Month: May 2016

Unlike massive fan events like PAX or Blizzcon, the Electronic Entertainment Expo has always been an industry-only event that's never been open to the general public (though some gamers have found methods to weasel their way into a badge). That situation is set to change somewhat this year, as the Entertainment Software Association today announced E3 Live, a side show where the public will be able to see some of the same playable games and experiences as the real thing.

E3 Live will take place at Los Angeles' LA Live downtown promenade, just steps from the Convention Center that hosts the main E3 show, starting the evening of Tuesday June 14 and running through Thursday, June 16 (the same days as E3). Interested attendees 17 and older can register for limited, free tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.

The side show "will give consumers the opportunity to play the latest games, interact with industry personalities, buy the most sought-after collectibles, and engage other gamers in their favorite games" according to the announcement. "For fans of video games, this will be an event like no other," ESA President and CEO Mike Gallagher promised.

As far as understanding developer Polyphony Digital's ambitions for Gran Turismo and its PlayStation 4 outing GT Sport goes, there's only one thing you need to know: players will be able to earn a digital license that's recognised by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) and is valid at real motorsport venues in 22 countries. In other words, you take your tests in game, drive a race car in real life.

That might sound a little crazy, maybe even a little dangerous, but let's not forget that airline pilots train for the real thing in simulators, at least in part—and they end up responsible for more than their own lives at the end of it. Perhaps this license was always the ambition for a series that has forever styled itself as "the real driving simulator." It's simply taken 19 years for the world to catch up and take that ambition seriously.

The problem is, the vast majority of Gran Turismo fans are, well, gamers. And at this point, they've little to be excited about. Far in advance of mentioning the FIA license scheme, Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi—on stage at an event in London—hurriedly glossed over single-player content in order to dedicate as much time as possible to explain the inclusion of tournaments aimed at professional-grade players drivers. Exactly what these tests will look like, how they're officially validated, and just how many doors a passing grade will open remain a mystery, however.

The RLV-TD winged body spacecraft takes off Monday morning. (credit: ISRO)

For the last several years, India has been making steady progress with its space program, including the successful insertion of a spacecraft into Mars orbit in 2014, something previously only the United States, Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency had accomplished. Now the second-most populous country in the world has taken its first significant step toward developing a reusable launch vehicle.

On Monday,  the country's space program launched a winged body aerospace vehicle on its maiden test flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the east coast of India. The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, declared the test flight a success.

At 7am local time, the HS9 solid rocket booster fired for 91.1 seconds, lifting the RLV-TD winged body spacecraft to above 50km. After separating from the booster, the spacecraft crested to an altitude of 65km, nearly two-thirds of the way to outer space, before beginning its descent. During reentry the vehicle reached speeds of Mach 5 as it glided down to a pre-defined location in Bay of Bengal, about 450km from the launch site. Indian officials said the vehicle's first test flight successfully demonstrated technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, as well as a reusable thermal protection system.

(credit: California Department of Food and Agriculture)

The USDA will receive a record fine against a company that supplies life science researchers with critical materials. Santa Cruz Biotechnology had been facing a variety of animal welfare charges related to lapses in the care of the research animals it kept. The $3.5-million fine comes as part of a settlement that will end the company's issues with federal regulators. While the company won't admit any wrongdoing, the settlement calls for it to lose its license to keep two species of research animals.

Santa Cruz Biotechnology creates antibodies to specific proteins, which researchers then purchase in order to isolate and identify those proteins. The antibodies themselves are often created in furry little factories: research animals that have received immunizations against the protein in question. The animals will then continue making useful antibodies for as long as they live; the antibodies can be isolated using blood samples.

After some initial inspections suggested that Santa Cruz was keeping some animals alive after the point that they should be euthanized due to things like tumors, further searches revealed that the company was being generally shifty about its animal records keeping. An entire herd of goats was never declared in any of the company's paperwork, and the company once cleared out almost 4,000 research animals in advance of some USDA hearings.