Here's To Lookin' At You, Bugs!

Image used for criticism under "Fair Use." All rights belong to Warner Brothers.

"What's up, Doc?"

Bugs Bunny was one of the great idols of my childhood. Looney Tunes used to regularly come on Cartoon Network, and Bugs was the one I always wanted most to see. In fact, Cartoon Network used to dedicate the entire month of June to playing Bugs Bunny cartoons nonstop. Such a bold move could hardly be imagined today. Even more inconceivable were his appearances at that time beside Michael Jordan in Space Jam, and Mickey Mouse in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The latter more productive than the former.



I speak of Bugs since he just turned seventy-five this year. In the few moments I've spent with him, eyes glued to the TV set, so many are fond. Who wouldn't adore his arguments with Daffy over whether it was "Rabbit Season" or "Duck Season"? We all know the routine. Bugs would concede that it's "Rabbit Season", but Daffy, not one to agree with Bugs, thoughtlessly insists that its "Duck Season", only to get his bill shot off by Elmer. Though Bugs hardly ever got on Elmer's good side, either. As much as he tried to be very, very quiet in his hunting for rabbits, Bugs usually got the upper-hand. Sometimes he did it by cross-dressing as a woman, most famously in What's Opera, Doc? Now remembered as one of Bugs and Elmer's finest, What's Opera, Doc? is a fanciful adaptation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, with the "Tannhauser Chorus" and "Ride of the Valkyries" included. The short was produced in the 1950's, when the Chuck Jones cartoons acquired a more modernist art style. We see this on point when Elmer's fury to command the weather gets the background into more clashing hues and greys. What stands out about this particular episode is that Elmer actually succeeds in killing Bugs, to which he weeps. I was shocked upon first seeing this. Tom never caught Jerry. Sylvester never caught Tweety. Wile E. Coyote never caught Road Runner. Yet here we were. Though Bugs slipped in a final comment to berate my surprise, "What did you expect from an opera, a happy ending?"

Even when Bugs was shamelessly ripping off Tom and Jerry's Cat Concerto in Rhapsody Rabbit, he managed to get a good laugh or two in. I mean hell, he literally pulls out a gun to shoot a coughing audience member. I suppose a bullet does better to silence than cough drops.

Bugs had wit. I'd argue that's part of his draw. With so many one-liners, Bugs comes across as an animated Groucho Marx. (Bugs has even put on a Groucho disguise). The rabbit always used his brains to get the upper-hand over his opponents, and being a cartoon, he resolves matters in ways that may surprise the viewer. Compare this to Popeye the Sailor, whom while being entertaining in his own right, always ended his conflicts in the same way: with spinach and muscle. Though the type of character Bugs is comes from the Trickster archetype. NPR compared him favorably to Puck, Anansi, and the Monkey King. Further, the radio station quoted Robert Thompson, who directs a pop-culture studies program at Syracuse University. Thompson remarked of Bugs that, "He defies authority. He goes against the rules. But he does it in a way that's often lovable, and that often results in good things for the culture at large," (Sutherland). Chuck Jones, always made sure that Bugs only acted when provoked. His trickery was a matter of defending his dignity.

And to my recollection, he always won.

Image used for criticism under "Fair Use." All rights belong to Warner Bros.

Bibliography

Sutherland, J.J. "Bugs Bunny: The Trickster, American Style." NPR, January 6, 2008. Web. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17874931

Roman Update

           The Roman count has now reached 4 cohorts, and this batch are ready to go off to their new home

                                                         Cohort number 4- Foundry figures -

Top 5 Reasons Why Your PUBG Is Lagging And How To Solve It?

It has become a common thing to lag in big games like PUBG, Apex legends etc. Especially, if we are in a serious situation 
and at that moment PUBG lags then our frustration and angriness go beyond the limit. This has become a serious problem even for a pro player. So if you are looking for the solution to this problem then you have visited the right place. This post will mention the reasons for which PUBG lags and the solution to it.

Why PUBG lags?

Reasons and solutions to PUBG lag :

1. Running of unnecessary apps in the background:

           Believe it or not but just running unnecessary apps or installing any app or updating an app in the background decreases your internet speed which finally results in PUBG lagging. 

Solution:   So, if you want to keep a distance from lagging make sure that there are no online apps running in the background. And avoid updating or installing any app at that time.

2. Bandwidth limits set by your ISP(Internet Service Provider):

         If your internet speed is good but still your PUBG lags whereas you can run other online apps such as Youtube etc easily then there is a high chance that your ISP might have set limits in that particular game.

For example- Sometimes the ISP set 25% bandwidth only for games and the rest 75% for other online apps. This is done to distribute the internet equally otherwise it would become difficult for normal people to surf the internet.

Solution: In that case, you can change your ISP or simply use a VPN. There are many free gaming VPNs present on the internet. You can use one to increase your internet speed. This can decrease PUBG lagging to a great extent.

3. Excess heating of PC or mobile:

Excess heating of Smartphone

         While playing any game, you must ensure that your CPU or phone should not heat too much. In case of excess heating, your game will surely lag because heat is the biggest enemy of the processor and hence the processor is unable to work properly. For such reasons, gaming PCs are specially designed for proper cooling.

Solution: Ensure the proper cooling of the laptop or computer and in case of mobile you should let it rest for some time to attain normal temperature. 

Note: You should never play games on a mobile while it's charging. This not only makes your phone hot but also it is unhealthy for your battery and sometimes if the battery is a low-quality battery, the battery can even burst. 

You can visit this article for more information on overheating of phones.

You can visit this website to know how to cool down your android phone.
You can visit this website to know how to cool down your PC.

4. Your PC or mobile does not meet the recommended requirements of the game:

Requirements don't meet

      This is a well-known problem. Sometimes PUBG can lag because your device can lack many components including processor or graphics card or GPU or RAM or Memory or any other component. In that case, though your ping may be okay still the PUBG will lag.

Solution: If you are highly addicted to this game and want to play the game anyhow without lagging you can change the components of the PC while in case of mobile you need to buy a new mobile.

To know the minimum and recommended requirements of PUBG PC click here.

5.  Playing in the farthest server:

       Another reason for which your PUBG is lagging is that you are playing in a server far away from you. In PUBG there is an option to select servers like Asia, Europe etc. If you belong to Asia and playing in Europe server then your PUBG may lag since it takes time to communicate and get a response from them. 

Solution: You should play at the nearest server. For example, if you live in the Asian continent you should play at Asia server while if you live in America you should play the South or North America server. You can notice less PUBG lag if you play in your nearest server.

Note: The above reasons are also applicable to the whole internet services. You might have noticed that sometimes though your internet speed is very high but still many websites or pages take too much time to reload. This is because their server is very far and takes too much time to communicate with them.

If you are suffering excess lagging of PUBG, you can complain at the official PUBG support page by clicking here. 

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Goodbye To Chess

Chess was important growing up. When I finally got my own room as a kid, it was the former den, filled with my father's chess trophies and books from his time on the Penn State chess team. I wasn't terribly into chess, but I read all the books in the den, mostly sports novels (ugh), chess strategy and how-to books. For a while in high school, I brought my chess set and played in science class, where the game was socially acceptable. My player's handbook stayed at home. I was a solid, thinking several moves ahead kinda kid, so the chess books were mostly aspirational. I felt like I wasn't quite smart enough to go full chess, like a wannabe wizard with an eight intelligence. Magic missile was just out of my grasp.

When I opened the store in 2004, I had a very respectable collection of chess sets, amazing really, for a 940 square foot store (amazing equals dumb for non retailers). These were all on full display, and about once a week, I would remove the pieces of each set, dust the board, and put them back on. My father was impressed when he visited. When it came to chess, I knew how to represent. This was all incredibly time consuming and eventually I lost several boxes, making selling them pretty difficult. Oh, and then there were the missing pieces. Realizing the queen is missing from a $250 Egyptian chess set will make you seek out boxed chess sets pretty fast.

As the display sets sold, their replacements tended not to get re-opened, and eventually not re-ordered as the plain white box did nothing to help move them. Chess sets sold poorly. They have always sold poorly. They sell poorly now. Stores in the region who do much better with chess, who dominate with chess? They sell poorly there too. It's a legacy item, an item that says "games" to the general public. It's a touchstone for me and my father. But chess, to be honest, is a complete waste of space.

That's not true everywhere. There are stores in the Midwest that do gangbusters with chess. But here? The serious players buy their sets online, often through chess organizations or just Amazon. In the store, I think it's enough to have a tournament size Staunton set and a roll up travel set, but beyond that there are hundreds of themed chess sets that will make you crazy as customer seek them out. Civil War? Simpsons? Harry Potter? You could stock an entire store with what's out there ... and promptly go out of business.

I used to special order sets and it was time consuming and unrewarding, unlike the work with other types of games. Help a board game customer and you may have created a regular board game customer and maybe even a board game hobbyist. Help someone with a chess set and you've sold them a chess set and you'll never seem them again.

I've watched my classic games numbers stagnate, even when I double or triple my selection. I've tried more and less and different and boxes with pictures and on display and nope, none of it works. It's dead here. I've been foolish not to drop it sooner. I would look at the corner where our "classic" games reside and fantasize about what I would put there. Frisbee golf. A coffee kiosk. Anything but chess.

With 25% Chinese tariffs, I'm extremely concerned about board games. But then there's chess. All those classic games come from China, really. I had forgotten. It's not even on my radar anymore. We just didn't re-order classic games after the holidays and nobody seemed to mind, except the occasional random customer who has clearly never been here before. We send them to the regional store that has a better selection and also doesn't make money selling them. Then that classic game space got taken up with profitable stuff. So with tariffs on the way, a better use of that space, and performance numbers that I use an example at trade shows of what you should drop, I think it's time to say goodbye to chess. Sorry dad.

UCLan Games Design Alumni, Saija Sipila Interviewed On Linkedin.

Checkout this interview on Linkedin with our Alumni, Saija Sipilä.
We're very proud of her and her achievements in the games design industry!

Saija Sipila is a Senior Artist at Rebellion Games in Oxford, having worked on Sniper Elite 4, Sniper Elite 3, Hunt the Grey Wolf (DLC), Save Churchill Part 3: Confrontation (DLC) and Zombie Army Trilogy.

Saija is a 3D Environment artist.
See examples of her beautiful work at:

http://www.saijamaririna.com/

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