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Imagine if you could simultaneously play a game on your smartphone while also doing something beneficial to the world as a whole – like helping scientists in the quest to beat cancer in real life? Thanks to a new app by Cancer Research, described as “the world’s first app designed to unravel genetic data”, anyone with an Android or iOS device can stop dreaming and do just that.
In Play To Cure: Genes In Space, players pilot a ship through a hazard-strewn course across space, blasting asteroids on their way, in an apparent mission to collect a valuable material called Element Alpha. As they play, their movements through the game actively aid research into identifying genetic markers that could help scientists identify cancer-causing genes in actual patients in real life.
Cancer Research scientists recently created graphs representing genetic data from 2,000 anonymous breast tumour patients. These graphs often have abnormalities where some part of the genetic make-up suddenly peaks or drops significantly at isolated points, which Scientists believe could identify potentially cancer-creating genes that could help further research into curing and preventing cancer. The problem is, while computers can pick out some likely problem areas themselves, sometimes the peaks are so subtle they can only be picked up by human eyes; and identifying the specific responsible genes also requires precision – so Scientists still need to look at the graphs themselves as well. The more eyes available, the quicker this process will be; but Scientists know that for most people, looking at graphs all day is plain boring.
So game developers at the company Guerilla Tea worked with scientists on an approach that involves regular people in the research while allowing them to have fun as well. The game developers have transformed the readouts into an intergalactic landscape, where your path and the hazards you face are based on a randomly-decided genetic sample. As your ship moves through the game, you map a path across the graph it was based on; and these movements are tracked by the game.
To ensure accuracy, each section of gene data will be tracked by several different players. The information is fed back to the scientists and as more players highlight the peaks and troughs, scientists identify those areas for further research. The anonymity of the cancer patients used for the study will be preserved, the developers promised.
Every single second gamers spend playing our smartphone game directly helps our work to beat cancer sooner. As you steer your spaceship through Element Alpha you are mapping a path behind you. That path is really useful to the scientists because it will help them to identify where the peaks and the troughs are in the data […] by understanding exactly where those peaks and troughs are, we can understand where to go and look for faults in genes that might be linked to cancer […] With [just a few minutes play per player,] we could have an absolutely mind-blowing impact in terms of accelerating research.
-Hannah Keartland, Citizen Science Project Lead, Cancer Research UK
The app is the second “citizen science” project by Cancer Research UK, after the success of Cell Slider, which was also used to aid Breast Cancer research. More than 200,000 people classified almost two million cancer images, reducing the time taken for researchers to analyse a subset of breast cancer samples from 18 months to just three.
Today Wargaming announced that “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” will release globally on February 12, 2014. Custom built specifically for the Xbox 360, “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” will bring the franchise’s trademark 15 versus 15 team-based tactical online tank action and free-to-play accessibility to the millions of dedicated Xbox Live gamers around the globe.
Published by Microsoft Studios and developed by Wargaming West (formerly Day 1 Studios), “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” will be digitally downloadable and free-to-play for Xbox Live Gold account holders, with an additional 7-day timed trial for all other Xbox Live account holders. The title features all new intuitive controls, integration of Xbox Live features like Friends, Parties, Achievements and a custom user interface designed for the large screen experience. “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” will also feature in-game purchases such as premium tanks, consumables and premium accounts to boost experience and currency accrual rates.
At launch, “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition” will feature more than 100 iconic tanks from three separate nations – the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. The game will be expanded with additional tanks, nations and more in the future.
Describing her as the company’s “first and unanimous choice”, Microsoft Corp named 22-year company veteran Satya Nadella as its next chief executive officer on Tuesday, ending a five-month search following the announcement of Steve Ballmer’s retirement. Additionally, Bill Gates is said to be stepping down as chairman to act as his technology advisor.
Previously, Nadella had spearheaded the creation of Microsoft’s Internet Services division to push the company into the recent “cloud computing” trend of offering services entirely over the internet. With mobile computing becoming more popular, it appears Microsoft felt that Satya’s prior experience made him the perfect candidate for pushing the company into being prepared for the upcoming shift in the way we use computers.
Satya’s got the right background to lead the company during this era … There’s a challenge in mobile computing. There’s an opportunity in the cloud.
– Bill Gates
The 46-year old Indian marks only the third change of CEO in the company’s 39 year history, having first had Bill Gates as CEO until 2000; then Steve Ballmer until his retirement last year.
Though Bill Gates reduced his role in the company in 2008 to focus on philanthropic work through his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Sataya is supposed to have asked Bill to “step up” and involve himself in Microsoft more, by working with him in devising the next generation of products from Microsoft. Gates has pledged to have “over a third of my time available to meet with product groups”; though he states that the charity remains his main job. Sataya also stated in a video interview he would focus on “ruthlessly” removing any obstacles to innovation at the company.
Investor confidence in the new CEO appears high, with shares of Microsoft rising 0.2 percent at $36.54 at market close today; and though most agree on him being a safe pair of hands to drive the company forward, only time will tell if the new products and Microsoft’s choice of direction in his hands will once again make the company popular again, both with customers who were disillusioned with Windows 8 and the Surface tablets; and impatient shareholders who will be eagerly awaiting the company’s turn around and the release of the “next big thing”.
The ESRB’s content description for Dark Souls include details about the game’s bosses.
*WARNING! Potential spoilers ahead!*
One of the best parts of Dark Souls is that terrible moment when you get your first look at a boss. You’ll turn a corner or enter a new area and suddenly find yourself face-to-face with some unthinkable creature that you can just tell outclasses you in every way possible. More often than not, this moment will only last a few seconds (long enough to die), but it’s a wonderful sort of dread that other games frequently struggle with.
That in mind, the ESRB recently released some content descriptors that could potentially spoil that feeling for Dark Souls II. In addition to describing the game’s “dungeon-like setting” and “fantastical enemies,” the group’s descriptors also includes some specific details about the game’s bosses. Among the spoilers is “a giant snake boss holding its severed head,” a “boss creature composed of hundreds of corpses” and a “partially topless” boss character with “hair barely covering [her] breasts.”
Now, to be fair, these aren’t the worst spoilers we’ve ever seen, even from the ESRB itself. Likewise, chances are there aren’t going to be too many Dark Souls fans flocking to the group’s website to check and make sure the game is age appropriate. That said, you really do have to wonder if there could perhaps be ways for the ESRB to be a tad more discerning in what it reveals about the games it rates. Granted, we could also just not report about it, but clearly that’s not going to happen.
