Day: September 30, 2021

Airline, shipping and trucking bosses have joined union leaders in calling for governments around the world to ease coronavirus restrictions on transport workers to help avoid a Christmas supply chain crisis.

Industry representatives from around the world issued a joint call on Wednesday for coordinated action from national governments to simplify border restrictions.

The cost of transporting goods across the world had become almost negligible in recent decades, but the pandemic disruption to factories, shipping and customer demand has caused chronic delays to cross-border deliveries and led to record shipping container prices.

Willie Walsh, the former boss of British Airways, who now serves as director general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), called for government restrictions to be eased to avoid disruption during Christmas and warned that further transport cost increases were likely.

“There is definitely a risk,” said Walsh. “What we’re facing is a crisis from restrictions, not from the virus itself.

“Demand is very high, but supply is very disrupted. Without question there is a risk of disruption as demand rises.”

Iata was joined by the International Chamber of Shipping, International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation in arguing that reducing and harmonising restrictions such as vaccine paperwork and testing requirements for transport workers could help ease the pressure at Christmas. The huge variation in restrictions between neighbouring countries causes delays and contradicts scientific advice, they said.

Shipping routes are particularly strained between the US and China, the two largest economies in the world, while air cargo in the broader Asia-Pacific region has also been hit hard by travel restrictions.

In the UK the lack of qualified lorry drivers has added to a fuel crisis. The UK government on Wednesday deployed its reserve tanker fleet to try to keep petrol stations supplied around the country, amid shortages that led to panic buying.

Umberto de Pretto, the IRU’s secretary general, said there would “absolutely” be problems at Christmas, as companies are already facing problems with their transport plans for the period which is crucial for retailers and producers of consumer goods, food and drink.

“There will be disruption, there will be issues, because no one is addressing the problems,” he said. “How can you drive the recovery without drivers?”

Iata’s Walsh said continued travel restrictions were “unnecessary, completely out of proportion to the risk that is faced”, citing the 36 questions on the UK’s passenger locator form. “I doubt anybody is reading the answer to those questions,” he said.

The lobby groups and unions said the World Health Organization should prioritise transport workers for Covid-19 vaccinations. However, they said they were against mandatory vaccines for workers for now because of unequal access to vaccines in different countries.

Chicago-based United Airlines on Wednesday said it will fire 600 workers who have not taken mandatory vaccines, but the policy is thought to be unlikely to be introduced in some countries such as the UK.

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Transport bosses call on governments across world to ease Covid restrictions

A new story mode trailer for the giant monster brawler GigaBash was revealed as a part of Tokyo Games Show 2021. The destructive title, which is heavily inspired by the kaiju genre of films and video games, comes from Malaysia-based indie developer Passion Republic Games. GigaBash has been compared to Super Smash Bros. and Pacific Rim, with up to four players controlling unique giant monsters and duking it out across highly destructible levels.

The playable roster featured in GigaBash is quite diverse, pulling from popular kaiju franchises such as Godzilla, Gamera and Ultraman. Players can choose from gigantic robot warriors, a massive plant creature, an adorably destructive yeti, a horned rock kaiju and more. Players use their kaiju’s unique moveset to clobber their gigantic adversaries, with each powerful attack also dealing inevitable damage to the surrounding environment. GigaBash appears to act as a spiritual successor to other giant monster brawlers of the past, many of them involving Godzilla and his cast of supporting characters, but Super Smash Bros. has also been a frequent comparison.

Related: Smash Bros Ultimate DLC Character Leak Gains Validity After Direct

The latest trailer for GigaBash, shown at Tokyo Games Show 2021 by Passion Republic Games, gives a closer look at the title’s story mode. The narrative portion of the game will consist of four distinct campaigns, each one starring a specific kaiju. The lumbering Gorogong, the long-range devastator Pipijuras, the playful yeti Woolley and the robotic warrior Thundatross will all star in their own separate campaigns. The narrative-driven single-player experience will include hand-crafted scenarios, which add variety to GigaBash‘s usual four-player brawls by changing objectives and adversaries.

Watch the story mode trailer for GigaBash here.

While officially-licensed kaiju games do exist, many independent developers also strive to capture the giant monster experience themselves. Excidio The Kaiju Game is a Godzilla-inspired title which allows players to rampage through an unsuspecting city, with realistic physics immersing players in the destruction. As Excidio, gamers can use classic kaiju powers such as fire breath or tail swipes to lay waste to the city and its defenseless inhabitants. The title is still under development, with its creator continuing to work on assets and gameplay.

GigaBash appears to be a perfect love letter to classic monster brawlers such as War of the Monsters and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. Players can choose from a colorful collection of monsters, each representing typical archetypes of the kaiju genre like robots and plant monsters. The game’s hectic four-player multiplayer brawls also seem quite reminiscent of Super Smash Bros., so fans of that series may find a familiar itch being scratched. The inclusion of four dedicated narrative campaigns is also quite surprising, and the single-player experience will hopefully add variety to GigaBash while also building upon the game’s world and lore.

Next: Why Godzilla Video Games Are So Hard To Get Right

GigaBash will release in early 2022 on PS4 and PC.

Source: Passion Republic Games/YouTube

What is it with roguelikes and their punishing gameplay that makes them feel like a constant uphill struggle? Don’t get us wrong, the permadeath progression of roguelikes conjures some riveting moments, but wouldn’t it be great if the genre was a bit more empowering? If, say, you could control the Devil himself and manipulate the very fabric of the game in your favour?

Well, it’s funny you should ask, because right around the corner is Rogue Lords – a game that’s learned from some of the best roguelikes out there, while adding a devilish twist on the genre that we haven’t quite seen before.

And we’re not just talking about the fact that you literally play the Devil here, enlisting the help of nine Disciples who include Count Dracula, Lilith the Succubus, the Headless Horseman, and other unholy literary creations to take back the world from those infernal Demon Hunters.

No, the real devil is, as ever, in the detail.

Rogue Lords lets you cheat your way to victory, manipulating the turn-based battlefield and the very UI of the game to give you every advantage possible. Spend a bit of your health, and an underworld of devious possibilities opens up before you.

For instance, if an enemy hits you with a debuff in battle, you can spend some Essence to send it right back to one of their team (likewise, if they’ve activated a buff that you like the look of, you can steal it for your anti-heroes). Manipulate the health of allies and enemies, recharge skills without spending action points, and embrace the rules by breaking the rules.

In a genre where failure and a forced restart often occur by the finest and most frustrating of margins, this mechanic makes the game that bit more cunning. Besides, how often can you cheat and not feel like a terrible human being for it? You’re the Devil here, it’s what you do!

You pick three heroes at the start of each run, during which you not only do battle against demon hunters and other do-gooders, but traverse a nocturnal world that will present you with all kinds of weapon upgrades and interesting events. When you stumble upon an executioner who’s too nice to do his job, do you execute him, curse his axe, or teach him some cruelty?

Each event has a certain probability of success, but if you don’t like the odds then a little diabolical dallying will swing them in your favour (at the cost of your precious essence, of course).

Rogue Lords has a style and flow that will be familiar to fans of Darkest Dungeon and Slay the Spire, but its beautifully drawn Burton-esque world oozes with its own spooky charms and unique mechanics. 

Beyond the shameless promotion of cheating, one of the standout features is that when one of your heroes runs out of health, they can actually keep fighting, but each hit they take will come out of your own Essence. It’s a great way to keep battles lively and balanced, stripping away that sinking feeling of inevitable defeat you get when you’re down to your last hero (looking at you, Darkest Dungeon).

Run out of Essence however, and your reign of terror ends… until the next run.

Rogue Lords is out now on Steam and Epic Games Store, just in time for the annual spooky season as Jack-o-Lanterns start to leer at you from between bare trees and dormant forces stir in the cold earth. Help evil reclaim its throne in Rogue Lords this Fall, and join the game’s impious procession on Facebook, Twitter and Discord. 

Memory masters Kingston are one of the brands that’s quietly been there for PC gamers over the decades. They may not be right up in our faces with GPUs and monitors, nor at our fingertips via keyboards and mice, but many of the best Kingston products hum beneath the surface of the most powerful gaming machines, providing swift storage in the form of SSDs and that all-important memory middle man of your PC, RAM.

RAM is vital to the smooth running of your PC and games – the more processes you have running, the more RAM you should have, and the faster it should be. Beyond the raw amount of RAM in gigabytes, you also want your RAM to be have high clock speeds (calculated in MHz) with low latency (calculated in CL timings). 

The latest Kingston FURY range of DDR4 RAM strikes that balance between speed, latency and price, channelling the company’s decades of experience into these beautifully designed wafers of memory. 

Here are the latest products in this exciting new range. Note that all the below are backed by Kingston’s trusty lifetime warranty, and designed to get the most out of Intel and AMD-based systems and CPUs.

Kingston FURY Beast DDR4

Smoothly stream your playthroughs of the latest triple-A games without a hitch thanks to the Beast – a 3733MHz powerhouse designed for desktop PCs. The Beast takes advantage of both Intel’s XMP and AMD Ryzen-based overclocking solutions, which are the safest and speediest way to crank up those clock speeds to the next level.

• Clock speed: 3733MHz
• Latency: CL15-CL19
• Module size: 4GB-32GB | Kit size: 8GB-128GB

Kingston FURY Impact DDR4

In this day and age, the idea of turning your laptop or notebook into a solid workstation-gaming-rig hybrid isn’t so unthinkable, especially when you can load it up with RAM like this. Kingston’s FURY Impact DDR4 SODIMM RAM is Ryzen and Intel-XMP-ready, pushing clock speeds up to an impressive 3200MHz.

Keeping things cool inside a laptop is critical, and the Impact takes that into consideration with its modest 1.2v power draw, ensuring no-noise, low-temperature performance.

• Clock speed: 3200MHz
• Latency: CL15, CL16, CL17, CL20
• Module size: 8GB-32GB | Kit size: 8GB-64GB

Kingston FURY Renegade DDR4

The Renegade is for those that accept no compromises in memory performance, and want their PCs future-proofed until the end times. Boost those frame-rates, iron out that choppiness while broadcasting, and splice together the next viral video at a searing 5333MHz.

With the Renegade, you can do all the above at the same time and you still won’t notice any slowdown.

• Clock speed: 5333MHz
• Latency: CL12-CL20
• Single module: 8GB-32GB | Kit size: 16GB-256GB

Which FURY will you unleash into your next PC? Whatever you go for, you should consider matching it up with one of the upcoming Kingston FURY SSDs. For more info on those, and all things Kingston, stay tuned on the Kingston site, or join the community across their social channels on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. 

Tear gas and water cannon were deployed by police in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana after thousands of demonstrators upset over mandatory Covid-19 passes tried to block a major highway and were accused of assaulting the media.

The Slovenian government made Covid-19 passes mandatory for almost all shops, services, and workplaces in mid-September, as the nation faced one of the worst coronavirus spikes per capita in Europe. The measures have angered many, and Wednesday saw the third major protest against the restrictions.

A huge crowd gathered at Republic Square outside the parliament in Ljubljana to demand the lifting of the Covid-19 pass mandate, as well as the resignation of the government. Police estimated attendance at the unsanctioned rally at around 10,000, while the organizers insisted the number was 10 times higher.

With the parliament heavily guarded by riot police, the people, most of whom neither wore masks nor observed social distancing, began a march towards the suburbs, waving flags and chanting, while a police helicopter circled above.

Police intervened when the procession reached the Ljubljana Ring Road and tried to block it, spraying the crowd with water cannon and using teargas to make them disperse.

After the violent outbreak, the march changed course, with demonstrators making their way back to Republic Square where the rally continued.

The protesters were also angry with some local media outlets over their coverage during the pandemic.

Crews from Kanal A and POP TV commercial broadcasters said they were assaulted while covering the event, with people tossing objects at the journalists and spitting at them. A security guard accompanying the crews was lightly injured, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

A water cannon was also used as the crowd tried to make a stop outside the headquarters of public broadcaster RTV Slovenija.

Also on rt.com

The rally took place on the same day Slovenia announced the temporary suspension of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine in response to the death of a 20-year-old woman who suffered blood clots and bleeding in the brain two weeks after receiving the shot. The vaccine will remain on hold while the Health Ministry investigates whether there is a link between the shot and the complications suffered by the woman. The victim’s father attended the protest and addressed the crowd.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa slammed the rally on Twitter, insisting that attacks, threats, and violations of Covid-19 rules had nothing to do with the constitutional right to assembly. The prime minister also urged the Interior Ministry to intervene as, according to him, the police were unable to contain the protests.

Also on rt.com

Slovenia, which has a population of around 2 million, has seen more than 292,000 infections and over 4,500 deaths since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s vaccination drive is lagging behind many of its European neighbors, with around 48% fully vaccinated.

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