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Review: With ‘Pikmin 4,’ Nintendo finally nails the right controls for a strategy game

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

Whenever anyone says you can’t do a real-time strategy game on consoles, the obvious answer to that is “Pikmin.” Nintendo’s series about Lilliputian spacefarers who crash land on an Earth-like planet has been captivating fans since the GameCube.The plots are generally the same. Explorers end up as castaways on a mysterious planet dubbed PNF-404, and they have to find a way to return home. That’s easier said than done, though, because the environment is hostile from the fauna all the way to the environment, with oxygen levels toxic to the space travelers.PIKMIN SOLVE A LOT OF PROBLEMSThe solution for the explorers is Pikmin, diminutive creatures that are a cross between a sprout and an ant. Spacefarers can control them and they quickly find out that alone they’re weak, but under a leader, they become a formidable swarm capable of taking down bigger creatures and lifting heavy objects.The original “Pikmin” laid a solid foundation and eac...

This week in SF Giants baseball: Shohei Ohtani, Bruce Bochy and a tough stretch of opponents

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

Starting this weekend, when Bruce Bochy’s Texas Rangers come to town, the San Francisco Giants won’t face an opponent with a losing record for the next three weeks.On the bright side, they also don’t leave California, except for a six-day stretch, until September. After a grueling first-half travel schedule — more air miles than any other club — they have only two trips left east of the Rockies.So, is the toughest part of the schedule behind them, or ahead?“They’re both challenging in different ways,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We’ve played good baseball against teams with winning records. All of the challenges, they’re significant but also ones that we can and have overcome.”Perhaps the tick up in competition is a good thing.After dropping both games against the A’s over the weekend, Giants players were left just as dumbfounded as anyone about their inexplicable struggles against bad teams. They are 34-27 against clubs with winning re...

San Jose: Homicide detectives investigating stabbing deaths of woman, great-grandchild at apartment

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

SAN JOSE — Homicide detectives continue to investigate the stabbing deaths of an elderly woman and her great-grandchild whose bodies were found in an apartment Friday following a police welfare check, authorities said.San Jose police officers were called at 10:06 a.m. Friday to an apartment in the 1600 block of Parkmoor Avenue, site of the Vista luxury apartment complex, after being asked to check on the welfare of at least one resident.They discovered two bodies, of the woman and child. After the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office was summoned, police declared they were homicide victims. Monday, police said both had been stabbed at least once.Their names have not been publicly disclosed pending their formal identification and notification of their next of kin by the coroner’s office.Authorities confirmed that the victims were an elderly woman and her great-grandchild, but released no other details. A message from the apartment complex sent to ten...

Man dies after being rescued from water near Harbor Bay in Alameda

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

(KRON) -- One man died at a hospital Sunday following a heart attack be suffered after being pulled from the water off Bay Farm Island, an Alameda Fire Department spokesperson said Monday. Four people were rescued from the water near the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal Sunday afternoon, the Alameda Fire Department (AFD) said. One of the victims was suffering from cardiac arrest when firefighter found him on the shore, officials said. Crews performed CPR and took him to a nearby hospital where he later died. His name was not available Monday morning from the Alameda County coroner's bureau.AFD posted photos of the rescue (below).(Alameda Fire Department)(Alameda Fire Department)(Alameda Fire Department)(Alameda Fire Department)AFD deployed rescue swimmers and found three other male victims in the water. Officials said they were approxiamtely 100 feet to several hundred yards off shore. Those three victims were taken to the hospital where they are being treated for non-life-threatening inju...

Book Review: ‘Disobedient’ deftly paints the inspiring story of artist Artemisia Gentileschi

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

“Disobedient” by Elizabeth Fremantle (Pegasus Books)Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting skills quickly surpass her father’s, but society dictates that as a woman, she must stay home and protect her virtue. Art — with its unsavory types and naked models — isn’t exactly fit for a good Roman Catholic girl. And when her painting tutor attacks her, it sets off a cascade of seemingly insurmountable problems and impossible choices.Author Elizabeth Fremantle deftly paints Artemisia’s painful but inspiring story in her latest biographical fiction, “Disobedient.” Having already established herself as a writer who champions powerful female leads, Fremantle fleshes out the 17th-century artist who defied the limits placed upon her and became one of the best painters of the Baroque period. The book starts off with a magical rendition of Artemisia’s childhood, the day she witnesses a beheading. It’s thrilling and wonderful to see the world from the eyes of 6-year-old Artemisia to open the story...

3 passengers dead after passenger bus crashes on Pennsylvania interstate, state police say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A passenger bus carrying up to 50 people crashed and hit another vehicle on a Pennsylvania interstate, killing three bus passengers, state police said.The wreck happened during heavy rain around 11:50 p.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 81 just north of Harrisburg, state police said. The bus drove off the roadway, struck an embankment and rolled onto its right side before hitting the back of a car that was stopped in the right lane of traffic, according to a crash report.The three passengers were declared dead at the scene, the police report said, and others suffered injuries that ranged from minor to severe. Matthew Oshiafi, a passenger on the bus, told Pennlive that he remembered a terrible screeching and shuddering before it crashed and flipped on its side. He said he was sitting in the last row of the bus that was covering a normal route between New York and Ohio.Oshiafi, 39, a New York City resident who was headed to Cincinnati to visit family, said the ...

USA TODAY SPORTS AFCA COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES POLL

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

USA TODAY SPORTS AFCA PRESEASON COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES POLL, Aug. 7, 2023.The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 with team’s records FROM LAST SEASON, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year’s final poll and first-place votes received.RecordPtsPvs1. Georgia (61)15-0164312. Michigan13-1151033. Alabama (4)11-2148954. Ohio State (1)11-2148545. LSU10-41294156. Southern California11-31228137. Penn State11-2118178. Florida State10-31145109. Clemson11-310781210. Tennessee11-2991611. Washington11-2941812. Texas8-58482513. Notre Dame9-48411814. Utah10-48391115. Oregon10-38201616. TCU13-2655217. Kansas State10-44401418. Oregon State10-33651719. Oklahoma6-7320NR20. North Carolina9-5315NR21. Wisconsin7-6309NR22. Mississippi8-5303NR23. Tulane12-2225924. Texas Tech8-5200NR25. Texas A&M5-7196NRDropped Out: No. 19 Mississippi State (9-4); No. 20 Troy (12-2); No. 21 UCLA (9-4); No. 22 Pittsburgh (9-4); No. 23 South Carolina (...

Mbappe’s standoff with PSG continues amid report that Neymar now wants to leave the French club

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

PARIS (AP) — As Kylian Mbappe’s transfer standoff with Paris Saint-Germain continues, it remains unclear if the star striker will even be in the squad when PSG begins its league season at home against Lorient on Saturday.And now Neymar’s future at the club suddenly looks uncertain as well. France’s leading sports daily L’Equipe reported on Monday evening that Neymar has told the club he wants to leave this summer, increasing the turmoil surrounding the defending French league champion. PSG said the club would not comment on Neymar’s situation, when contacted by The Associated Press. The 31-year-old Neymar, who joined for a world record fee of 222 million euros ($244 million) from Barcelona in 2017, is under contract until 2025. Mbappe, who also joined in 2017, wants to play for PSG this season and then leave on a free transfer once his contract runs out, when he could request a massive signing-on fee and a higher salary. He has been heavily linked with ...

“Su cuerpo flotaba en un canal”: así hallan a joven mexicana desaparecida en Alemania

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO – María Fernanda Sánchez Castañeda, la joven mexicana que cursaba estudios en Berlín, Alemania, fue encontrada muerta a dos semanas de su desaparición, sin que hasta el momento se conozca qué ocurrió con ella y sean numerosas las preguntas que surgen al respecto.El hallazgo de su cuerpo flotando en un canal de un barrio periférico fue comunicado el sábado de manera escueta por las autoridades alemanas y replicado en México por la secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, que ha reiterado su intención de seguir acompañando a los padres de la joven de 24 años, que había llegado a Berlín cinco meses antes.“La persona desaparecida fue encontrada sin vida por un transeúnte en el canal de Teltow en Adlershof esta tarde. De acuerdo con el conocimiento actual, no se puede asumir ninguna culpa de terceros. Nuestra Kripo [policía criminal] está investigando”, se indicó en Alemania en un mensaje en Twitter.Más tarde, las autoridades alemanas detallaron en un escueto...

Column: It’s not conference realignment. It’s consolidation and no one is safe in the dash for cash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:52 GMT

Don’t call it conference realignment. Call it college football consolidation. Recent history suggests few are safe from being the next to get squeezed out.And even if your school makes the cut it can come with a cost.What was once a Big Six in major college football conferences became a Power Five and is now down to four after the Big 12 and Big Ten, motivated by a dwindling pool of television network dollars, carved up the Pac-12 over the course of about 36 hours last week.The previous time college football lost a power conference was right before the Bowl Championship Series was transformed into the College Football Playoff in 2014. Don’t think it is a coincidence the latest hit came one year before the CFP — and the revenue it creates — expands.“Once USC and UCLA went to the Big Ten (last year), I knew this was all going to happen,” former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said. “We now have total chaos.”The Pac-whatever might survive, but it will never be the same.Trang...