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Neil Gaiman Takes on the Cybermen
♦ by Unknown Wednesday, 7 November 2012 Monday, 5 November 2012 0 comments
Neil Gaiman will be returning to the Doctor Who universe, when the series returns in spring, 2013, the BBC has announced.
After much speculation, celebrated author Neil Gaiman finally got around to writing an episode for the cult British TV show in the shape of The Doctor's Wife, which went on to win the Hugo award. And he's back, taking on one of the Doctor's most iconic foes – The Cyberman.
But wait, there's more. The episode, in addition to featuring Matt Smith as the Time Lord and Jenna-Louise Coleman as his new companion, will also star Warwick Davies, Tamzin Outhwaite and Jason Watkins (Being Human).
Lead writer and show runner, Steven Moffat told the Doctor Who blog, that the "Cybermen were always the monsters that scared me the most! Not just because they were an awesome military force, but because sometimes they could be sleek and silver and right behind you without you even knowing. ’ He went on to say, ‘And with one of the all-time classic monsters returning, and a script from one of our finest novelists, it's no surprise we have attracted such stellar names as Tamzin, Jason and Warwick.’
The Cybermen were last seen in Closing Time (2011) but first confronted the Doctor in 1966's The Tenth Planet. Are you excited to see them return with Gaiman writing the script? Let us know in the comments below.
And if you don't know your Cyberman from your Daleks, check out our brilliant Doctor Who A-Z.
Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer, and you can be part of the world's worst cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.
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Peter Molyneux's Curiosity Now Available
♦ by Unknown Wednesday, 7 November 2012 Monday, 5 November 2012 0 comments
After many months of speculation, famed game designer Peter Molyneux's Curiosity is now available on the iOS app store.
Gamers have known for some time the basic premise of the app. Curiosity presents gamers with a gigantic cube made of of many millions (or perhaps billions) of smaller cubes. Participants worldwide can chink away at the cube block my block, cooperating to reveal what's underneath each layer.
But... what the heck does this actually mean? And how does it work? Let's take a look...
This is the first screen you see when you fire up the app. It's wholly white, which obviously blends right in with IGN's page background. It also already sets up the mysterious, high-concept mood:
The stark white screen stays until you tap it. Apparently Curiosity takes your initial tap as a "yes" to the stark question above. You're next told how many people before you have downloaded and fired up Curiosity - a surprisingly powerful and compelling way to get both the cooperative and competitive juices flowing. I was the 335th person to try out Curiosity:
The cube has many layers, but getting to the center won't be easy...
What's more, only one person will get to hit that final block and see what's actually there. I certainly hope they choose to share what they see with the world...
After this enigmatic and oddly compelling into... we're finally here! On the cube itself! So... now what?
You can swipe your finger to rotate the cube, or pinch two fingers to zoom in and out. Zooming in reveals sections that other users have chipped away at that aren't visible from a distance. It's neat to see them slowly materialize.
Users are already beginning to clear away sections of the cube in an ad-hoc form of self expression:
Each layer of the cube promises to have something new underneath. A new color, a photograph, a painting... something that will satisfy each players', well... curiosity. But for now it looks like each side of the cube just has a blue-green layer underneath.
But let's get down to brass tacks. How does curiosity actually work? Blocks are deleted simply by tapping on them. Gamers start with a set amount of coins. I wholly expected to be charged a coin for each block I deleted. I expected them to refill slowly over time, and perhaps be charged real money for extra coins. But it turns out Curiosity actually does the opposite.
Each block you delete earns coins. If you delete blocks rapidly in an unbroken burst of play (work? participation?) a coin multiplier begins to tick upward. At first each block deleted just earns you one coin. But then two, three, and on upward with no upper limit that I could find.
This is a supremely interesting design decision because it means you're earning exponentially more coins the longer you play in one unbroken chunk. A user that deletes 1000 blocks a few at a time will only have 1000 coins. But a user that breaks 1000 blocks in a single chunk could earn 50 times that much currency.
But... what are these coins actually spent on?
The chisels, bombs and firecrackers in the menu above make you a more efficient block clearer for a limited time by allowing you to clear more cubelets with a single tap. These power-ups range in price from a few thousand coins up to 3 billion for the diamond pickaxe. What's a little more interesting is that even accessing the stats menu costs coins - 100, to be precise. Inside, you can see how many cubelets remain on the current layer of the cube, how many users are participating, how many cubelets you personally have cleared and plenty more.
Interestingly, the outer layer of the cube contains 100,000,000 cubelets just on its own. All of which must be cleared one by one. Anyone want to crunch some numbers and figure out how many total cubelets are contained within the cube, if it is solid all the way through?
So, there you have it. A first look at Curiosity from Peter Molyneux's new studio 22cans. The app is both absurdly simple and wildly complex. It's very silly and yet oddly compelling. Perhaps most unusual of all, given the current state of the App Store, is that Curiosity is an entirely free download, with no In-App-Purchases in sight. Yes, the entire experience is 100% free, from top-to-bottom.
Is it a video game? A piece of interactive art? To me, it feels like a commentary on mass cooperation. With millions upon millions of cubes to break, there is no getting to the center without cooperation on a massive scale.
Curiosity also makes me think about the human desire for self expression. The cube's grey face has no instructions in the same way that a canvas of wet sand has no instructions. No one tells you to write your initials in the sand with your finger. Or draw something considerably less benign and more vulgar, if that's or disposition. But it still spontaneously happens, regardless. We all want to leave our mark on the world, even if it is fleeting.
And so it is with Curiosity. Gamers don't need to be told to communicate using the surface of the cube. It just happens. And like messages written in sand, Curiosity's very nature ensures that any message left is fleeting. It will be washed away by the actions of other users, replaced with a new layer of the cube and new engravings.
Until the center is reached, at least. After that... who knows?
Spot something especially memorable on the cube? Add it to our user-powered gallery of curiosity sightings!
Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. He has been reviewing mobile games since the dark days of Java flip phones. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.
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