Modern attack on a fixed position

Modern attack on a fixed position

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I have previously written about Winter’s Easy Company assault at Brecourt Manor. The article got a bit of notoriety on the internet since it capture the diagrams and battle flow when other sites went dark.

The attack has been studied for years as a ‘textbook’ example of how to attack a fortified position. Video games have even re-created it.

So, does it hold up today? How about an assault on a near identical situation in the Ukrainian war. While the technology and exact approach changed a bit, the assault was actually shocking similar in the use of forked approaches and distraction.

It’s a reminder that if you don’t study and learn from the past – actual lives will be lost needlessly while you re-learn the past.

Things are so bad today..

Things are so bad today..

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You don’t have to browse long before finding people decrying just how horrible things are today and getting so much worse. The world is, and never will, be perfect – but it’s no where near as bad/hard as people used to have it.

Don’t believe it? How about having to sign up for a single 1 hour slot to do your laundry each week in large industrial laundry room – and carry your laundry there and back?

This is what your grandparents talked about when they said they went to school up hill both ways. But it also shows us how much more communal people used to be.

Here’s another coverage 20 years later – the interview of the older ladies could have been the same ladies from the first video.

Being Design/Engineering led vs Marketing led

Being Design/Engineering led vs Marketing led

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I think it’s very important for creative people and developers to try and make something on their own, and then see if it’s fun or not. The game development process in Taito eventually changed, and we, the game creators, were increasingly expected to listen to the sales team, which came up with new title concepts they thought it would sell.

Personally, I don’t think that is the correct approach. Creators should try to make a game on their own first, and then it should expand into a larger project. This is what I’ve felt throughout my whole career.

The point is that it needs to be creatively led first, before the management gets involved. If you don’t try to make something first, you will never know if it’s fun or not. Younger people who want to make games should play really old games. They may not have good graphics, but there is something shining within them in a playable sense. There’s definitely something to be learned from those games and also to inspire people to make something new. Forget about the graphics, focus on the core design. What makes it fun.

Tomohiro Nishikado – creator of Space Invaders (and countless other games)
Quake’s lightning gun bug

Quake’s lightning gun bug

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The lightning gun in Quake has a very strange broken mechanic that went undiscovered for decades. Like many things, a seemingly uninteresting bug has turned into a speedrunner’s magic trick.

Inamo interview

Inamo interview

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I went to Inamo (in-am-oh) in London about a decade ago; and it was one of the first restaurants that had projection mapped tabletops. The idea

Here’s an interview with Julian Church who was a founder.

Here’s an older interview with one of the original co-founders

Sometimes it’s just exploding toilets

Sometimes it’s just exploding toilets

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Gresham neighbors reported shots fired, but the smoking remains turned out to be fireworks.

I’ve personally notice that in the last few years, that Portlanders have become increasingly paranoid. They report gunshots and explosions that turn out to be fireworks, they shine laser pointers at aircraft thinking they are spy helicopters, and so forth. It seems like local forums seem to have an increasing claims of tinfoil hat type paranoia.

Ellen McLain answers questions about being GLaDOS

Ellen McLain answers questions about being GLaDOS

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I met Ellen McLain (and a lot of the voice actors behind great Steam games like Portal and Team Fortress) at Pax Seattle a few years back. They were great with fans and answered lots of questions. Here she answers some questions about her voice acting for GLaDOS.