It was a somewhat hungover me that staggered out of bed this morning. After a botched attempt at making a cup of tea I decided that I should go easy on myself with something a bit simpler than the top-down tactical battles of the last two days. Still, I’m not sure Penumbra: Overture was the best place to go in my fragile state.

What is it?

Penumbra: Overture is the first part of a trilogy of first-person horror games with adventure game style leanings to them. physics theory are the name of the game when it comes to puzzles and combat as there are no guns available to your lead character.

Why’d you buy it?

I honestly have no idea. All three games were available as a package sale on Steam. I may have been drunk.

The Playtest:

1:30 – Ah, the familiar gamma correction check. Change the settings until the picture in the box is barely visible. How else would we know that it’s a horror game? Unfortunately none of these changes seem to be possible through the software and I’m sure as hell not playing about with my monitor’s settings. This could be a little bright but perhaps that’s no bad thing.

4:30 – Introduction. Why is it that the type of person that sends a letter to you after they die is also always the type of person that will have set up a safety deposit box within a bank that was taken out in your name?

5:00 – From the sounds of the main character’s narration he is going to die. This takes the pressure off a bit. If the aim of the game is to get the main character killed then I’m your man.

5:30 – And into the main game proper. I’m on a ship. “Finally, we’re almost docked, I’d better stow my gear. I may be far from home, but chances are I can still pick things up using ‘Left-Mouse.’” Good to know that use of the left mouse button isn’t tied to your proximity from home. I’ve never understood why developers include tutorials within a character’s speech or writing. Do they think it’s immersive to have an in-game character tell you what you should press to perform an action? It isn’t. In fact it reminds me that I’m sat in front of a keyboard being talked to by a game character. That’s the opposite of immersion.

9:00 – Ooh! If you want to open a draw or a chest you have to click the mouse to grab the handle and drag it open. Okay so it’s a blatant gimmick but it’s really tactile and satisfying when coupled with what seems to be a fairly robust physics theory engine. I’m impressed.

11:30 – “So cold… don’t know where I am… need shelter soon. I’ve jotted down a note just in case.” In case of what? In case you forget that you’re freezing to death and need shelter? Is that really likely?

15:00 – So far the combat is a little like using the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2. Except instead of the Gravity Gun you use you hands. Also, instead of enemies I’ve only defeated some ice so far.

20:00 – I’m currently wandering through a series of caves with rooms built into them. I’m using a hammer I picked up to smash open crates in case there are goodies within. This game is turning into Oblivion with hammers.

Well obviously I'll be wanting to go to the explosives room.

21:30 – Going around in circles. Absolutely no idea what I’m meant to be doing or where I’m meant to be going. This is an adventure game after all.

25:00 – Nuts. Looks like our hero is a bit emo. “Our entire society is a network of safety nets: emergency services at the end of a phoneline, health and safety in the workplace, friends, family, lovers. All there if something goes wrong, part of a carefully designed structure to prevent all but the most mundane of emotions.” I might have found it easier to sympathise with his half-baked sociological guff if it wasn’t so obvious that he’d never walked home from Manchester at 3 in the morning.

32:00 – Looks like the gameplay is going to be heavily stealth based. No guns means that throwing barrels is the name of the game. Not that I’ve found any enemies yet, but I can at least throw the barrels into other barrels.

35:00 – Mind altering chemicals and high suicide rates… The plot thickens. I do have a question about the plot actually: What the fuck is up with the plot? So Philip K. Grumpypants gets a letter from his dead father telling him to go to a safety deposit box and destroy the contents. Inside is a book that proves to be untranslatable and a map pointing to an area of Greenland. For absolutely no good reason our boy travels to Greenland on his own to look for God only knows what. I hope the rest of this game brought some Polyfilla along, because we’ve got some serious plot holes to be sorted out.

40:00 – The key to the chest was in the same room as the chest? Guys, that’s not how an adventure game works!

45:00 – The first enemy has appeared. It seems to be a dog. A little disappointing perhaps, but I think I’ll keep out of his way all the same.

50:00 – Well I’ve picked up a Zippo so this trip may have been worthwhile after all. Also I’m not sure if that breathing sound is my character or something else.

I've always followed the school of algebra that asserts Zippo + Fuel = Dead Spider + Happy Face.

53:00 – As far as I can see the only purpose of the artifacts I keep finding is to give me trippy little sepia flashes. This probably means they’re important… Also annoying.

54:00 – Despite the character’s continuing assertion that these barrels could contain anything, so far every single one of them, without exception, has contained precisely nothing.

1:00:00 – I’ve entered the spider tunnels. Some research notes lying on the floor tell me that the spiders in this cave are delicious. That sounds like a claim worth investigating, but I’m out of time.

Conclusion:

Strangely this game reminded me a lot of the Half-Life 2 mod Dear Esther: atmospheric, sinister and also quite slow. Of course Penumbra actually has some gameplay to it as well and that’s where the whole experience could fall down. So far the exploration seems intriguing enough and, although the puzzles are a little easy, at least the mechanic of having to move the objects using some approximation of that motion is tactile and surprisingly enjoyable. I have a feeling the combat is going to be bobbins but I also don’t see this as being a particularly long game (it was originally meant to be episodic) so I’ll probably stick it out. The biggest flaw seem to be the main character, who is just unlikable and whiny, but it looks like he’ll be dead by the conclusion of this story so that’s something to look forward to.

On the following webpage and the film, “The AntiChrist Dajjal will be a Reptilian Shapeshifter” we learn that the one eye of the Dajjal on top of the pyramid is actually a stargate, and when these New Age people talk of rising to higher dimensions they’re asking you to connect with Djinns: http://www.crystalinks.com/thirdeyepineal.html 

The pineal gland has everything to do with electricity. It regulates our sleep and waking cycles, in addition to sexuality.

The behavior of the Dajjal, his cold-blooded murders around the world and his hatred for truth and justice and love for everything filthy tell us his third eye is connected to evil spirits. That’s why their worship practices in evil spirit temples such as the Bohemian Grove are sickening. We’ve even watched a video made outside Capitol Hill showing these Masons offering sacrifices with blood. (And that’s different from animal sacrifices of the Jews and Muslims; we’re talking cold-blooded murders of humans when it comes to the Dajjal). 

So, for example, when Bush was Governor of Texas, we heard there were many many executions in the state. Most likely this was demanded by the evil Djinns he connected with. He was asking for greater power, and the Djinns demand evil things in exchange for what they promise their worshippers. As mentioned before, evil Djinns work on electricity and they have many followers. With their function in our electric brains and their following, they end up granting the wishes of their worshippers by Allah’s permission. In fact, they’re fooling people all the time. So the Qur’an tells us that the devil is the avowed enemy of man. That’s why they refer to human beings as “dull care” in the Bohemian Grove; they burn down humans there — these wicked psychopaths acting as priests and government leaders engage in this behavior.

The ‘third eye’ is also opened through worship of Allah, and it is best to open it that way because you don’t want to reach Djinn dimension, if you’re a good soul you’d like to reach Allah’s Home.

In the following video, they show you images of plants that look like reptiles as the guy refers to his third eye as blue in color — blue being among ‘alien’ colors. Cold blood is blue in our imagination. But, worship of Allah makes the third eye glow. The Qur’an mentions this mark on the foreheads of believers. Many assume it should be something of a dark boil — but unless you’re deliberately hurting your head in prostration, you can’t get a boil there. The third eye is to bring you knowledge from Allah; the dark boil is just a sore.

Here’s an explanation of the “forelock” mentioned in the Qur’an: “the lying, sinful forelock” of the unbelievers: http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/Allahs_miracles_of_the_quran/Allahs_miracles_of_the_quran1d.php

Jesus is called “son of Mary” in the Qur’an, but the mother of Moses is referred to as “mother of Moses.” “Son of Mary” is therefore Jesus’ title assigned by God. Mary was a great woman, after all, unlike all women of the Dajjal today.

Also in the Qur’an, the word for “men” refers to mankind, including both men and women, in many verses, e.g. 7:46.

The majority of Islamic scholars ended up believing in Dajjal paganism which includes sexism. They believed that God has said there shall be no messenger of Allah among women. But you can’t read the Qur’an that way. Islamic scholars in Muslim Spain believed that both men and women could be messengers of Allah. There’s a female prophet mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, for example. Regardless of whether that story is true or not, we should know Allah’s choices and His knowledge aren’t limited like ours. In fact, Allah warns us against placing limitations on Him in our minds.

The word “messenger” is used for both human beings and angels in the Qur’an. This dissolves the difference between angels and prophets of Allah to an extent. Qur’an also tells us that angels do not eat food; but human messengers have to eat.

In the Garden of Eden, when God asked His angels to bow before Adam, Iblis/Lucifer/Diabolis is also among the “angels.” Then God tells us Iblis was a Djinn, he disobeyed Allah. So essentially Djinns are also among angels. We know, too, that the Djinns have free will to either obey or disobey Allah.

The Qur’an is for Djinns and humans both. In the Book, Allah mentions asking Djinns and humans, ‘Didn’t we send you messengers from amongst yourselves?’

Did Djinns also have messengers of Allah sent to them?

Of course, the messengers among mankind were messengers for Djinns as well. And that’s because each one of us lives with a Djinn in this lifetime, and that’s our Qareen/Anti-matter. This Djinn could be good or bad, depending on how we train our lower selves or allow them to lead jungle lives.

Prophet Muhammad, peace on him, said that Jesus would return with water dripping from his hair as though he’s just come out of a bath. Water is a medium for shapeshifting. Since all messengers of Allah are human beings accompanying their Qareen — you can expect Jesus to return in a new form.

How can a 2000 year old body return as it was? Of course, Allah can do everything. But if Jesus were to return in his 2000 year old body, he wouldn’t be much of a human being, he’d be like the son of God the Christians falsely believed him to be. His body would be surreal. He might not have to eat food with that body.

Then again, we cannot place limitations on Allah in our minds.

Do not stop seeking knowledge, and go on using your own reason instead of relying on others to use theirs on you. That’s Djinn possession — letting others do all your thinking. That’s what the Nazis do — but humans are superior to them.

I think for the first time ever I am thinking to myself “Wow, Bill Gates, What a guy!”, and that’s not just because of the upcoming release of Windows 7, oh no! It’s a very much physics theory realted reason!

Microsoft Research’s Project Tuva website is running.

What is Project Tuva?

Well it’s a collection of Richard Feynman lectures, 7 of them to be precise: Law of Gravitation, The Relation of Mathematics and physics theory, The Great Conservation Principles, Symmetry in Physical Law, The Distinction of Past and Future, Probability and Uncertainty and Seeking New Laws. There are also extras and commentary.

Why are they on the Microsoft site?

Bill Gates has the rights to the lectures, he got them because he was fascinated by them many years ago when he saw them.

They can all be found on the Microsoft Tuva  site:

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/

Well, I wasn’t expecting this at all, and it has made my day, i’ll start watching these tonight!

Thank you Mr Gates!

If you haven’t heard of Modeling and you teach math or science, you should check it out.  It’s an awesome curriculum and allows teachers to focus on planning for their students rather than inventing effective lesson plans.  http://modeling.asu.edu/ To access the full curriculum, one has to attend a workshop.

Apparently light has attractive and repulsive forces to other beams of light. Interesting.

The important question: can we use the force to make lightsabers yet?

Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that — just maybe — answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it’s the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces you’ve ever seen.

Credits to Garrett Lisi & TED