Check out the amazingly talented dancers of ILL-ABILITIES. On their website, ILL-ABILITIES states that they are:
an International Breakdance Crew comprised of eight members from around the world: Luca "Lazylegz" Patuelli (Canada); Jacob "Kujo" Lyons (USA); Sergio "Checho" Carvajal (Chile); Redouan "Redo" Ait Chitt (The Netherlands); Jung Soo "Krops" Lee (South Korea); Samuel Henrique "Samuka" da Silveira Lima (Brazil) ; Lucas "Perninha" Machado (Brazil); "Junior" Bosila Banya (France).
— Rea
Check out the amazingly talented dancers of ILL-ABILITIES. On their website, ILL-ABILITIES states that they are:
an International Breakdance Crew comprised of eight members from around the world: Luca "Lazylegz" Patuelli (Canada); Jacob "Kujo" Lyons (USA); Sergio "Checho" Carvajal (Chile); Redouan "Redo" Ait Chitt (The Netherlands); Jung Soo "Krops" Lee (South Korea); Samuel Henrique "Samuka" da Silveira Lima (Brazil) ; Lucas "Perninha" Machado (Brazil); "Junior" Bosila Banya (France).
What have been the most successful licensing arrangements in games industry history? It's easy to pick out individual success stories – Rare's GoldenEye is the classic example, and some licenses like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars have produced a solid number of hits alongside various misses.For a really consistent success story, though, you generally have to turn to sports licenses. EA's long-running but now defunct partnership with FIFA certainly takes the crown, spanning as it did almost 30
What have been the most successful licensing arrangements in games industry history? It's easy to pick out individual success stories – Rare's GoldenEye is the classic example, and some licenses like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars have produced a solid number of hits alongside various misses.
For a really consistent success story, though, you generally have to turn to sports licenses. EA's long-running but now defunct partnership with FIFA certainly takes the crown, spanning as it did almost 30 years and hundreds of millions of games sold – but a tip of the hat is due to Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, a six-game series spanning Summer and Winter Olympic Games from Beijing in 2008 to Tokyo's delayed 2020 games.
Using a license from the International Olympic Committee, and developed and published by a once-unlikely partnership between Sega and Nintendo, the games were by no means a challenger to the commercial success of something like FIFA, but they sold pretty handsomely nonetheless, and were remarkably successful and well-received given how tricky this license is to work with.
The long-running and historic partnership between Nintendo and Sega to create Olympics video games reportedly ended in 2020 when the event's organisers sought opportunities elsewhere.Lee Cocker, who served as executive producer on multiple Mario & Sonic Olympics titles, told Eurogamer the International Olympics Committee allowed the licensing deal to lapse as it "wanted to look at other partners and NFTs and esports.""Basically the IOC wanted to bring [it] back to themselves internally and
The long-running and historic partnership between Nintendo and Sega to create Olympics video games reportedly ended in 2020 when the event's organisers sought opportunities elsewhere.
Lee Cocker, who served as executive producer on multiple Mario & Sonic Olympics titles, told Eurogamer the International Olympics Committee allowed the licensing deal to lapse as it "wanted to look at other partners and NFTs and esports."
"Basically the IOC wanted to bring [it] back to themselves internally and look at other partners so they would get more money," Cocker added.
For those watching the Olympics opening ceremony last night, no, that was not your imagination – a familiar hooded Assassin did indeed appear to invade the rooftops of Paris last night.Whilst it's hard to find footage given a trigger-happy copyright gremlin is striking down videos all over the place, there are still a number of images and video of a figure not unlike Assassin's Creed Unity's Arno carrying the Olympic torch for anyone who missed it: Read more
For those watching the Olympics opening ceremony last night, no, that was not your imagination – a familiar hooded Assassin did indeed appear to invade the rooftops of Paris last night.
Whilst it's hard to find footage given a trigger-happy copyright gremlin is striking down videos all over the place, there are still a number of images and video of a figure not unlike Assassin's Creed Unity's Arno carrying the Olympic torch for anyone who missed it:
French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati, 21, was close to clearing the bar at 5.70meters at the Paris Olympics yesterday when his, er, "pole" got in the way. His bulge hit the bar, ending Ammirati's Olympic dreams this time around. Following the mishap, Ammirati said it was a "big dissappointment" and he was a "bit gutted." — Read the rest
The post Watch painful moment Olympic pole vaulter's "pole" (ahem) knocks him out of the competition appeared first on Boing Boing.
French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati, 21, was close to clearing the bar at 5.70meters at the Paris Olympics yesterday when his, er, "pole" got in the way. His bulge hit the bar, ending Ammirati's Olympic dreams this time around. Following the mishap, Ammirati said it was a "big dissappointment" and he was a "bit gutted." — Read the rest
For those watching the Olympics opening ceremony last night, no, that was not your imagination – a familiar hooded Assassin did indeed appear to invade the rooftops of Paris last night.Whilst it's hard to find footage given a trigger-happy copyright gremlin is striking down videos all over the place, there are still a number of images and video of a figure not unlike Assassin's Creed Unity's Arno carrying the Olympic torch for anyone who missed it: Read more
For those watching the Olympics opening ceremony last night, no, that was not your imagination – a familiar hooded Assassin did indeed appear to invade the rooftops of Paris last night.
Whilst it's hard to find footage given a trigger-happy copyright gremlin is striking down videos all over the place, there are still a number of images and video of a figure not unlike Assassin's Creed Unity's Arno carrying the Olympic torch for anyone who missed it:
Samsung is one of the most important Olympic Partners. The company has put a lot of resources into the Paris 2024 Olympics, sponsoring many athletes and teams, creating a fourth medal out of recycled glass, and gifting every Olympian a brand-new special edition Galaxy Z Flip 6.
The company delivered roughly 17,000 Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition phones, and athletes have been using them to take selfies on the Olympic podium. That's a first in the history of the Olympic Games. Athletes have never
Samsung is one of the most important Olympic Partners. The company has put a lot of resources into the Paris 2024 Olympics, sponsoring many athletes and teams, creating a fourth medal out of recycled glass, and gifting every Olympian a brand-new special edition Galaxy Z Flip 6.
The company delivered roughly 17,000 Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition phones, and athletes have been using them to take selfies on the Olympic podium. That's a first in the history of the Olympic Games. Athletes have never before been allowed to carry phones to the podium.
Samsung gifted nearly $20 million worth of state-of-the-art limited-edition Flip 6 models to Olympians last month. However, judging by their actions, some athletes seem to care little about Samsung's sponsorship or the special edition Galaxy Z Flip 6. Not even as memorabilia, which is baffling.
A few of these rare Samsung phones are now up for sale on websites like eBay and Marktplaats. Samsung isn't the one selling them. Athletes are, and some say they're not doing it to make a profit.
Showing complete disregard for one of the Olympic's biggest sponsors
Technically, Olympians who have received Samsung's gift (all of them) are not prohibited from selling these rare phones. However, their actions show disregard to a major sponsor. The 2024 Olympic is ongoing, and these athletes lacked the courtesy to at least wait for the Olympics to end before trying to sell the phones they've received as gifts.
Although some Olympians can earn up to $768,000 for winning gold, winnings vary by country (via CNBC). Some olympians aren't paid very well. Despite that, they put in a lot of work to reach that high level of performance. But some never reach the podium, and others could use the $1,000 they could get from selling an Olympic Edition phone.
However, according to some athletes who are selling these rare Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition phones through online marketplaces, they're not doing it for profit but because they already have a phone (via AD). And, judging by their actions, they don't care about keeping the Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition as a piece of memorabilia, either.
Selling a gift never looks good. But selling a major sponsor's gift online while the Olympic Games are ongoing looks even worse. It comes off as ungrateful and shows complete disregard for the sponsor, which isn't very sportsmanlike.
This week, Destiny 2 maker Bungie was hit by massive layoffs, leaving the future of the company’s popular looter shooter in some doubt and spurring waves of criticism of its CEO, who remains at the studio. We also saw streamer Dr Disrespect once again posting online, just 36 days after he confessed to sending…Read more...
This week, Destiny 2 maker Bungie was hit by massive layoffs, leaving the future of the company’s popular looter shooter in some doubt and spurring waves of criticism of its CEO, who remains at the studio. We also saw streamer Dr Disrespect once again posting online, just 36 days after he confessed to sending…
The Olympics seem unbelievably cool this year. Everywhere you look, there’s another great narrative being spun from the Games, such as Simone Biles and the U.S gymnastics team’s very funny beef with a former team member who tried (and failed) to talk shit about them before they took gold. But perhaps no sport at this…Read more...
The Olympics seem unbelievably cool this year. Everywhere you look, there’s another great narrative being spun from the Games, such as Simone Biles and the U.S gymnastics team’s very funny beef with a former team member who tried (and failed) to talk shit about them before they took gold. But perhaps no sport at this…
Enlarge / The Gemini prompt box in the "Dear Sydney" ad. (credit: Google)
Have you seen Google's "Dear Sydney" ad? The one where a young girl wants to write a fan letter to Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone? To which the girl's dad responds that he is "pretty good with words but this has to be just right"? And so, to be just right, he suggests that the daughter get Google's Gemini AI to write a first draft of the letter?
If you're watching the Olympics, you have undou
Enlarge/ The Gemini prompt box in the "Dear Sydney" ad. (credit: Google)
Have you seen Google's "Dear Sydney" ad? The one where a young girl wants to write a fan letter to Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone? To which the girl's dad responds that he is "pretty good with words but this has to be just right"? And so, to be just right, he suggests that the daughter get Google's Gemini AI to write a first draft of the letter?
If you're watching the Olympics, you have undoubtedly seen it—because the ad has been everywhere. Until today. After a string of negative commentary about the ad's dystopian implications, Google has pulled the "Dear Sydney" ad from TV. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the company said, "While the ad tested well before airing, given the feedback, we have decided to phase the ad out of our Olympics rotation."
The backlash was similar to that against Apple's recent ad in which an enormous hydraulic press crushed TVs, musical instruments, record players, paint cans, sculptures, and even emoji into… the newest model of the iPad. Apple apparently wanted to show just how much creative and entertainment potential the iPad held; critics read the ad as a warning image about the destruction of human creativity in a technological age. Apple apologized soon after.
Climate unintended consequences: The Olympic Games, which start at the end of this week in Paris, were supposed to be some of the most environmentally friendly in the organization's history. The organizers had opted out of supplying air conditioning for athletes' rooms in the Olympic Village as a means of reducing the event's environmental footprint. Just one issue: Nobody wanted that, and many of the teams will in fact be bringing their own A.C.
Climate unintended consequences: The Olympic Games, which start at the end of this week in Paris, were supposed to be some of the most environmentally friendly in the organization's history. The organizers had opted out of supplying air conditioning for athletes' rooms in the Olympic Village as a means of reducing the event's environmental footprint. Just one issue: Nobody wanted that, and many of the teams will in fact be bringing their own A.C. units.
The event organizers had constructed an Olympic Village equipped with geothermal in-floor cooling systems. But highs in Paris at the end of July/beginning of August average about 79 degrees Fahrenheit during the day; most major competitors have decided the in-floor tech won't cut it and that their athletes need real A.C.
Earlier this month, The Washington Post compiled a list of the top 20 largest competing nations; of the eight that replied to this inquiry, all of them planned on bringing their own portable A.C. units for their athletes. One of the nations that has not responded yet—China—is likely to follow suit, as roughly half of the world's total A.C. units are used in China.
"According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that," reports NBC News. "The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million." So it's a bit of a cultural difference. But it's still incredibly rich that the organizers' environmental efforts will be sabotaged to such a degree, and you have to wonder what the total environmental toll of shlepping massive A.C. units halfway across the globe to use temporarily in the Olympic Village will be (though some teams do intend to procure the units in France).
"It's a pity," said Georgina Grenon, the Paris 2024 director of environmental excellence, in response to The Washington Post's question about other countries making less environmentally conscious choices. Still, organizers touted their plan to transform the Olympic Village into apartments for some 6,000 Parisians following the games and say the geothermal cooling tech will be used for years to come.
Locked out of the debates: The first presidential debate will be this Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite high polling, will be excluded from the stage.
Normally, the Commission on Presidential Debates hosts the presidential showdowns (and chooses which candidates qualify for inclusion). This time, however, CNN is hosting, moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. As is tradition in American politics, which seems so frequently filled with antipathy toward non–major party candidates, the highly polling third candidate—RFK Jr.—will be excluded from the stage, per CNN's rules.
The network set a requirement that a candidate's name must appear on enough ballots nationwide to plausibly be able to win 270 electoral votes. The candidates must also reach 15 percent in four national polls selected by CNN in order to qualify.
RFK Jr. does not qualify for the first (having secured ballot access in just California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Utah so far, though another dozen states could also end up putting his name on the ballot) yet comes quite close to the second: He's been hovering at around 9 or 10 percent, even cracking 15 in some polls (including one of CNN's very own).
By keeping Kennedy off the debate stage, CNN is depriving viewers of the opportunity to see both Donald Trump and Joe Biden taken to task for the COVID-19 policies they supported—lockdowns that deprived kids of their educations, mask mandates that ended up being almost entirely pointless, funerals and weddings conducted via Zoom, padlocked playgrounds and skate parks filled in with sand, not to mention stunning levels of government spending that sank our economy into deep inflation from which we still haven't fully recovered. We need more people challenging the political duopoly, not fewer. But leave it to the major parties and major networks to fear competition; all incumbents fear competition when they can sense they're in decline.
Scenes from New York: The weed crackdown is underway. Unauthorized dispensaries and bodegas have, for the last year or so, outnumbered licensed shops 20 to one, but New York's law enforcement and regulators have now decided to take action. Signs like these are commonplace, and represent a stunning admission on the part of the pot regulators: They totally botched the legal weed rollout by doling out a paltry number of licenses to applicants on the basis of "diversity" and "equity" but disallowing the vast majority of shops to obtain legal licenses. (More from Reason's Jacob Sullum.)
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said intense fighting with Hamas will soon be paused and some forces redeployed to the north of the country, where violence is escalating with Lebanon-based Hezbollah," reportsBloomberg.
"Did anyone ever hear of Dana White?" Trump asked, referring to the UFC president, during a speech at a conference in Washington on Saturday. "I said, 'Dana, I have an idea. Why don't you set up a migrant league of fighters and have your regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league—these are the greatest fighters in the world—fight the champion of the migrants.' I think the migrant guy might win; that's how tough they are. He didn't like that idea too much." He also talked up how he would "begin the largest deportation operation in American history" if elected to a second term.
Over 1,300 people died this month while attempting to complete their hajj to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
Samsung continues to be a global Olympic and Paralympic partner, and last month, the company revealed its slogan for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Now, in anticipation of the Olympics, Samsung has announced a new partnership with the Dutch Basketball Association.
Basketball is the fastest growing sport in the Netherlands. Now, the Dutch Basketball Association has entered a 3-year partnership with the Korean tech giant Samsung.
The company will support basketball in its entirety as a sp
Samsung continues to be a global Olympic and Paralympic partner, and last month, the company revealed its slogan for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Now, in anticipation of the Olympics, Samsung has announced a new partnership with the Dutch Basketball Association.
Basketball is the fastest growing sport in the Netherlands. Now, the Dutch Basketball Association has entered a 3-year partnership with the Korean tech giant Samsung.
The company will support basketball in its entirety as a sponsor. But interestingly, Samsung says its main focus in the run-up to the 2024 Summer Olympics will be 3×3 basketball.
Streetball is taking over, and Samsung is there for it
Not only is Basketball the fastest growing sport in the Netherlands, with the country earning eleven medals at the European and World Championships over the past two years, but 3×3 basketball has also become the number one urban team sport globally.
3-on-3 street basketball, or streetball, puts two teams of three players against one another in matches that last up to 10 minutes or until one team scores 21 points.
Because streetball has a different set of rules than court basketball, it makes for a dynamic and spectacular game with innovative moves and great teamwork, where quick decision-making skills can make the difference between winning and losing.
Samsung is supporting all the Dutch 3×3 basketball teams at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris. The men's teams have at least two chances to qualify for the Olympic Games, while the women's teams can participate in three qualifying tournaments as European champions.
Exactly how Samsung will support the basketball teams in the Netherlands isn't entirely clear, and we don't know if the players will get money and/or Samsung devices out of this partnership. However, the director of the Dutch Basketball Federation, Maarten Hoffer, says:
“Our sport is growing in every possible way. The fact that a leading, innovative brand like Samsung is committed to our sport as a partner shows where Dutch basketball stands: we are proud of that. Samsung has all the knowledge and technology in-house to help make basketball, and 3×3 basketball in particular, even better and more popular in our country.”
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