Marvel Vs Capcom Tries To Bring New Players

Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite remains a game that is fun to enjoy if you have the ability not to be critical.
The fighting game series, Marvel vs Capcom, has enjoyed success through a catchy gimmick since its early days as an old-school, coin-operated arcade game.
Acting as a crossover platform for characters both from the popular Marvel comics universe and from legendary Japanese video game developer Capcom, the franchise has borne six main titles plus two subtitles, including its latest Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite.
Like the last few titles in the series, Infinite begins with a limited roster, which will thankfully be expanded as more downloadable characters become available. The characters are given some new moves, but the roster is practically the same from Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, released in 2011.
There is a new mechanic that lets players use Infinite Stones, a well-known element in the Marvel universe, to act as a substitute third "player" on your team. In the previous entries, each player usually gets to use three characters in each tag-team-style battle.
There are various kinds of stones, each with its own ability. The Time Stone works as a teleportation gadget of sorts; the Soul Stone shoots out a beam; the Power Stone gives you the ability to extend the use of combos; the reality stone shoots out a homing projectile; the Space Stone entraps enemies in a transparent cube; and the Mind Stone quickly refills the super meter, which is utilized for special combos.
Another change in this latest release is that active characters will not be able to call upon their tag-team partner to do assist attacks.
As always the game is enjoyable in and of itself, though.
The gimmick of pitting Marvel superheroes and super villains, such as Captain America, Spider Man, and Thor against Dante from the Devil May Cry video game series or Chun-Li from Street Fighter, remains as fun as ever.
The simple things also add a lot to the game. Its online offerings and matchmaking feel like the best in the series so far, and local players in Indonesia won't have issues getting into an online brawl quickly.
Players new to the series will also have an easier time getting familiar with the game play, stringing together basic combos by continually hitting the light punch button. Of course, this is not as simple as it sounds, but it does provide novice players a welcome starting point around which to build their fighting style. The game was indeed consciously created to appeal to newcomers as well.
Oddly, the game's best control training comes in the form of its training and mission modes, with its story mode lacking any willingness to teach players about the mechanics. This is an odd choice for a game looking to broaden its appeal.
The main single-player plot is not much to write home about, following the characters having to come together to battle a new villain, Ultron Sigma. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the dialogue and voice acting leave a little to be desired.
It certainly does not help that the graphics are the most unattractive the series to offer thus far. Looking stale and stiff, they make the game feel as if production was rushed, and they are certainly less than we should expect from a sixth-generation console. The visuals stand in stark contrast to previous entries, especially the flashy cel-shaded art of Marvel v. Capcom 3. There is a blandness here that feels out of place from the rest in the franchise.
Infinite is a simplistic game that gets its point across quickly, and anyone who is curious about the series would do well in hopping onto the franchise through this entry.

Marcel Thee
Contributor/Jakarta

Real Madrid Lose In Troubled Catalonia

Real Madrid suffered a back-lash on the field rather than from an expected hostile atmosphere amid political turmoil in Catalonia as they slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat at Girona on Sunday.
Goals from Christian Stuani and Portu in four second-half minutes cancelled out Isco's opener for Madrid as Real fell eight points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona after just 10 games.
Madrid were making their first appearance in the deeply divided region since a violence marred Oct. 1 referendum plunged Spain into political crisis.
As a reported one million people joined a rally in Barcelona in favor of Spanish unity on Sunday, just over 100 kilometers away in the pro-indendence heartland of Girona, the visitors were expected to receive a hostile reception.
"Girona FC's victory against one of the greatest teams in the world is an example and a benchmark for many situations," Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who was deposed by the Spanish government as president of the regional parliament on Friday, posted on Twitter.
However, it was events on the field that proved far more troublesome for Zinedine Zidane's men as they lost more ground on rivals Barca in the La Liga title race.
"We know we can turn this around. We will have better days and our rivals will lose points over the course of the season," insisted Zidane.
"There is nothing more we can do, and we know that sooner or later things will turn. There is a long way to go and I am not worried."
Chants in favor of independence and "freedom" reverberated around the 13,500 capacity Montlivi in the 17th minute as is common at Girona and Barcelona home matches to mark the fall of Catalonia in the Spanish War of Succession in 1714.
However, with plenty of Madrid fans present, there were also plenty of Spanish flags on show.
"Everyone who knows Girona, knew nothing would happen," said Girona coach Pablo Machin.
"The fans were sensible. They want it (the political situation) to be over. They enjoyed two brilliant hours of soccer."
In their first ever match against the European champions, Girona looked keen to make a mark from the outset and were desperately unlucky not to go in front when Pablo Maffeo's cross came back off the inside of the post 12 minutes in.
Seconds later, though, the ball was in the Girona net as Madrid broke immediately upfield and Isco tapped home the rebound after Bono parried Cristiano Ronaldo's initial effort.
Girona continued to dominate the game and hit the woodwork again before half-time when Portu's flicked header looped over Kiko Casilla and back off the inside of the post.
Real suffered an injury blow days before they travel to face Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League on Wednesday as Raphael Varane was replaced by Nacho at half-time due to a muscular problem.
And the French international's presence at the heart of the Madrid defense was badly missed as Stuani jinked past Nacho to fire Girona deservedly level nine minutes into the second-half .
Just four minutes later, Girona were in dreamland as Maffeo's driven cross was flicked home by Portu and the goal was allowed to stand despite the striker appearing to be in an offside position.
Rather than mount a late comeback as they did so often on route to a first La Liga and Champions League double for 59 years last season, Madrid looked short of energy and ideas in the final half hour as Girona held out for a famous victory.

Jean Decotte
AFP/Girona, Spain

Maratua's Solar Power To Cut Carbon Emissions

Solar energy brings hope to residents in the remote area of Maratua, East Kalimantan.
The heat of the sun was seemingly boiling the waters of Maratua Island in Berau regency, East Kalimantan, as the single engine boat owned by Lasahi, 52, was passing Alulu Bay making it necessary to cool the engine so as not to stall at sea.
Unlike in the past, however, Lasahi had no need to pump sea water into the boat's cooling device. For almost two years now, the pumpin work has been replaced by a solar power cooling system that is connected with a solar panel through a battery to transmit its energy by means of simple electric cables.
"I use a wet-cell battery," said Lasahi, who cannot afford a dry cell battery because it's expensive even through it's recommended for solar power. Nonetheless, he can manage to transport 50 to 150 sacks of sand daily to be sold to contractors undertaking building construction in several parts of Maratua Island.
With a land zone only 384.36 square kilometers and a water area of 3,735.18 square km, the island is shaped like a curved blade, bending from the south to the north and pointing at the south-east. Shallow waters stretch from the middle to the upstream area, which turns into an expanse of sand when the tide is ebbing.
Sea transportation by boat is widespread, carrying passengers and goods from one bay to another on Maratua. Land transportation is limited due to the absence of inter-village ring roads and unless the government expedites the construction of land routes, the island will continue to depend on waterways.
"Sea conveyance is costlier and often hampered by weather," Lasahi said.
Yet sea trips are certainly Lasahi's personal choice. As long as his boat keeps operating to transport sand and passengers along the coves on the island, he will always rely on solar panel installed atop the boat's roof, which he received from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Meanwhile, an Alulu Bay villager, Ayu Siti Wahyuni, 22, said that like the 135 other families in the village, she was allocated 800 watts of electricity daily, derived from a solar power generator located at the tip of the settlement nearly 3 km away from her home.
The solar power generator (PLTS) of Alulu Bay has a capacity of 44 kilowatts-peak (kWp), with around 120 solar panels capturing, storing and converting energy to meet the local's electicity demands.
Any uses the power supply only for illumination, as it's impossible to use a washing machine and refrigerator.
"For watching TV, it just lass one to two hours," she said, adding that her family prioritized the use of electricity for her sixth-grade niece, who needed it to study in the evening.
A native of Alulu Bay, Maidah, 60, now feels happy to see her grandchildren getting lights to study in the evening. Previously, the family used torches made from dried coconut leaves for outdoor lightning. They used oil lamps made of used bottles or cans for indoor lightning.
Kirno, a fisherman and Ayu's husband, has to store his catch in fiber boxes filled with ice blocks to keep the fish fresh.
"This is even more required if the fish has to be sold in Tanjung Redeb (Berau's capital). It can take 12 hours to sail from Maratua to Tanjung Redeb," he said.
Therefore, Kirno is now actively involved in the building of an ice factory located right next to his home and covering an area of almost a hectare. The plant uses a PLTS to absorp solar energy.
"The fund for the construction comes from the Millennium Challenge Account-Indonesia (MCA-Indonesia) program, committed to develop environtmentally friendly businesses. We're fortunate to be part of this effort," said Kirno.
The factory's 54-kWp PLTS will be able to operate ice-making machines with a daily capacity of two tons. The local community is directly participating in planning, training, factory development and product management. The ice factory would be use to support fishermen, so they would be able to reduce their ice blocks purchase expenditures.
Kirno and his fellow villagers are handling the factory development through the facilitation of the Indonesian Bio-Diversity Foundation (KEHATI) as the fund management agency and the Java Learning Center (JAVLEC) as a partner of MCA-Indonesia.
Still, Kirno has to learn from PLTS failures in various places on Maratua.
In Teluk Harapan village, for example, residents regretted the improperly managed PLTS construction.
"Road lamps only lasted for two months and they 've been off for two years," Nursiah said. The road lights, she added, were built along with the village's PLTS development, but right now generator was no longer operating, making local people rely again on costly diesel power.
Former Teluk Harapan PLTS operator Dadang Wahyudi acknowledged the far cheaper solar power. Each of the 100 village homes supplied by the PLTS only pays Rp 30,000 a month. Technically, according to him, PLTS durability is determined by the maintenance of equipment like batteries and the repair of replacement of worn-out batteries.
He has reported the battery damage to the village administration, but new batteries are too expensive to purchase. Dadang confirmed Kirno's view of the importance of direct community involvement. The key to continuity lies with the community, which should understand how to manage and should have common awareness.
"The PLTS is a community asset that should be maintained together. If this happens it will keep operating," he said.
Dadang disclosed that Maratua villages had owned PLTS units, but many had ceased operation after two to three years because of operational and repair cost shortages as well as the lack of community awareness.
"The same applies to the Alulu Bay ice factory. Without the participation of Pak Kirno and villagers there, I'm afraid the plant won't work," he said.
Asep Suntana, the direcor of the community-based natural resources management program of KEHATI, said Kirno's effort should be appreciated. This will facilitate Maratua fishermen's operations and set an example for their peers in remote regions. The same is true of Lasahi's transportation business and other similiar initiatives.
"PLTS projects constitute a joint commitment to lower carbon emissions and at the same time promote people's economy," he said. In Asep's observation, the earth's temperature will increase unless people make prompt adaptation and mitigation. Such efforts should confirm to the use of renewable energy like solar energy.
Although remote from the State Electricity Company (PLN), Maratua's won't keep silent. The island's renewable energy development will keep going.
"This will contribute to Indonesia's carbon emission cut in 2020," Asep said.

Syafrizaldi
Contributor/Berau, East Kalimantan

Sequel To Mandela's 'Long Walk' Autobiography Launched

The sequel to Nelson Mandela's celebrated autobiography Long Walk to Freedom was published Thursday after his unfinished, handwritten draft was completed by a South African novelist.
Titled Dare Not Linger, the sequel to Nelson Mandela's celebrated autobiography Long Walk to Freedom tells of Mandela's five years as president after the end of apartheid and the first multi-race elections in South Africa in 1994.
Long Walk to Freedom, released shortly after the election, was a global phenomenon, selling more than 14 million copies, and was turned into a film starring Idris Elba.
Mandela wrote 10 chapters of his follow-up memoir on loose paper and in files between 1998 and 2002, when he stopped working on it due to his age and hectic schedule.
Mandla Langa completed the book using fresh interviewa and research, as well as Mandela's own notes from when he was president.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which hosted the book's launch on Tuesday in Johannesburg, described the project as a "50/50" collaboration between Mandela and Langa.
The book's title is taken from the final sentence of Mandela's first autobiography, when he wrote that "with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended."
Mandela's widow Graca Machel wrote in a prologue to the new book that he had struggled to complete it because of the "demands the world placed on him, distractions of many kinds and his advancing years."
"Through the last years of his life he talked about it often - worried about work started but not finished," she said.
Mandela served one term as South Africa's president before stepping down in 1999. He retired from public life in 2004 and died in 2013 aged 95.
Co-author Langa, 67, was a fellow activist against white-minority rule who joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944, the same year as Mandela.
Best known as a novelist and poet, he said at the book's launch that he took on the task "with a sense of gratitude and humility and, at the same time, trepidation."
"The analogy I use is that a melody can be enriched by introduction of instruments, of other voices - not to take away the essence of that melody but to celebrate it and enhance it," he said.
With modern South Africa facing political scandals, sharp inequality and racial tension, Langa said he hoped the book would "help us to remember ourselves as South Africans when we held the moral high ground."
The years covered by the volume include the Truth and Reconciliation  Commission into apartheid crimes, Mandela's globe-trotting diplomacy, his divorce from Winnie Mandela in 1996 and marriage to Machel in 1998.
It may also address his deep regret over his failure to tackle the country's AIDS crisis and his much-criticized choice of Thabo Mbeki as his successor as president.
Verne Harris, of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said the book would "fundamentally shift perceptions" about the anti-apartheid hero's time in power.
"What emerges is (...) a hands-on leader who, in relation to aspects of his government such as the security establishment, was a bit of a micromanager," Harris said.
"He was a politician's politician; he knew how to get the best out of people."
Publisher Pan Macmillan described it as "a vivid and inspirational account of Mandela's presidency, a country in flux and the creation of a new democracy."
Long Walk to Freedom tells of Mandela's rural childhood, his youthful activism, his 1964 trial, his imprisonment on Robben Island before his release from jail in 1990, and his election victory.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said at the time that the book told how "justice, freedom, goodness, and love have prevailed spectacularly in South Africa and one man has embodied that struggle."

Ben Sheppard
Agence France-Presse/Johanmesburg

World's Largest Library on Indonesia Opens In Leiden

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands inaugurated in Leiden last week the Asian Library, which houses the world's largest collection on Indonesia, including two United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage documents.
Rain and biting cold could not stop thousands of people from royalty and diplomats to academics and students - from descending upon Leiden's city center for the opening of Leiden University's Asian Library.
"Leiden University has created one of the foremost Asian libraries and a major international center for the study of Asia," said university head librarian Kurt de Belder at the opening ceremony.
While also housing a prominent Chinese, Japanese, South and Southeast Asian collection, its Indonesian section is the library's crown jewel.
"The Asian Library has the largest Indonesian collection worldwide," De Belder points out, with "hundreds of thousands of items such as of books, documents, maps, photos and even LPs of early Indonesian pop music."
The library is part of Leiden University Libraries, with collections spread across seven locations: in Leiden, Morocco's Rabat and Jakarta. It brings together the university's existing Asian collection with the libraries of the Royal Tropical Institute, which closed in 2013, and that of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies KITLV. The latter, in particular, has long been a major source for academic researchers on Indonesia. The Jakarta location is also a KITLV center.
It took several years of tremendous preparatory work, De Belder continues, to create "a large open stack collection of 4 kilometers of Asian materials at the University Library, and ultimately creating an Asian Library on the library's former roof garden."
Situated on the third floor of Leiden University's library building, the Asian Library has surrounding windows over-looking the city's canal and a 16th century botanical garden. Its facilities include conference rooms and a film hall.
Among its most treasured items are original copies of La Galigo and Babad Diponegoro, both on UNESCO's Memories of the World Heritage list. La Galigo, the world's largest literary work, is a 14th century mythical story from the Bugia in South Sulawesi. Originating from an oral traditon, it was put down in writing around the 19th century. "We have 12 volumes of the work in our collection," says Roger Tol, head of the KITLV Jakarta office.
Babad Diponegoro, meanwhile, is the autobiographical chronicle of Prince Diponegoro, who fought the Dutch colonizers in a five-year war ending in 1830.
Tol underlined that both works were jointly submitted for UNESCO's consideration by Indonesia and the Netherlands. Former Indonesian education minister Wardiman Djojonegoro, who has been involved in the submission process, was among the day's honored guests.
A third submission is on the way: the 13th century Panji tales from East Java, which later spread throughout Southeast Asia. The Asian Library has some 250 Panji manuacripts, "more than any collection elsewhere in the world," Tol says.
The deputy chief of mission at the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, Ibnu Wahyutomo, was optimistic that the new Asian Library would encourage more Indonesian academics to head to the Netherlands. "We already have some 2,500 students studying here," he said.
He pointed out that some of Indonesia's most prominent figures are Leiden University alumni, such as sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, who studied at the School of Economics in the 1930s. This head of the powerful Yogyakarta sultanate played an important role in Indonesia's road toward independence from the Dutch in the 1940s. He served as vice president in the 1970s under then president Soeharto.
In fact, also present at the opening were two of the sultan's granddaughters: crown Princess Mangkubumi and her youngest sister Princess Bendoro. Head librarian De Belder said he was delighted to welcome the two royals.
"They are actively involved in the museum community of Yogyakarta, and are interested in sharing and exchanging information with us."
One very important mission of the library is its continuous digitalization efforts, so that people anywhere in the world with internet could view its collection. "We would like to share this great collection with the world," De Belder said.
Marije Plomp, librarian for the South and Southeast Asian collection, explains that "anyone with internet access can get on our website and search for material. The site is available in English, and when you click on a title, it will say whether it's available in digital form."
Some of the material, Plomp continues, "can also be downloaded for free, given that there is no copyright on it." Much of the material dated prior to the 20th century, she points out, does not have copyright on them.
In the past decade, Plomp has seen a significant increase in interest for information from Indonesia. "Many Indonesians are curious to do research about their village or city, and about their history."
A concrete proof of this is the presence of Bogor Mayor Bima Arya at the Asian Library opening.
"I'll be signing a MoU (memorandum of understanding) for information exchange between Bogor and Leiden," he said after the opening ceremony.
Bima says Bogor is mapping out its modern history, as well as that of the Pajajaran Kingdom, which existed in the Bogor region between the 11th and 16th centuries.
"I am sure that there are many resources here that we can use for our research."
Plomp applauds these efforts. "After all, a lot of what we have is our shared heritage with Indonesia."
She does give one word of advice: "Historical research takes a lot of time and effort. No one should expect to promptly get all the material they need. They need to be patient and sort out what they need."
The new library, she points out, does have four slots for guest researchers to go to Leiden and use the library's facilities for a few months.
"We currently have two Indonesian writera here: Ben Sohib and Kurnia Effendi."

Linawati Sidarto
Contributor/Leiden

With The Crazy 'Italics', Asterix Returns For 37th Adventure

Asterix, the indomitable pint-sized Gaul forever outfoxing the Romans; returns for his 37th comic adventure, this time battling his way across Italy in a chariot race.
The moustachioed hero, who has been entertaining readers with his magic-potion exploits alongside Obelix since 1959, has become a mainstay in the publishing industry, with more than 370 million albums sold worldwide.
As well as being translated into more than 100 languages, the booka have inspired a dozen movies and cartoon series, making it a global phenomenon.
The latest editon, Asterix et la Transitalique (Asterix and the Chariot Race) is set in ancient Italy.
Rather than a showdown with Julius Caesar, it involves the resolute Gauls meeting a tribe called the Italics who are also fighting to remain independent from Rome.
The original books, written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo, built up a mass following in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with many chilhood readers from those days still snapping up the titles decades on.
After Goscinny's death in 1977, Uderzo wrote and illustrated the series until he retired in 2009. The last three editons have been written by Jean-Yves Ferri and drawn by Didier Conrad, sticking closely to the original format.
"We had Italy in mind and then I had the idea of a chariot race, a sort of rally from ancients times, a trip across the peninsula leading from one city to another," said Ferri as he and Conrad preaented the new edition this week.
According to traditon, the latest Asterix features a new villain, Coronavirus, a mysterious, masked chariot racer who will stop at nothing to win.
While Uderzo plays a role overseeing the series, Ferri said he had not asked for any changes.
"He wanted a team able to perpetuate the tradition and he put his trust in us," he said. "He shows his support, but is not really critical.
"The only change we had to make was putting a dot on the 'i' of 'italique'," he joked. "We agreed against our will."
With the Asterix movies proving box office successes, the books have attracted a new, younger generation of followers. That is reflected in the print run for Asterix and the Chariot Race, with five million copies planned.

Sonia Ye
Reuters/Paris

Want To Boost Brain Power In Your Old Age? Become a Volunteer

Volunteering has prevously been found to have various physical health benefits, with those who volunteer benefiting from a reduced number of chronic conditions that lead to physical disability. However, less has been known about its effect on cognitive function.
Carried out by Christine Proulx at the University of Missouri in the United States, the new study has now suggested that there is a link between volunteering and higher levels of cognitive functioning in older adults, including working memory - what the brain needs to temporarily store and manage information - and processing - which is how fast the brain is able to take in and store information.
"Cognitive functions, such as memory, working memory and processing are essential for living an independent life," explained Proulx. "They're the tools and methods the brain uses to process information. It's the brain's working memory and processing capacity that benefit the most from volunteering."
For this study Proulx gathered from more than 11,000 adults age 51 and over. She found that there was a significant association between cognitive function and volunteering among all participants, no matter how much time they spent volunteering.
However, she also found that adults with lower levels of education and women seemed to benefit the most from volunteering. She said: "Prior research has shown that older adults with lower levels of education are at greater risk of cognitive decline. Engaging in volunteering might compensate for some of that risk."
Proulx suggests that volunteering may have a beneficial effect on the brain as it requires an individual to engage the brain's working memory and processing in various activities such as following directions and solving problems.
The findings can be found published online in the Journal Of Gerontology - Social Sciences.

AFP Relaxnews