by Stone Marshall | Oct 20, 2015 | Awesome Book News |
The pharma industry just got a hell of a lot nerdier, thanks to a recent Forbes op-ed. It likens the maze-like research and development quagmire to the elf-infused quests seen in fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Chances are slim for biotechs to make it through the high-stakes R&D game alive. Same goes for the goblins of D&D. The story goes:
Dungeons and Dragons (or D&D), it turns out, is an excellent model for early R&D in the pharmaceutical industry. Winning strategies for wizards and warriors are, consequently, useful guides for R&D chiefs whether in global pharma companies or virtual biotechs.
Much like the intrepid explorers of the RPG, startup execs find themselves have to step-by-step find their way to some kind of exit – be it an acquisition, a public entrance or – the most challenging – a self-guided entrance to market.
While seeking the correct sequence of actions to secure escape, the party of adventurers has a strictly limited amount of resources – torches, food and stamina, for example. The game then rides upon finding a winning combination before time runs out, using imperfect information at every step.
That is a perfect model for drug development. Both are represented by a sequence of decisions based on very little information, to deliver a distant goal when the intermediate milestones have very little value, and to do so before the available resources have been exhausted.
It’s kind of a stretch, but the parallels hold. There are pictures, even:
Nerd alert: How the mazes of Dungeons & Dragons and pharma R&D compare
by Stone Marshall | Oct 19, 2015 | Awesome Book News |
Just yesterday Bandai Namco’s Tales of Zestiria released on PC – a day earlier than originally announced. Today its available on the PS4 and priced at $59.99, but right now the PC version proves far cheaper. Not only does it start at $10 less than the PS4 version, but the Steam key also has a 25% off deal at GMG. That cuts the price a further $12.50 and makes the lowest price online from an authorized retailer.
As an added bonus, The Alisha’s Story Additional Chapter DLC is free until November 19th at Bandai Namco website in their VIP corner section. This is a nice bonus for gamers who have opted to choose PC as the platform to enjoy the game.
Note: The coupon code at GMG will run through October 27th at 9am Pacific and only works on a few select titles. Find a full list of them here. We’re also fairly certain the 25% off deal will stop working soon, most likely tomorrow morning at 11AM ET. If it no longer works, we’ll update tomorrow with a new code.
Tales of Zestiria is the 15th addition to the Tales series. It launched officially in Japan in January of this year, went live yesterday in North America for PC, and goes live today on the PS4.
Tales of Zestiria price sliced to $37 plus free DLC on PC
by Stone Marshall | Oct 18, 2015 | Awesome Book News |
Above: No, not Super Mario Maker — although, Nintendo should release a speedrun mode update for that game!
Image Credit: Nintendo
You are probably pretty good at games. I’m sure you’ve finished a Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed in your day. Well, it’s time to stop considering those accomplishments.
One of the greatest speedrunners in the world has set a new world record for Super Mario Bros. A speedrunner, if you’re wondering, is someone who tries to play a game from its beginning until its end as fast as humanly possible — and that often means exploiting bugs and other tricks. Darbian, who you can watch regularly on his Twitch channel, just beat the classic Nintendo Entertainment System platformer in under 4 minutes, 48 seconds earlier this week. He improved on the previous best by nearly half a second.
Watch the new Super Mario Bros. speedrun world record and despair, mortal
by Stone Marshall | Oct 16, 2015 | Awesome Book News |
The separate phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been well documented. The first phase saw the introduction of each of the Avengers, culminating in a massive team-up movie that shattered box office records left and right. Phase Two gave us further development of old characters, as well as the surprisingly amazing Guardians of the Galaxy. Finally, it closed out with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, leading us to Phase Three.
The third set of Marvel movies will feature a new cast of heroes in their own standalone movies for the first time. These will release alongside sequels for Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thor, as well as the two-part Infinity Gauntlet storyline.
But who are the new heroes that we’re soon to be introduced to? They haven’t yet found their way into the Avengers movies and largely exist as secondary characters in the comics. But don’t let that underscore their importance to the Marvel Universe: These heroes are the real deal.
1. Doctor Strange (November 4, 2016)
Known as the “Sorcerer Supreme,” Doctor Strange is a character with a comic history dating all the way back to 1963. Benedict Cumberbatch is set to portray the world’s most powerful practitioner of magic, introducing a whole new side to a Marvel Cinematic Universe that up until now has largely been rooted in science more than the supernatural. In the Avengers mythos, he largely sat out the Civil War storyline that saw most Marvel heroes take sides, but was still critical of the Superhuman Registration Act spearheaded by Tony Stark.
Only a few rumors have escaped as to what the Doctor Strange movie will be about, but if you were listening closely in Captain America: Winter Soldier, you may have noticed his alter alias, Stephen Strange, name-dropped by one of Hydra’s covert SHIELD agents, Jasper Sitwell. Strange’s powers include a mastery of sorcery and all things magic, and a genius-level intellect, which could potentially make for a thinking man’s Marvel movie (or at least we hope). Rumors are floating around that we might see Doctor Strange make his first appearance in Netflix’s Iron Fist series later this year, but they’re mostly unconfirmed (at least for now).
2. Black Panther (July 6, 2018)
Yet another hero rooted in more supernatural elements, Black Panther will take us to another part of the globe entirely: to the fictional nation of Wakanda. The titular hero, known familiarly as T’Challa, is Wakanda’s chieftain, drawing his superhuman physical abilities from an unnamed panther god (although early iterations had it derive from the consumption of a special plant). In the comics, Black Panther’s home country is made out to be one of the wealthiest and most advanced in the world, with massive vibranium reserves (the fictional metal that composes Captain America’s shield).
For his part, we’re almost assuredly getting a chance to delve deep into Wakanda and the complex story of its chieftain. T’Challa has a long history of darting in and out of the Avengers, often finding himself torn between his home nation and the responsibilities of saving the world. We’ll get our first look at him in Captain America: Civil War, setting him up for his full feature-length the following year.
3. Captain Marvel (November 2, 2018)
There’s a long, confusing comic history following the seven separate characters that have taken up the mantle of “Captain Marvel.” The movie releasing in November 2018, though, will focus solely on Carol Danvers, also known popularly as Ms. Marvel. It’ll mark the first MCU movie featuring a woman in the title role (sorry Black Widow, no movie for you), something long overdo in the world of superheroes.
Danvers is known in the comics to be a human/Kree hybrid after having her genes fused, something that’s been set up nicely by the appearance of the powerful alien race in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of SHIELD. The Captain Marvel movie will air a year after DC’s Wonder Woman, making for the beginnings of a much-needed focus on the pantheon of female superheroes over 2017-2018.
4. Inhumans (July 12, 2019)
Despite having the release date pushed back a year by Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man deal, there’s been no shortage on Inhumans in the MCU (spoilers ahead). ABC’s Agents of SHIELD has them integrated heavily into the story now, with a small group existing together in the remote mountains of an undisclosed location. As the descendants of a race of early humans experimented on by the Kree, the Inhumans feature a vast array of powers, acting as a sort of alternative to the X-Men (currently owned by 20th Century Fox).
The Royal Family of the Inhumans that acts as the main group of characters in the comics likely won’t find its way onto Agents of SHIELD anytime soon, but audiences are already getting primed for a whole new group of heroes set to debut in 2019. We’ll have to settle for the tertiary members in the meantime on TV.
Your Guide to the New Heroes of Marvel’s Next Phase of Movies
by Stone Marshall | Oct 15, 2015 | Awesome Book News |
Ever since it was announced that Idris Elba had joined the cast of Star Trek Beyond, details on who he plays has been kept tightly under wraps. We have been told nothing more than that his character would be the antagonist of the new Star Trek sequel. But now Idris is finally talking about his role in the upcoming threequel, albeit in vague terms. Elba promises that his Star Trek Beyond villain character will have an interesting complex journey and be an groundbreaking twist on the classic Star Trek villain.
MTV talked to Idris Elba while the actor was doing press for Beasts of No Nation, and first the first time spoke on the record about his upcoming role as the villain in Star Trek Beyond:
“Simon [Pegg] and the team have written a very interesting, complex journey for my character. You’ve never seen me play a character like this. … I think ’Star Trek’ has prided themselves as being quite classic when it comes to villains, like ’he’s a guy who wants to end the world,’ there’s no doubt about that. But in this version of the film, there’s a slightly different twist to that. It’s quite an interesting journey, which I think is groundbreaking for the franchise. But, it still keeps with the ’classic bad guy is a classic bad guy’ tone.”
Now there are a few things to unpack from this quote:
- His character has “a very interesting, complex journey.”
- In this film his villain has a “slightly different twist” on the classic Star Trek villain that is “groundbreaking for the franchise.”
He seems to suggest his character isn’t a “classic Star Trek villain” but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a character we’ve seen before in Star Trek history. Although, you’d think after the Star Trek Into Darkness Khan reaction that they would have decided to change focus on an original villain in this third film.
The early rumors suggested that Klingons would be the main villains in this movie. Those classic Trek aliens have not really had a big presence in previous installments, but writer/co-star Simon Pegg has been quoted as saying that Idris isn’t playing a Klingon. Of course, Pegg laughed and jokingly added a “Or maybe he will,” so we don’t know if thats a real denial of any sort. Remember, this is the same guy who insisted that those Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Khan rumors were just “a myth.”
Idris also told MTV that he has been working “18-hour days” which could suggest that he is spending some time in the make-up chair at the start and end of each filming day. So I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Elba is playing a different more complex take on a Klingon villain from the series.
‘Star Trek Beyond’ Villain Is A Groundbreaking Twist For The Franchise
by Stone Marshall | Oct 15, 2015 | Awesome Book News |
The new Spider-Man reboot will be very different from its predecessors, according to writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The duo recently teased several details about the upcoming movie’s plot, confirming that fans shouldn’t expect just another retelling of the hero’s origin story.
The movie is still in the “extremely early” stages, but it’s slowly starting to take shape. As expected, the film will focus on a young Peter Parker (played by British actor Tom Holland) who is struggling to figure out how to deal with his abilities, while also facing plenty of high school issues. This time around though, audiences won’t be seeing the all-too-familiar story of how Peter got his powers.
“I think that everybody feels like we know he got bit by a spider and know that Uncle Ben died and we probably don’t need to revisit that,” Goldstein told Grantland’s Andy Greenwal in a new interview, captured in the video above.
Instead, the film will focus on capturing Peter as a real high school student, who is struggling equally with navigating his teenage life and his superhero identity. “We want to explore that. Just because you get superpowers doesn’t make you into a sophisticated, successful adult,” Goldstein stated. “He’s still a kid and he’s clumsy and he’s a geek and he’s a bit of an outcast and in many ways the superpowers amplify that and exacerbate his trying to fit in.”
This new emphasis on Peter’s high school experience – and not just his superhero one – is what made finding a younger star like Holland so important. “It’ll be a fun departure from the Peter Parker that you’ve seen where now, he is truly a kid,” Daley explained. “And I think the stakes are increased in that his struggle through high school is very real and isn’t just a sort of side note. It matters now.”
Why Marvel’s New ‘Spider-Man’ Will Not Be What You Expect
