprint that’s been slapped onto Bleeding Edge, albeit with more than a few design liberties. Compared to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, this couldn’t be further away in terms of tone and execution, but the beating heart still consists of a fast, satisfying combination of movement and combat which feels fantastic. While there’s still a few kinks to work out, Bleeding Edge is an exciting new experiment from the studio. Bleeding Edge pits two teams of four players against one another as they seek to complete a handful of objectives across lengthy matches. I sampled two of them. The first involved collecting a bunch of power cells located on the map, taking them to constantly shifting points and cashing them in. The first team to reach a specific number will win, while individual kills also count towards your score. The second mode involved holding a point for a long as possible, accruing points as you try desperately to defend it from enemies. Obviously it’s not that simple, with the objective shifting and becoming a hazard in itself with the right environmental cues. For example, hitting a nearby gong will engulf it in flames, pushing any foes away in fear of death. It’s a familiar yet novel spin on established ideas, brought to life thanks to dynamic, unpredictable combat. While its modes are nothing new, the way in which you approach them is altered depending on which hero you decide to play as. Split into Tank, Assault and Support classes, the character each player picks is absolutely vital. You’ll need a balanced selection to emerge victorious, supporting one another with vital abilities to take points and survive along enough to make a dent in the scoreboard. Bleeding Edge boasts an exceeding amount of variety in its cast of characters, all expressed with bright, colourful and somewhat chaotic visual aesthetics. Nidhoggr is a stereotypical punk rocker, wielding a guitar-shaped axe capable of bashing foes over the head with devastating impact. He can also burst forward in a trail of fire before unleashing a duo of ultimate abilities, one of which stuns adversaries in place with an area-of-effect musical performance. Buttercup is a heavyset tank, wielding makeshift motorcycle limbs and is capable of riding onto objectives at obscene speeds with a brutal set of skills. She can swirl her mace-like weapons in a circle, or create a circular field, slowing down everyone caught within its perimeter. She’s excellent at forcing the opposing team off objectives or slowing them down at the perfect moment. She doesn’t deal an obscene amount of damage, but is great at keeping foes busy while others focus on bolstering your score. While the majority of heroes are melee-focused, some possess ranged attacks and healing abilities so they can support allies from a distance. Gizmo is a hybrid of sorts. This young Australian girl fires upon foes with an oversized bolt gun, before activating her ultimate and transforming into a giant mech. With this, she marches into the field of battle wiping out everything in her path. There’s a synergy to many of the characters which feels brilliant, especially once a well formulated strategy comes together. Maps are surprisingly large, although Ninja Theory has tackled this by providing each player with a mountable board for traversing each environment. These gnarly means of transportation are fluid to control and can be customised to your liking with epic designs and beautiful trails ranging from rainbows to endless streams of bank notes. The tongue-in-cheek nature of Bleeding Edge is prevalent through everything it does, and it’s easy to fall for. It’s a shame that matches can sometimes feel a bit too long, although it will be easy for Ninja Theory to adjust ahead of release. Bleeding Edge has an energy I can see players gravitating towards, bolstered further by a seemingly robust progression system, including unlockable cards which improve certain facets of each character’s arsenal. You can equip three at any one moment, switching between loadouts which might work better for specific game modes. Their effects might seem minimal, adding small percentage boosts to overall damage and armour, but when combined in the right way they’re incredibly useful. I can see a system like this really transforming the meta of a hero shooter like this if evolved correctly, allowing players to find their own favourites after a few hours play. Updates with news mods would be a great way to keep things fresh too. Each hero will have a bunch of unlockable emotes and skins, although I didn’t see any of the latter during my time with the game. The nature of Bleeding Edge as a living, breathing multiplayer experience will determine whether it floats or sinks after release, but its identity as an Xbox Game Pass title gives it an automatic advantage. I’m keen to see how the community takes to it, since there’s so much potential here. Bleeding Edge is a lot of fun and it’s exciting to see Ninja Theory branch out into something more experimental and light-hearted after Hellblade. Varied and satisfying combat mechanics combine with a compelling cast of heroes to create something that honestly stands a chance of rising above the competition. A few teething issues remain with its pacing and overall execution, but there’s a tantalising core here that really shines, Ninja Theory just needs to keep chipping away until its charming potential is clear to all. On a platform seemingly devoid of first-party experiences at the moment, Microsoft could be onto something with this one.