Bewarethewumpus

Destiny’s main story isn’t the only thing getting a new chapter with the Taken King expansion. Another less well-known (but far better) Destiny tale has been given a conclusion, and it kicks ass.

To catch newcomers up: I’m talking about the legend of two weapons: Thorn and The Last Word. It’s a cool story that concerns the three men who used those guns, warriors named Jaren Ward, Dredgen Yor, and Shin Malphur. The story is buried in Destiny’s Grimoire cards and doesn’t actually appear in the game itself, but it’s a nice reward for anyone who goes paging through the game’s buried Grimoire.

I recounted the whole tale a few weeks ago, but here’s the short version: Shin Malphur was a young man living in a settlement called Palemon when a badass Guardian named Jaren Ward showed up. Ward was a force of light, an awesome dude who wore a gun called The Last Word on his hip. He eventually had a showdown with Palemon’s corrupt leader and killed him, then adopted Shin and rescued some of Palemon’s residents when some calamity burned the settlement to the ground.

While leading Shin and his friends to the safety of the Last City, their party was set upon by a man named Dredgen Yor, a powerful fallen Guardian who wielded the evil weapon Thorn. (Both The Last Word and Thorn are actual guns you can get in the game.) Yor killed Jaren Ward, but with the aid of Ward’s little robot Ghost, young Shin Malphur survived.

The rest of the story was left hazy. We knew that somewhere down the line, a fully grown Shin Malphur had a showdown with Dredgen Yor somewhere called Dwindler’s Ridge, with Malphur seeking vengeance for his slain mentor. During that showdown, Malphur echoed his former master’s challenge: “Yours, not mine,” presumably before blowing the villain away.

The actual events of that showdown have been a mystery… until now. In two new Taken King Grimoire cards collected over at Planet Destiny, the full tale has been revealed. And it rules.

First of all, there’s “Thorn 4,” a card detailing a conversation between Jaren Ward’s Ghost and Dredgen Yor immediately after Yor killed the Ghost’s master.

For reference, [u.1] is Ward’s Ghost, and [u.2] is Dredgen Yor.

Chapter Five: The Shadow And The Light

TYPE: Transcript.

DESCRIPTION: Conversation.
PARTIES: Two [2]. One [1] Ghost-type, designate [REDACTED] [u.1], One [1] Guardian-type, Class [REDACTED] [u.2] ASSOCIATIONS: Breaklands; Durga; Dwindler’s Ridge; Last Word; Malphur, Shin; North Channel; Palamon; Thorn; Velor; Ward, Jaren; WoS; Yor, Dredgen;
//AUDIO UNAVAILABLE//
//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS…/

[u.1:0.1] Such Darkness.
[u.2:0.1] Impressed?
[u.1:0.2] Far from it.
[u.2:0.2] To each their own.
[u.1:0.3] His Light is faded.
[u.2:0.3] His Light is gone.
[u.1:0.4] You are an infection.
[u.2:0.4] I am that which will cleanse.
[u.1:0.5] You are a monster.
[u.2:0.5] Heh. An old friend once saw me as the same. He was right, and, had we met earlier, so too would you be.
[u.1:0.6] You’d dare defend yourself – all you’ve done – as anything but monstrous?
[u.2:0.6] No more than a hurricane.
[u.1:0.7] Then you’re a force of nature?
[u.2:0.7] I am all that is right. You may not see it – for lack of looking, or blind ignorance – but I am all that is good.
[u.1:0.8] You’ve just murdered a good man.
[u.2:0.8] He shot first.
[u.1:0.9] Yet you stand.
[u.2:0.9] Guess he missed.
[u.1:1.0] He never misses.
[u.2:1.0] First time for everything.
[silence] [u.2:1.1] His cannon? Nice piece of hardware.
[u.2:1.2] Well-worn, but clean. Smooth hammer.
[u.1:1.1] It was his prize.
[u.2:1.3] Guess he put too much faith in the wrong steel.
[u.1:1.2] Is that where you’re faith lies, in steel?
[u.2:1.4] Not for some time. My steel is only an extension. My faith is in the shadow.
[u.1:1.3] Then my Light is an affront to all you are. I am your truest enemy.
[u.2:1.5] One of many.
[u.1:1.4] Would you end me?
[u.2:1.6] Not you. Not now.
[u.1:1.5] The shadow knows mercy.
[u.2:1.7] The shadow knows no such thing.
[u.1:1.6] Then what?
[u.2:1.8] The other.
[u.1:1.7] What other?
[u.2:1.9] The dead man’s charge.
[u.1:1.8] The boy?
[u.1:1.9] You’d end him as well?
[u.2:2.0] If it comes to that… We’ll see.
[u.1:2.0] I won’t let you have the child.
[u.2:2.1] Been long enough now, think maybe he’s a man.
[u.1:2.1] You cannot have him.
[u.2:2.2] Not yet.
[u.1:2.2] I won’t let you.
[u.2:2.3] That you could stop me is an amusing thought.
[silence] [u.2:2.4] Here.
[silence] [u.2:2.5] Take it.
[u.1:2.3] Why?
[u.2:2.6] Give the apprentice his master’s “sword.” It is a gift.
[u.1:2.4] You cannot have him.
[u.2:2.7] You fear for his Light?
[u.1:2.5] He…
[u.2:2.8] …is special.
[u.1:2.6] Yes.
[u.2:2.9] I am aware.
[u.1:2.7] You’re trying to tempt him. You’re feeding his anger.
[u.2:3.0] The gun is a memento, nothing more.
[u.1:2.8] You claim to be a vessel, a hollow shell where once a man stood, but that is just a lie. The man is still in you.
[u.2:3.1] There is no man here, I am now, and for the rest of time, only Dredgen Yor.
[u.1:2.9] “The Eternal Abyss?”
[u.2:3.2] So, not all the forgotten languages are dead.
[u.1:3.0] Hide behind whatever titles you wish, it is all still a façade. No force of nature would play such games.
[u.2:3.3] Games?
[u.1:3.1] The cannon. You wish to tempt the boy. Too spur him on and fuel his rage. There is intent there. The actions of a man, monstrous, mad or otherwise… you are nothing more.
[u.2:3.4] And what value does your conclusion bring, flawed as it may be?
[u.1:3.2] That a hurricane can only be weathered, not stopped. Not redirected. A force of nature is uncaring and without intent, but a man…
[u.2:3.5] Yes?
[u.1:3.3] A man is none of those things.
[silence] [u.1:3.4] A man can be killed.
[silence] [u.2:3.6] And there it is…
[u.1:3.5] There what is…?

[u.2:3.7] A sliver of hope.

We know that Jaren Ward’s ghost did indeed go back to young Shin and deliver the weapon, The Last Word.

What then? Well, a second new Grimoire card called “The Last Word 4” reveals that Dredgen Yor was actually responsible for Palemon’s destruction, confirms beyond all doubt that it was Thorn’s wielder who killed Jaren Ward, and recounts the story of the climactic showdown at Dwindler’s Ridge in extremely awesome detail.

Chapter Six: The Showdown At Dwindler’s Ridge

Then.

Palamon was ash.

I was only a boy – my face caked in soot, snot and sorrow.

I’d assumed Jaren, my friend, our Guardian, the savior of Palamon, would always protect us – could always save us…

But I was a fool.

Jaren, and the others, only a handful, but still our best hunters, our hardest hearts, had left three suns prior. Tracking Fallen, after the bandits had caused a stir.

The stranger – the other – arrived the following day.

He rarely spoke. Took a room. Took our hospitality.

I was intrigued by him, as I was Jaren when he’d first arrived.

But the stranger was cold. Distant. Damaged, I thought.

But I wasn’t afraid. Not yet.

Only a child, I knew the monsters of our world to walk like men, but they were not. They were something alien. Four-armed and savage.

The stranger was polite, but solemn.

I took him for a sad, broken man, and he was. Though, at the time, I didn’t understand how that could make one dangerous.

As with Jaren, father made an effort to keep me away from the stranger.

It wouldn’t matter.

As the silhouette approached, fear held tight.

The dark figure towered over me. Looking into me – through me.

He smiled. My knees weak. All lost.

Then, he turned and walked away.

Leaving ruin and a heartbroken, terrified boy in his wake without a second glance.

I’ve been chasing that stranger’s shadow ever since.

Now.

We stood silent, the sun high.

Seconds passed, feeling more like hours.

He looked different.

He seemed, now, to be weightless – effortless in an existence that would crush a man burdened by conscience.

My gaze remained locked as I felt a heat rising inside of me.

The other spoke…

“Been awhile.”

I gave no reply.

“The gunslinger’s sword… his cannon. That was a gift.”

My silence held as my thumb caressed the perfectly worn hammer at my hip.

“An offering from me… to you.”

The heat grew. Centered in my chest.

I felt like a coward the day Jaren Ward died and for many cycles after.

But here, I felt only the fire of my Light.

The other probed…

“Nothing to say?”

He let the words hang.

“I’ve been waiting for you. For this day.”

His attempt at conversation felt mundane when judged against all that had come before.

“Many times I thought you’d faltered. Given up…”

All I’d lost, all who’d suffered, flashed rapid through my mind, intercut with a dark silhouette walking toward a frightened, weak, coward of a boy.

The fire burned in me.

The other continued…

“But here you are. This is truly an end…”

As his tongue slipped between syllables my gun hand moved as if of its own will.

Reflex and purpose merged with anger, clarity and an overwhelming need for just that… an end.

In step with my motion, the fire within burst into focus – through my shoulder, down my arm – as my finger closed on the trigger of my third father’s cannon.

Two shots. Two bullets engulfed in an angry glow.

The other fell.

I walked to his corpse. He never raised his cursed Thorn – the jagged gun with the festering sickness.

I looked down at the dead man who had caused so much death.

My shooter still embraced by the dancing flames of my Light.

A sadness came over me.

I thought back to my earliest days. Of Palamon. Of Jaren.

Leveling my cannon at the dead man’s helm, I paid one final tribute to my mentor, my savior, my father and my friend…

“Yours… Not mine.”

…as I closed my grip, allowing Jaren’s cannon, now my own, to have the last, loud word.

.......

............

....Fuck. Yes.

Now we know how the story ended, and what really happened at Dwindler’s Ridge. Can’t say I’m not satisfied.

To contact the author of this post, write to kirk@kotaku.com.

Big thanks to Kevin Pennyfeather for the heads up.

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Mark Walton

Nintendo has promoted Tatsumi Kimishima, 65, to the position of company president. The unlikely promotion of Kimishima, who was formerly the company's head of human resources, follows the death of Satoru Iwata, who passed away in July aged just 55. Wii architect Genyo Takeda and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the latter of whom was widely tipped to take on the role, had been serving as caretaker leaders in the interim.

While Kimishima's promotion might come as something of a surprise, he has held several high-profile positions at Nintendo. In 2000 he was hired as as CFO of The Pokémon Company, before serving as President of Nintendo of America between 2002 and 2006 following the release of the poorly received GameCube in 2001. Kimishima also played an instrumental role in the Wii's stateside success.

Tatsumi Kimishima takes on the role of Nintendo president.

That said, unlike Iwata, Kimishima does not come from a technical or developer background. Part of the reason Iwata was so loved by those inside and outside of the company was because of his love of games, and his keen understanding of what made them tick. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer," Iwata famously said.

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Wikimedia Foundation

Scientific publisher Elsevier has donated 45 free ScienceDirect accounts to "top Wikipedia editors" to aid them in their work. Michael Eisen, one of the founders of the open access movement, which seeks to make research publications freely available online, tweeted that he was "shocked to see @wikipedia working hand-in-hand with Elsevier to populate encylopedia w/links people cannot access," and dubbed it "WikiGate." Over the last few days, a row has broken out between Eisen and other academics over whether a free and open service such as Wikipedia should be partnering with a closed, non-free company such as Elsevier.

Eisen's fear is that the free accounts to ScienceDirect will encourage Wikipedia editors to add references to articles that are behind Elsevier's paywall. When members of the public seek to follow such links, they will be unable to see the article in question unless they have a suitable subscription to Elsevier's journals, or they make a one-time payment, usually tens of pounds for limited access.

Eisen went on to tweet: "@Wikipedia is providing free advertising for Elsevier and getting nothing in return," and that, rather than making it easy to access materials behind paywalls, "it SHOULD be difficult for @wikipedia editors to use #paywalled sources as, in long run, it will encourage openness." He called on Wikipedia's co-founder, Jimmy Wales, to "reconsider accommodating Elsevier's cynical use of @Wikipedia to advertise paywalled journals." His own suggestion was that Wikipedia should provide citations, but not active links to paywalled articles.

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A prototype of the Invizbox Go, a portable Wi-Fi privacy device that can connect to public Wi-Fi and act as a Tor or VPN gateway.

Invizbox Ltd.

Over the past year, there has been a burst of crowd-funded efforts to provide simple, inexpensive privacy solutions for computer and mobile device users without the need to install or maintain software. These hardware devices, based on low-cost, system-on-chip hardware (and in some cases, simply on rebranded off-the-shelf Wi-Fi routers) have gotten a mixed welcome from security and networking experts; while they have made it easier for people with little computer skill to connect to the Tor anonymizing network or to virtual private networks, they have as a class been inconsistent in just how easy they make it—and just how anonymous they make their users. Now another crowd-funded effort from the team behind one of the more credible previous efforts is looking to fix some of those shortcomings.

Back in April, Ars performed a head-to-head test of two devices that promised automatic anonymity for their users from any device: palm-sized Wi-Fi "travel routers" designed to tunnel traffic over the Tor anonymizing network, and found they worked as advertised, but came with (at least) one big handicap. Both devices, the Anonabox and Invizbox, required a physical connection to an Ethernet network for Internet access. Given that it's increasingly rare to find an Ethernet port while traveling and that the majority of privacy problems occur when the only thing available is someone else's Wi-Fi network, that gap makes pocket Tor routers pretty much useless as protection when people need it the most, limiting their appeal.

The Irish startup behind the Invizbox— Invizbox Ltd, founded by Elizabeth Canavan, Paul Canavan, and Chris Monks—recognized those shortcomings fairly early. Now they've come up with a solution: the Invizbox Go, a mobile device that acts as a security gateway to Wi-Fi networks for computers and mobile devices. Launching as a Kickstarter project today, Invizbox Go is currently in the prototype stage and is expected to ship in February. It builds on the work done with Invizbox to deliver what could be a much more complete answer to mobile anonymity than most of the other options currently available, in part because it doesn't totally put its eggs all in the Tor basket.

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It's the second Monday of previews, and that means it's time for us to look deeply into the gorgeous basic land art that we have in store this time around.

However, this being Zendikar, and Zendikar meaning full-art lands, I know you're all anticipating this installment a little bit more eagerly than most. And rightfully so, as the lands are—well, I'll let some of the art speak for itself.

Island | Art by Tianhua X

It takes a lot to displace the bowl Island as my favorite piece of land art, but this masterful vista might do just that. And speaking of the bowl Island. . .

Island | Art by Vincent Proce

That isn't a tease or a callback—that is actual art you can find in Battle for Zendikar packs. One of the cool things the art team did this time around was keep five of the pieces of art from the original Zendikar full-art lands and reuse them among the new pieces, one for each basic land type. Here are those five.

But what about the new-art lands? Well, those look a little something like this:

I don't know about you, but I'm excited for another generation of full-art lands, and these certainly live up to the originals. You'll be able to get these, as well as fourteen other cards that, ya know, do things, when Battle for Zendikar releases on October 2.

In his excellent article on the unique guilt-by-association standard being imposed on newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, my colleague Jon Schwarz references a passage from a 2013 Washington Post article that I want to highlight because of how illuminating it is. That Post article describes the Obama administration’s growing alliance with human-rights-abusing regimes in Africa, which allow the U.S. to expand its drone operations there, and contains this unusually blunt admission from a “senior U.S. official” (emphasis added):

Human-rights groups have also accused the U.S. government of holding its tongue about political repression in Ethiopia, another key security partner in East Africa.

“The countries that cooperate with us get at least a free pass,” acknowledged a senior U.S. official who specializes in Africa but spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. “Whereas other countries that don’t cooperate, we ream them as best we can.”

The Post article went on to note that the Bush administration “took the same approach,” and that while “many U.S. diplomats and human-rights groups had hoped Obama would shift his emphasis in Africa from security to democracy … that has not happened.” In fact, “‘There’s pretty much been no change at all,’ the official said. ‘In the end, it was an almost seamless transition from Bush to Obama.'”

The post Two Short Paragraphs That Summarize the U.S. Approach to Human Rights Advocacy appeared first on The Intercept.

The first of three episodes of Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma [official site], telling the story of a robot samurai with the face of a bear from your nightmares, is coming to Windows on September 22nd.

A spin-off of Takashi Okazaki’s original manga, Revenge of Kuma follows the antics of the cybernetic bear dude Kuma, who at one point was a human guy and best friend to the titular Afro Samurai. Kuma – who, confusingly, is also known as Jinno – is now after poor Afro to avenge the death of his adopted little sister. Look, it makes sense if you played the first game.

… [visit site to read more]

Hovertext: I don't get helicopter parenting. Gliding drones can stay up WAY LONGER without refueling.

Names have power, as proven here by Redditor cl0sure’s chosen moniker transforming a mild observation into an aggressive defense in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

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With the rise of digital publishing, running a fake journal for profit has become a viable business model.

State of Washington

Since Edward Snowden exposed the extent of online surveillance by the US government, there has been a surge of initiatives to protect users' privacy. But it hasn't taken long for one of these efforts—a project to equip local libraries with technology supporting anonymous Internet surfing—to run up against opposition from law enforcement.

In July, the Kilton Public Library in Lebanon, New Hampshire, was the first library in the country to become part of the anonymous Web surfing service Tor. The library allowed Tor users around the world to bounce their Internet traffic through the library, thus masking users' locations. Soon after, state authorities received an e-mail about it from an agent at the Department of Homeland Security.

"The Department of Homeland Security got in touch with our Police Department," said Sean Fleming, the library director of the Lebanon Public Libraries.

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Today in ‘things we wish Microsoft would ask really, really nicely about before they just went ahead and did it without telling us’, it’s Windows 7 & 8 quietly downloading Windows 10 for you, regardless of whether or not you intend to install it.
… [visit site to read more]

To mark today, September 11, 2015, I’ve put together a short quiz.

Photo: Brad Rickerby/Reuters /Landov

1. What is this?

A. The World Trade Center in flames on September 11, 2001.
B. A grotesque act of mass murder.
C. The start of a lifetime of suffering for everyone who loved someone who died at the World Trade Center.
D. AN OPPORTUNITY, AN ENORMOUS OPPORTUNITY!

The correct answer, obviously, is D.

“Through my tears I see opportunity.”
— George W. Bush, September 20, 2001

“If the collapse of the Soviet Union and 9/11 bookend a major shift in international politics, then this is a period not just of grave danger, but of enormous opportunity. Before the clay is dry again, America and our friends and our allies must move decisively to take advantage of these new opportunities.”
— Condoleezza Rice, April 29, 2002

Photo: Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images

2.  What is this?

A. The al Qaeda bombing of a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, on November 28, 2002.
B. The place where terrorists murdered 13 people, including Israeli brothers Noy and Dvir Anter, ages 12 and 13.
C. The location where, CNN reported, “screaming children covered in blood searched desperately for their parents amid the wreckage.”
D. A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!

Again, of course, the answer is D.

“Israeli officials view last week’s terrorist attacks … as reinforcing their argument that Israel and the West are battling a single enemy. Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting with ministry staff in the aftermath of the Kenya attacks, said that the incidents had presented Israel with a ‘golden opportunity’ to strengthen its strategic ties with the United States and other Western countries.”
— The Forward, December 6, 2002

Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images

3. What is this?

A. Five-year-old Iraqi Samar Hassan, covered in her parents’ blood shortly after they were killed by U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint in 2005.
B. The reason why Hassan now says: “I always dream about my father and mother.”
C. Something every American should be atoning for until the day we die.
D. A GOLDEN AND UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!

The correct answer is D. Duh.

“Targeting America in Iraq in terms of economy and losses in life is a golden and unique opportunity. Do not waste it only to regret it later.”
— Osama bin Laden, December, 2004

Probably my point here is clear. But I will go ahead and spell it out.

For normal people, terrorism and wars are purely and only tragedies.

For our would-be “leaders,” however — in every country — the situation is different. Of course, they pretend to feel the same as normal people. They give teary-eyed speeches about sorrow and suffering.

And yet, behind their tears, there seems to be something else. When they think no one is looking, you glimpse another expression flitting across their face. You think it couldn’t be. But — yes, incredibly enough, they’re smiling. Because before the bodies are cold, before the mothers and fathers have stopped shrieking, our leaders are thinking:

This is really a fantastic opportunity.

And for them, it is. It’s an opportunity for them to do whatever they wanted to do before, but couldn’t get away with. It’s an opportunity for them to smear anyone who criticizes them as disloyal. It’s an opportunity for them to become much more powerful than they ever could be in peacetime, to implement whatever their favorite shock doctrine is. Leaders love war. That’s why there’s so much of it.

It’s understandably hard for most people to come to terms with this. It’s terrifying to believe your leaders may secretly be, uh, not so sad if you die. But all you have to do is listen to them, and they’ll tell you.

Can we change this? Maybe. But the first step in changing reality is facing it, no matter how ugly and frightening it is.

Caption: Second World Trade Tower photo retouched for dust and scratches. 

The post An “Enormous Opportunity”: A Short, Awful 9/11 Quiz appeared first on The Intercept.

Glen Keane, known for animating characters in the Disney films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Tarzan, equips a virtual reality device to draw in three-dimensional space.

The press has become more aggressive about reporting on national security in the post-Snowden world, ranking House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff said Thursday.

Speaking to a convention of government contractors, the California Democrat attributed the change partly to “less confidence or trust” in the government, and partly to a “rush to publish.”

“One of the dynamics that has really changed post-Snowden is the conversations that traditionally have taken place between the media and the intelligence community — when the media has a story, and they go to the IC and say we’re going to run with this story, and there’s a discussion of, OK, what impact would that have, and the newspaper’s willingness to effectively self censor, not publish out of the public interest — I think that dynamic has changed,” Schiff said during a roundtable discussion at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Top-secret documents turned over to journalists by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the vast scope of the U.S. surveillance apparatus.

“The celebrity, for lack of a better word, that’s been attributed to Snowden encourages other people to make disclosures, and this is a great challenge,” Schiff said.

The conference, which was only opened to the press and the public two years ago, is co-hosted by AFCEA, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, and INSA, the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, both of which function to connect government and industry on issues of defense, intelligence, and national security.

Moderator David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, said his own and other traditional media outlets like the Washington Post still have “a good dynamic back and forth” with the intelligence community. “The difference is many more media players now,” he said. “Wikileaks isn’t going to have that phone call, a blogger isn’t going to have that phone call — and probably wouldn’t get that phone call returned. The game is being played at a far more complex level.”

Schiff said that the intelligence community now functions under the assumption that everything will ultimately be disclosed. “The allegations regarding Angela Merkel’s cell phone — and I can only say allegations — were a real tipping point in terms of compelling policymakers and members of the intelligence community to think long and hard about the risks of disclosure,” Schiff said on a panel with the committee’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

The ever-present risk of disclosure “puts real constraints” on what the intelligence community does, he said, “some which may be useful, others which may ultimately be harmful in terms of national security.”

The post Intelligence Overseer Says Press Is More Aggressive Post Snowden appeared first on The Intercept.

The directors of the FBI, CIA, NSA, NGO, DIA, and NRO stand for a group picture with Fox News' Catherine Herridge (second from left) and executives of INRA and AFCEA at the conclusion of their panel discussion at the Intelligence & National Security Summit in Washington on September 10.

Sean Gallagher

WASHINGTON, DC – On a stage in a ballroom in the Walter Washington Convention Center on September 10, the heads of the United States' intelligence community gathered to talk about the work their agencies perform and the challenges they face—or at least as much as they could in an unclassified environment. But the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency also had one particular mission in mind as they took the stage at the Intelligence & National Security Summit, an industry event largely attended by government officials and contractors: stopping the poisoning of the public debate around their missions, and especially around the issue of encryption, by unreasonable haters.

CIA Director John Brennan suggested that negative public opinion and "misunderstanding" about the US intelligence community is in part "because of people who are trying to undermine" the mission of the NSA, CIA, FBI and other agencies. These people "may be fueled by our adversaries," he said.

FBI Director James Comey referred to the backlash against his lobbying for backdoors into encrypted communications provided by the technology industry as "venom and deep cynicism" that are making a rational discussion about what could and should be done nearly impossible.

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Today, the Pokémon Company unveiled its latest Pocket Monster experience. It’s called Pokemon Go.

“The day has finally come when Pokémon appear in the real world,” Pokémon designer Junichi Masuda said of the ambitious project.

Here’s the debut trailer.

The game is being developed by Niantic, a former Google start up known for it’s augmented reality smartphone game Ingress.

Niantic says it is working closely with the Pokémon Company and Nintendo to make a brand new style of Pokémon game. The idea is that players go outside, get some fresh air, and capture Pokemon at the same time.

The Pokémon Company has been working on the game for the past few years alongside Nintendo. At today’s press conference, Pokémon Go’s debut trailer was dedicated to Satoru Iwata.

There is also a watch-like peripheral (mostly worked on by Nintendo) for the game called Pokémon Go Plus that allows you to basic things like throw a Poké Ball. It pairs with your phone and has a rumble and flash feature when you come across or interact with a Pokemon in the real world. The idea is that you can enjoy the world around you, instead of focusing only on your phone.

According to Shigeru Miyamoto, Pokémon Go Plus reminds him of Pokémon Snap. Miyamoto added that he likes the idea of kids wearing the Pokémon Go Plus that is paired with a parent’s phone. That way kids and parents can play Pokémon Go together.

In the past, Pokémon games have been based loosely on real world maps, so as Pokémon Company boss Tsunekazu Ishihara pointed out in an announcement conference, it makes sense to bring Pokémon to the real world with AR.

This won’t necessarily be a standalone title. “I’m thinking about how this game will connect with titles in the main series of Pokémon games,” Masuda told the audience.

Pokémon Go is for both Android and iOS, and is slated for release in 2016.

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft.

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