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(08/23/07 4:00am)
After a three-year absence, 2K Sports has returned to the gridiron with its first effort since the NFL signed an exclusivity contract with EA's Madden franchise.\nBut with more than 200 former NFL stars on board and a ton of options to customize your teams, if you really miss the things the NFL license brings to the table, they're not that hard to recreate.\n"All-Pro Football 2K8" begins with you naming your team, stadium and selecting 11 legends that will make up your roster. \nThere's a ton of stuff to do here, and hard-core football fans will have a field day building the ultimate dream team, but it's unfortunate that there's such a limited number of players to choose from.\nThough missing the ESPN license from the highly-regarded "NFL 2K5," "All-Pro Football 2K8" hardly misses a beat with an excellent TV-style presentation. \nAnd though the commentary from Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe is solid (and much less senile than Madden's rants), all too often it can't keep up with the action, and several of the lines have been ripped from the three-year-old spiritual prequel, making the commentary stale from the very first game for 2K vets.\nFor some reason, the developers also decided to take a near-perfect control system and needlessly complicate it. Running now involves either holding the A button to charge it, or tapping it to sprint, which is downright annoying during long runs.\nKicking has also been complicated with a system similar to Madden's "Kick Stick," but with much trickier timing.\nOverall, the controls feel much stiffer, which has also resulted in a much more difficult passing game. Some might argue that's realistic, but when John Elway is throwing two or three interceptions per game, something is seriously wrong.\nThen there's the season mode itself, which lasts exactly one season. That might not be so bad if there were as many unlockables as in past 2K football games, but that feature which added so much replay value to those other titles, has been stripped down a few trophies and achievements.\n"2K8" is not a horrible football game, but like most athletes to come out of retirement, it's a mere shadow of its former glory. I would recommend this one for the hard-core football fan only.
(07/26/07 4:00am)
Though it's taken nearly two decades for the Simpson family to hit the big screen, Springfield's favorite family has had a strong presence in the world of video gaming since the days of the NES. Unfortunately, there is an unmistakable cone of suckiness surrounding most of these games. Still, the following three games are perfectly cromulent pieces of Simpsons software.\n3. "The Simpsons: Bartman meets Radioactive Man" (NES, 1992) -- Time has not been kind to early Simpsons games. This is not the best NES game, or even in the top 100, but of the three Simpsons games released on the NES (the others being "Bart vs. The Space Mutants" and "Bart vs. The World), it is the most fun. Released late in the console's life cycle, the graphics and sound were actually pretty decent for their time, and though it was definitely difficult, it wasn't as frustrating as the other two games. "Up and at them!"\n2. "The Simpsons" (Arcade, 1991) -- Who doesn't have fond memories of this game? Nearly every mall, Pizza Hut and hotel has had this at one time or another, and I've spent a good $100 over the years playing it. To this day, it's still fun as hell to help the Simpsons rescue Maggie from Mr. Smithers. Sure, tons of games were released at the time that played exactly like it, but only this one let you fight a bear as Homer Simpson. It's a real shame it has never been ported to consoles. Whoever owns the rights, please bring this to Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Store!\n1. "The Simpsons Hit & Run" (2003, Xbox, PS2, GCN) -- Who knew it was so easy to make a good Simpsons game? Just take Grand Theft Auto and insert the Simpsons into it. While it won't win any points for originality, "Hit & Run" does get credit for being the first (and to date only) game to really get the humor of the show, with references to tons of episodes made up to this point and appearances by nearly every notable character. Hell, this isn't just the best Simpsons game ever made, it's better than the past five years of the show.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
There's a new king of first-person shooters on Xbox 360 and it's called "The Darkness."\nBased on the comic book of the same name, "The Darkness" is the story of mob hit man Jackie Estacado, who on his 21st birthday discovers he is heir to an ancient power that can crush his enemies and summon demon-like entities, among other abilities.\nThe basic shooting mechanics are a little bland, but what really makes the game shine are the Darkness powers.\nKnocking out a few lights, summoning a kamikaze darkling to open up a new path and then sending a tentacle into the next room to rip out a mobster's heart is unlike anything you've done in a game before.\nThe Darkness creature pulsates around Jackie like some kind of ethereal black snake, and the whole thing takes place in one of the most beautifully gritty cities this side of "Grand Theft Auto."\nOn the downside, however, it's a little too easy to get lost and not know what you're supposed to do next.\nFor the completionist, there are 100 collectables to find, a ton of pop culture references (one near the beginning of the game to the Tool song "Rosetta Stoned" especially brought a smile to my face).\nAnd if searching for all the game's secrets ever gets boring, in a technical marvel, TVs throughout the game world play a handful of classic movies in their entirety, such as "To Kill a Mockingbird."\nTop that off with an atmospheric soundtrack that knows exactly when to sound like a horror film and when to sound like a mob epic, and you've got the total package.\n"The Darkness" is a ray of hope during the summer months when quality game releases tend to drop off. Definitely check it out.
(06/21/07 4:00am)
I am excited to play Pac-Man again.\nI can barely believe it, but "Pac-Man Championship Edition" makes the nearly three-decade-old game new and fun to play again.\nLike the original, "Championship Edition" boils down to eating power pellets while chasing and being chased around a maze by ghosts.\nBut the action is kicked up a notch when the maze is constantly changing every time Pac-Man eats more fruit.\nAnd instead of having a set number of lives, the five modes here are timed, with the action getting faster and faster as the clock winds down.\nIt makes for an incredibly frantic experience akin to another Arcade hit, "Geometry Wars." \nAdd in some slightly updated graphics and a cool new electronica soundtrack, and you've got one of the best downloadable games out there.\nOverseen by Toru Iwatani, the original creator of Pac-Man, this is the first true sequel to the game that actually adds a few meaningful twists to the Pac-Man formula while staying true to its roots.\nThis could have probably been a full retail release, and it would have been worth a budget price. At $10 it's a steal and one of the best exclusives on the Xbox 360.
(06/21/07 4:00am)
The Prince of Persia is back, for more adventures in buying blue carpeting and gold curtain rod.\nOK, maybe he's after a princess, but it would have been a lot more fun if this remake was based off that recent "South Park" episode.\n"Prince of Persia" has always been something of a thinking man's platformer.\nWhile Sonic has been all about speed and Mario about bouncing on the heads of as many freaky enemies as possible, the Prince has been about methodically making his way through a labyrinth of traps and enemies that take real strategy to beat.\n"Prince of Persia Classic" is a remake of the 18-year-old PC game using the same layout and 60-minute time limit, but with graphics similar to the modern "Sands of Time" trilogy.\nThat easily makes this one of the best-looking games on Xbox Live Arcade. But underneath the shiny new coat of paint, this is the same old game, just more frustrating than classic.\nThere's a reason other mascots like Sonic and Mario are much more recognizable today than the Prince -- it's a lot more fun to blast through a level as quickly as possible than die every two minutes on a bed of spikes that popped out of nowhere.\nAnd while the Prince's enemies might take strategy to beat, strategy easily turns into frustration when the same cheap bastard cuts you down with his scimitar 20 times in a row.\nDespite these issues, and maybe because of my masochistic nature, I still found myself coming back to the game, which is actually only about an hour long and doesn't offer much replay value beyond the nostalgia factor.\nIf this game were longer, or a little bit easier (like the "Sands of Times" games), it would be a lot of fun, but as it is you'd be much better off downloading that episode of "South Park" where the Persians take over the lesbian bar instead of spending your points on this.
(06/18/07 5:10am)
Six alumni, including the son of a current trustee, an international consultant and a law student, are vying for an open slot on the IU board of trustees.\nAll alumni are eligible to vote in the election via mail until June 30, when the votes will be tallied.\nWith a new University president taking office July 1, the recent outsourcing of the IU motor pool and bookstore and an ongoing debate about raising admission standards, the trustee candidates agree this is an important election.\nTrustee Sue Talbot is seeking a third term on the board this year.\nIn an e-mail, she defended the decision to outsource the motor pool and bookstore because current University employees will be able to keep their current benefits and positions under those plans.\n“We are facing an $80 million shortfall in health care costs and $50 million in operational costs,” she said. “Our fiduciary responsibility demands that we seek out ways to provide these important benefits to our employees and students.”\nSteven A. Miller, senior vice president of Northern Trust Global Advisors, Inc. and IU treasurer for nearly 14 years, believes his understanding of University finances will benefit the board.\nOutsourcing, he says, needs to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.\n“The criteria should be whether the outsourcing provides a net long-term financial benefit to the University,” he said in an e-mail. “I feel strongly that any outsourcing arrangement should have a verifiable benefit, should do everything possible to protect affected IU employees and provide clear provisions to terminate the agreement if it does not work out.”\nTuition increases are inevitable, he said, and so IU must look to sources other than the state and students for funding.\n“The University must find other sources of revenue, including fundraising, research grants and leveraging technology to partner with industry,” he said.\nLaw student Tyler Daniel Helmond is seeking a seat on the board because he believes trustees are out of touch with the needs of students and alumni.\n“I think there is very little question that IU’s reputation has declined,” he said in an e-mail. “The Indianapolis Star has reported on an IU degree program that grants a bachelor’s degree to out-of-state community college students after only one year of IU study. The trustees have done nothing to combat diluted requirements that hurt our reputation for producing outstanding graduates.”\nHelmond said that, if elected, he will work to raise the University’s standards for achievement, which he believes would also encourage alumni to donate more money to IU.\nHe said it is too early to see what impact outsourcing will have on IU, but as a labor studies major, he has a good understanding of what such decisions can mean to employees.\n“I think the board failed to calculate the intangible costs in executing the outsourcing agreement. Book and apparel prices are likely to rise,” he said. \nRecent search committees, such as the one that selected Interim Provost Michael McRobbie as IU’s 18th president, have been criticized by groups such as the IU Student Association as lacking student involvement.\nHelmond says he will vote for all such committees to contain one-third students.\n“Students have some of the best insight and instinct when it comes to making these decisions and the current board has locked them out of any meaningful participation,” he said.\nTalbot, who chaired the presidential search committee, which was criticized by some Bloomington students for having only a grad student from the South Bend campus on it, defended that decision.\nShe noted that the grad student, Michael Renfrow, was chosen by the All University Student Association and went to all the IU campuses to get feedback from students.\n“As for the future of student involvement in search processes, when it applies to the specific campus and discipline that a student group (undergraduate or graduate) then yes, students should be considered for the committee,” she said.\nAllen Woodhouse, an international consultant, considers himself as the “only true reform candidate” for the board because he is not as closely connected to IU as some others seeking positions.\nHe said he does not oppose outsourcing that benefits IU and he also believes in more student involvement in search committees.\nPhil Eskew III, son of trustee Phil Eskew Jr., who is looking to follow in his father’s footsteps with a position on the board, has expressed concern with outsourcing in his biography on the trustees’ Web site www.alumni.indiana.edu/about/election.\nOn the page, he also said the University must remember to put students’ education ahead of monetary concerns.\nGreenfield, Ind., attorney Ray Richardson, who served on the board of trustees from 1992 until 2001, is seeking a return to reverse what he calls “several ill-advised board of trustee actions,” according to his biography on the trustees’ Web site.\nChief among Richardson’s concerns is the increasing enrollment of out-of-state students, which he claims is taking educational opportunities away from Hoosiers, according to his page.\nPhil Eskew III and Ray Richardson did not respond to requests seeking comment by press time.
(06/07/07 4:00am)
Damn those register monkeys at EBGames!" I bellowed as I put the shiny new DVD into my Xbox 360. "They gave me the first Forza instead of Forza 2!"\nOr so I thought as I played the first few races.\nAs far as sequels go, Forza 2 is more of a sidestep than any sort of evolution of the series. Several of the tracks and many of the cars from the first game are back again, the controls are exactly the same and hell, even the graphics are only marginally better than in the 2005 original.\nTo be fair, the first game was a fantastic driving simulator, at least on par with Sony's "Gran Turismo" series and even surpassed it in terms of accessibility and physics. But I had just hoped for a little bit more from second go-round (the first on Microsoft's next-gen system).\nThe tracks in the first game were great, but I would have preferred new ones instead. And while the game's career mode is lengthy, it again features a lot of the same class restrictions as the first one did. \nStill, it's not all bad. The extensive customization options are back, allowing you to slowly earn the credits to turn a four-cylinder POS into a 200-mph beast on the racetrack, complete with flame decals.\nIt's this RPG-like building process that makes "Forza 2" so satisfying, despite its shortcomings. And one of its few brand new features, an online auction house for buying and selling custom cars, only enhances this aspect of the game.\nIf you missed the first "Forza," this is a no-brainer; it's a great driving sim you need to try out. But if you played the hell out of the first one, you might be better off playing it a bit more until there's a price drop in the new one.
(06/04/07 1:55am)
While most authors might hope their books will become blockbusters, reaching thousands or even millions of people, Tom Plate wrote his latest book for one person – his daughter.\n“When she was growing up, my daughter noticed her dad was away a lot, so I thought, ‘Some day she’ll have this to look back at what her dad was doing,’” he said.\n“Confessions of an American Media Man” is the story of Plate’s decades-long career in journalism, from his college internship at the Washington Post, to the internationally-syndicated column on Asian relations he writes to this day.\nPlate doesn’t grind axes in the book. If there’s a story to be told about a former boss who he might portray in an unflattering way, he merely refers to them as a “Higher Authority,” which adds to the more casual tone of the writing.\nThough he’s currently a professor of communication and policy studies at UCLA, Plate made it clear this book is not for academics.\n“It’s written to be accessible, to be entertaining,” he said.\nHe intersperses tales of his career with thoughts about the current state and future of journalism.\nAmong his top concerns is corporate ownership of newspapers. Plate believes newspapers have special responsibilities they cannot live up to if stockholders only look at the bottom line and are willing to cut back on costs to make it.\n“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if a corporation insists on more than 10 percent profits, it should turn in its First Amendment right,” Plate said. “What differentiates newspapers from BMW, a cigarette company, a liquor company (or) a nut company is that they don’t get First Amendment protection.”\nNewspapers traditionally have much higher profit margins than other businesses. Many have 20 percent or greater returns, compared to 10 percent or less in many other industries.\nStill, Plate makes it clear he is not against newspapers making money.\n“I’m not against profits – I’m against profits at the cost of quality control,” he said.\nHe also criticizes objectivity, calling it “impossible to achieve.”\n“I’m not sure what objectivity means,” he said. “I think you can just use sources, be accurate and be fair in your reporting.”\nSubtitled “What they don’t tell you at Journalism School,” Plate’s book is also, not surprisingly, critical of journalism schools.\nPlate never attended journalism school, and after receiving his bachelor’s degree at Amherst College, went on to receive a master’s degree in U.S. foreign policy from Princeton, a degree not usually required in the media world.\nIn the book, he says the world is getting more complicated, and unless journalists become more educated about the world, they will be unable to accurately report about it.\n“Journalism school teaches you to ask the agricultural minister how corrupt he is and how long he’s been corrupt,” he said. “But the education I have teaches me ask, ‘How’s the agricultural plan going?’ and question-No. 7 I might say something about kickbacks from farmers. It’s a more professional and nuanced approach.”\nBut Plate’s book is also a cautionary tale. He warns that journalism is not for everyone, but it can be a fulfilling career for those who choose to pursue it.\n“The chances of having your heart broken are good, but try to do some good with it,” he said. “American journalism has a lot of leverage.”
(05/24/07 1:50pm)
IU’s board of trustees approved tuition increases for the next two years Monday.\nThe increase calls for in-state undergraduate tuition on the Bloomington campus to increase by 5.1 percent for the 2007-08 school year and by 5.3 percent for 2008-09 school year.\nOut-of-state undergraduate tuition on the Bloomington campus will rise by 9.2 percent for the 2007-08 school year and by 11.3 percent for the 2008-09 school year.\nThat means that for the next school year, Indiana students can expect to pay $7,837 in tuition, while out-of-state student tuition will go up to $22,316.\nAdditional increases were also approved for graduate and professional fees. \nMost of the money will go toward faculty salaries, which make up two-thirds of the University budget but are still rated ninth in the Big Ten, said IU President Adam Herbert.\n“We are in a very vulnerable position for faculty retainment,” he said.\nIn addition to fee increases for undergraduates enrolled in the Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music, the school of nursing will add a fee of $1,005 for the 2007-08 school year.\nThat fee will increase to $2,010 for the 2008-09 school year.\nSuch new fees are necessary for IU to meet the technological and facility needs of a modern research institution, said Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Judy Palmer.\n“Things are different today,” she said. “We have to realize that; we have to be able to fund that.”\nTrustee Tom Reilly agreed.\n“The nature of education is changing,” he said. “It’s becoming more expensive. Nurses need to know four times as much as they used to. Business is becoming more complicated.”\nThe tuition increase will also go toward rising energy and utility costs.\nPalmer noted that the traditional idea of universities being funded through a combination of state appropriations and tuition is changing, and IU may need to find other ways of meeting its financial needs, such as deals with business partners or greater reliance on research grants.\n“This is a dialogue that is starting to get national attention, and I hope Indiana University will be at the forefront of it,” she said.\nPurdue University voted last week to raise tuition 4.5 percent each year over the next two years, while Ball State University trustees voted to raise in-state tuition by 4.9 percent and out-of-state tuition by 6 percent for the same time period.\nThe board of trustees will next meet June 21 and 22 at IU-Northwest in Gary.
(05/22/07 8:10pm)
The IU Board of Trustees approved tuition increases for the next two years Monday.\nThe increase calls for in-state undergraduate tuition on the Bloomington campus to increase by 5.1 percent for the 2007-08 school year and by 5.3 percent for 2008-09 school year.\nOut-of-state undergraduate tuition on the Bloomington campus will rise by 9.2 percent for the 2007-08 school year and by 11.3 percent for the 2008-09 school year.\nThat means that for the next school year, Indiana students can expect to pay $7,837 in tuition, while out-of-state student tuition will go up to $22,316.\nAdditional increases were also approved for graduate and professional fees. \nMost of the money will go toward faculty salaries which make up two-thirds of the University budget, but are still rated ninth in the Big Ten, said IU President Adam Herbert.\n“We are in a very vulnerable position for faculty retainment,” he said.\nIn addition to fee increases for undergraduates enrolled in the Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music, the school of nursing will add a fee of $1,005 for the 2007-08 school year.\nThat fee will increase to $2,010 for the 2008-09 school year.\nSuch new fees are necessary for IU to meet the technological and facility needs of a modern research institution, said Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Judy Palmer.\n“Things are different today,” she said. “We have to realize that, we have to be able to fund that.”\nTrustee Tom Reilly agreed.\n“The nature of education is changing,” he said. “It’s becoming more expensive. Nurses need to know four times as much as they used to. Business is becoming more complicated.”\nThe tuition increase will also go toward rising energy and utility costs.\nPalmer noted that the traditional idea of universities being funded through a combination of state appropriations and tuition is changing and IU may need to find other ways of meeting its financial needs such as deals with business partners or greater reliance on research grants.\n“This is a dialogue that is starting to get national attention, and I hope Indiana University will be at the forefront of it,” she said.\nPurdue University voted last week to raise tuition 4.5 percent each year over the next two years, while Ball State University trustees voted to raise in-state tuition by 4.9 percent and out-of-state tuition by 6 percent for the same time period.\nThe board of trustees will next meet June 21 and 22 at IU-Northwest.
(05/21/07 12:55am)
Like many college students, senior Kelli Foster makes sure to catch the latest episodes of popular TV shows such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” each week.\nShe doesn’t, however, watch them when they’re first broadcast.\n“I DVR all my programs,” she said. “I just don’t have time to watch 50 minutes of commercials.”\nThe advent of new technologies such as digital video recorders is great for those who want to watch TV on their own schedules and without advertisements, but bad news for the networks trying to track viewers.\nThe four major networks – Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC – are \nattracting 2.5 million fewer viewers than they were at this time last year, according to an Associated Press article published earlier this month.\nThis spring, Nielson ratings are tracking homes that use DVRs for the first time, but viewings only count toward ratings if a program is watched within 24 hours of its recording.\nThat doesn’t necessarily mean people are watching less TV, however. Foster says she thinks she’s actually watching more TV now that she has a DVR.\n“It’s just more convenient to watch TV at my own pleasure instead of working around the network’s schedule,” she said.\nFurther reducing the number of TV viewers is the availability of programming online. Video sharing sites such as YouTube offer TV viewers thousands of new options from amateur directors around the world.\nIn addition, the site has been flooded with copyrighted clips of network programming, provoking a mixed reaction from the entertainment industry.\nIn March, Viacom Inc., which owns CBS and MTV among other TV networks, sued YouTube for $1 billion, claiming damages for copyright infringement.\nRather than fight such Web sites, ABC has begun offering full-length programs on its site the day after they are broadcast free of charge. The shows still contain commercials, but usually not as many as during a prime-time showing.\nJunior Ashley DeCamp gets her weekly fix of “Grey’s Anatomy” from ABC’s Web site.\n“I don’t have a TV, so watching it online is a great way to catch up,” she said.\nDecamp did say, however, that if she owned a TV, she would probably watch the shows when they air rather than catch them online.\nSenior Justin Moore continues to watch TV the old-fashioned way.\n“I just have cable and watch it two or three hours a night, if not more,” he said. \nMoore said he does not own a DVR and does not have much need to watch TV shows online.
(05/17/07 4:00am)
When I first put "Guitar Hero II" into my Xbox 360 I played for three hours nonstop until my eyes started warping objects when I looked away from the TV screen.\n I took a few minutes to make sure there wasn't any permanent damage, but then I got right back into the game and played for two more straight hours.\n If you haven't played "Guitar Hero II" yet, you're missing out on one of the most fun and innovative games to come out in years.\n Like most music games, the goal is to hit buttons in rhythm with the notes on screen, but what really takes this game to the next level is the excellent guitar controller that really makes you feel like a guitar hero as you rock out.\n Most of the songs are covers, but most of them sound so close to the original you won't care. This has got to be one of the best licensed gaming soundtracks ever with covers of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box," Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name Of," and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" making up just a few of the more than 70 songs on the Xbox 360 version (10 of which are exclusive).\n At $90, the price is a little steep (and $10 more than the PS2 version), but for the controller and hours of gameplay you're bound to get form the package, it's more than worth it.\n This is one of those rare games that even non-gamers will want to try out.\n The developers have promised that "Guitar Hero II" will have the most downloadable content of any game released for the 360 so far, but as of now there are only three song packs of three songs from the first game, for a pricey $6.25 each. I think I'll pass on those for now until something can be done about the cost.\n Still, the basic package is an absolutely fantastic game, and if you have a 360 or PS2, should not be missed.
(05/17/07 12:35am)
The Jacobs School of Music is completing negotiations that will lead to the construction of a new organ in Auer Hall.\nThe school has turned to C.B. Fisk, Inc., a world-renowned builder of organs with more than 40 years of experience, to construct the instrument that will bear nearly 4,000 pipes, according to a press release.\nChristopher Young, an organist and associate professor of music at the Jacobs School was thrilled with the announcement.\n“Their organs have grown and evolved from 40 years ago just like we hope people do when they graduate college and change based on what they have learned,” he said. “Their organs sound different than they did 40 years ago, and that’s a good thing.”\nThe proposed organ will be mechanical in nature, which Young said will allow for a greater variety of sound.\nIn electronic organs, which have grown in popularity over the past few decades, the pipe opens and closes at a set speed when the organist hits the key. However, with a mechanical organ, the player can control the rate at which the pipes open and close, Young said.\nThe organ currently in Auer Hall will be removed in August while Fisk works on the new one, set to be completed in the fall of 2010, said Alain Barker, director of marketing and publicity of the Jacobs School.\nIt will take two years to rebuild the organ and an additional year of voicing the pipes to complete the organ.\nStill, music students shouldn’t expect that much of a difference in their education over the next three years as Young said that, in its current state, the organ in Auer Hall is “deficient.”\n“We haven’t had a truly artistic and great organ in Bloomington for as long as I’ve been here, and that’s been almost 16 years,” he said. “For organists this will be a complete night and day difference.”
(05/10/07 12:31am)
The IU School of Dentistry has disciplined nearly half of its second-year class for cheating, said the school’s dean, Dr. Lawrence Goldblatt.\nOut of 95 students in the class, nine have been dismissed from the school, 16 have been suspended for various lengths of time and 21 have received letters of reprimand.\nThe alleged cheating came to the school’s attention in February when a student reported that several others in one class had gained unauthorized access to test materials, said Diane Brown, Assistant Media Relations Director for IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.\nFor the class, students received password protected e-mails containing photos of mouths or radiographs for use with test questions. Students received the password to open the images at the start of the test, but some students opened the images earlier using commercial password cracking software, Goldblatt said.\nOthers correctly guessed passwords from past semesters. \nWhen the student came forward, officials interviewed all students in the class. Officials announced their findings Friday.\nIt appears as if several different groups of students worked independently to crack the images, rather than in one large group, Goldblatt said.\nIt is a common practice in the IU School of Dentistry to e-mail the images before an exam to avoid technical difficulties with Web sites or projectors on test day.\n“The method of encryption has been changed so that now those images will be extremely difficult to open,” Goldblatt said.\nStudents were punished based on their level of involvement in the cheating. Some students were found to have cheated only once, while others cheated on multiples exams. The students who received letters of reprimand were found to have violated the school’s code of conduct by having knowledge of the cheating and not reporting it.\nThose found to have cheated have received failing grades in the class. All the students have until Friday to appeal the decisions.\n“I would be naïve to think cheating has never occurred here before, but nothing of this magnitude has ever occurred before,” Goldblatt said.\nThere is no evidence of such cheating in past classes, he added.\nSuch cheating is not without precedent at other dental schools, however. Last year the University of Medicine and Dentistry at New Jersey found that 18 students out of a graduating class of 84 had been involved in a cheating scheme.\nTen students were also suspended from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas’ School of Dentistry last year for using a faculty member’s password to verify they had performed clinical rounds they had not.\n“Students, faculty, staff and others are very disappointed this happened,” Goldblatt said. “We wish everyone the best, but these folks made a very serious error that has cost them our trust.”
(05/10/07 12:14am)
The IU Archives of Traditional Music has received a grant of more than $300,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitally preserve the field work of researchers going back to the 1930s. \nThe archives hold hundreds of thousands of hours of music from cultures around the globe on a variety of recording formats, some of which are rapidly deteriorating.\nThe collection is second in size only to the traditional music archives in the Library of Congress.\n“This is very highly valuable field work,” said Daniel Reed, archives director and assistant professor of folklore and ethnomusicology. “Many of these collections are quite old.”\nOver the next 18 months, the current digitization efforts will focus on collections from American Indian tribes and African communities. One collection was gathered over the course of 15 years.\nThe entire set of works makes up several hundred hours of audio.\nThe audio is digitized through a process that ensures a perfect, high resolution copy is made. \nReed estimates that about 1 percent of the entire collection has been digitized so far, which has already taken about 1.7 terabytes of space, which is the equivalent of 34 dual-layer Blu-ray discs, the largest capacity disc commercially available.\n“People want to be able to get as close as possible to the original recording to experience it,” Mike Casey, associate director of recording services, said in a press release . “Because we are an archive, we can’t provide them with access to the original recording, but we can provide them with information that helps them understand more deeply the recording and its original format and condition.”\nThe long-term goal for the archive is to eventually digitize the entire collection, which Reed admits is a daunting task.\n“We currently have 2,000 field collections,” he said. “And each collection can be just a few tapes or hundreds of tapes, discs and files.”\nThe archive is in the process of procuring more funding for the project, but in the next few years they hope to make at least parts of the archive easily accessible to students, researchers and the general public.\n“We are sitting on a mountain of unique cultural heritage we have been charged with preserving,” Reed said.
(05/08/07 9:37pm)
The IU School of Dentistry has disciplined nearly half of its second-year class for cheating, said the school’s dean, Dr. Lawrence Goldblatt.\nOut of 95 students in the class, nine have been dismissed from the school, 16 have been suspended for various lengths of time and 21 have received letters of reprimand.\nThe alleged cheating came to the school’s attention in February when a student reported that several others in one class had gained unauthorized access to test materials, said Diane Brown, Assistant Media Relations Director for IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.\nFor the class, students received password protected e-mails containing photos of mouths or radiographs for use with test questions. Students received the password to open the images at the start of the test, but some students opened the images earlier using commercial password cracking software, Goldblatt said.\nOthers correctly guessed passwords from past semesters. \nWhen the student came forward, officials interviewed all students in the class. Officials announced their findings Friday.\nIt appears as if several different groups of students worked independently to crack the images, rather than in one large group, Goldblatt said.\nIt is a common practice in the school of dentistry to e-mail the images before an exam to avoid technical difficulties with Web sites or projectors on test day.\n"The method of encryption has been changed so that now those images will be extremely difficult to open," Goldblatt said.\nStudents were punished based on their level of involvement in the cheating. Some students were found to have cheated only once, while others cheated on multiples exams. The students who received letters of reprimand were found to have violated the school’s code of conduct by having knowledge of the cheating and not reporting it.\nThose found to have cheated have received failing grades in the class. All the students have until Friday to appeal the decisions.\n"I would be naïve to think cheating has never occurred here before, but nothing of this magnitude has ever occurred before," Goldblatt said.\nThere is no evidence of such cheating in past classes, he added.\nSuch cheating is not without precedent at other dental schools, however. Last year the University of Medicine and Dentistry at New Jersey found that 18 students out of a graduating class of 84 had been involved in a cheating scheme.\nTen students were also suspended from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas’ school of dentistry last year for using a faculty member’s password to verify they had performed clinical rounds they had not.\n"Students, faculty, staff and others are very disappointed this happened," Goldblatt said. "We wish everyone the best, but these folks made a very serious error that has cost them our trust"
(04/20/07 4:00am)
It’s no secret to those of us in the School of journalism that finding a job in print media when we graduate is no easy task.\nCirculation numbers are shrinking, and newspapers are cutting back as more and more people turn to the Internet to get their news. Some go so far as to say newspapers are dying.\nAnd why not go to the Internet first? Whereas the newspaper can be outdated by the time it hits newsstands, Web sites can update instantaneously. But I don’t think that means newspapers are dying; the time has come for a medium that has gone largely unchanged since its creation – during the colonial era – to evolve and embrace new technology. And to offer content above and beyond what is available in print.\nWhat that has meant for us at the Indiana Daily Student this past semester is making a conscious effort to include more video and audio with our stories. \nOur reporters did a great job covering the search for missing Purdue student Wade Steffey the past few months. But if you didn’t read the stories on idsnews.com, you missed out on exclusive video interviews with Steffey’s parents and a video report shot on Purdue’s campus the day he was found.\nOver the summer, we plan to expand our video coverage by posting at least one major video report per issue.\nBut just because we’re adding more multimedia content doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about the written word either. This semester we have added hyperlinks to many of our stories. So let’s say this weekend you’re looking at one of our many Little 500 stories – clicking on a word in the story might take you to another Web site with even more in-depth information on the rich history of the race.\nWe have also tried to provide more background on major campus events by adding blogs such as our baseball blog, Inside Pitch, and our Little 500 blog, Blogging Away. In addition, the managing editors’ blog, Deadline, provides periodic updates on how controversial decisions are made behind the scenes at the IDS.\nIn the next few weeks we plan on adding two opinion blogs by our columnists, one focusing on local issues and another debating the 2008 presidential election.\nOne of the greatest advantages of the Internet is how it allows instant communication between the reader and author far beyond what a letter to the editor page could ever accomplish.\nOur most ambitious plan for the summer is the launch of a new page of our Web site dedicated to the Orienter magazine we publish every summer. This magazine has done a great job of informing incoming students about what to expect from IU over the years. But we plan to take our Web content to the next level with the addition of a message board and blogs from incoming freshmen detailing their thoughts and questions as they prepare for life at IU.\nIf all goes according to plan, this should launch in conjunction with an IDS MySpace page, so that when you’re staying in touch with friends all over the country this summer, you still stay in touch with the news at IU by adding us as a friend.\nNo, newspapers are not dying. In fact, they’re alive and kicking harder than ever online, so thank you for continuing to pick up the paper every day. But afterward, make sure to log on to idsnews.com to get the rest of the story, and if you any comments or questions about our Web content, feel free to e-mail me at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(04/19/07 4:00am)
Many students would consider it a dream job.\nWhile others toil away at cash registers or deep fryers to make slightly better than minimum wage, sophomore Zach Yarnoff's job is to play the latest and greatest video games from EA.\nYarnoff is the campus representative for the company, the largest video game publisher in the world, known for such hit titles as "The Sims" and the Madden football franchise.\nAs campus representative, it's his job to promote EA's newest titles through contests and events throughout Bloomington.\n"There's a lot of creativity involved in figuring out what works and what doesn't," Yarnoff said of planning events.\nDespite the large number of college students who play video games, Yarnoff says that the hardest part of his job is often getting a big crowd of students out at an event. \n"You have to go out to get people motivated," he said, "They don't motivate themselves."\nStill, since he started the job in January after answering a Facebook ad, his fame has grown around campus, and he is now regularly recognized by other students.\n"Having a job where people like you for what you do is nice," he said.\nYarnoff takes over as the campus's EA rep at an interesting time for the video game industry, as the three console makers, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, have all recently launched new systems.\nHe says that right now people are most excited for Nintendo Wii games and the system's innovative motion-sensing controller, while gamers go wild for the Sony Playstation 3's advanced graphics.\nHe calls Microsoft's Xbox 360 the "classic" system that just about everyone enjoys playing.\nYarnoff began playing video games on the NES, with an early baseball game he now fondly remembers. \n"Video games make time go by when you're bored," he said. "They're a lot better than TV."\nAnd while his job might seem like all fun and games, as a student in the Kelley School of Business, his work with EA might lead him to a job higher up in the billion-dollar-a-year video game industry.\n"It's certainly possible," he said. "I think it's grooming me for bigger things"
(04/12/07 4:00am)
I want terrible things to happen to Trent Reznor.\nIt's not that I have anything against the man. In fact, he's one of my favorite artists, but he clearly does his best work when he's incredibly depressed and abusing drugs to excesses that would make Keith Richards blush.\nYear Zero marks the second Nine Inch Nails album since Reznor has gone sober, and much like 2005's With Teeth, it's a fine album but fails to live up to the high quality of his earlier work.\nFor those of you who haven't been following the development of the album closely, Year Zero is a concept album about a world 15 years in the future in which the president of the United States is seen as God and occupations of Middle Eastern countries are done regularly in his name. \nSeveral viral Web sites have been set up that tell this story that includes a drugged water supply, nuclear attacks and a giant hand coming out of the sky known only as "The Presence."\nReznor sets the stage for this world from the get-go with "Hyperpower!," an instrumental intro with strong militaristic overtones, the title of which references the idea of the United States as the world's lone superpower, followed by "The Beginning of the End," another song which leads the listener into believing an interesting story about this future is about to be told.\nBut from there, things hit a bit of a road block. Tracks such as "Survivalism," "Me I'm Not" and "My Violent Heart" are interesting lyrically, and the first single, "Survivalism" especially, has a strong, classic NIN beat, but what each song does to further the concept, besides just bitch about totalitarianism, is debatable.\nLater tracks are more on topic and musically much more interesting. "God Given" is a track that is especially on point, but also rocks with a pop beat that would fit in well at any dance club. \nThe beauty of Nine Inch Nails has always been their wonderfully depressing music, which is on full display in the closing tracks "In This Twilight" and "Zero Sum," both of which lament the end of this world and question where to go from here and what could have been done to stop it.\n"Zero Sum" in particular might be the best NIN album closer since "Hurt" on The Downward Spiral.\nStill, while individual tracks deliver, I can't help but feel somewhat unfulfilled by the album as a whole. I have viewed the Web sites affiliated with the story of "Year Zero," and it's an interesting concept, but in the end that's all it is: an interesting concept that fails to fully deliver as an album.\nDon't get me wrong. This is not a bad record, and Nine Inch Nails fans such as myself will find a lot to enjoy here, it just fails to live up to the hype. But considering that Reznor has already stated this is part one of a two-part album, maybe that makes sense. \nPerhaps when the next installment is ready next year, Year Zero will truly shine. For now it's an interesting but ultimately disappointing album that is just too ambitious for its own good.
(04/05/07 4:00am)
I have been a huge fan of the "Worms" games since playing the original on the ill-fated Sega Saturn. \nFor those of you who haven't played one of the dozens of incarnations out there, "Worms" is, at its heart, the perfect blend of strategy and humor. \nUp to four teams of four worms face off on a randomly generated battlefield with everything from conventional weapons like bazookas to not-so-conventional weapons like exploding sheep, all the while mocking each other in high-pitched voices or funny stereotypical accents.\n"Worms HD" on Xbox Live Arcade follows the series' formula but includes some beautiful updated graphics so that explosions pack an extra "oomph" and of course, achievements and four-player support over Xbox Live.\nNow, as much as I do love the "Worms" games, I will not hesitate for one second to say that the single-player in these games usually sucks the big worm. The missions are usually too difficult and the computer AI seems to score ridiculously difficult kills every turn. The single-player game here doesn't stray from that norm.\nLuckily online four-player games are an absolute blast, and I didn't notice a hint of lag in any of the games I played.\nPlayers looking to boost their achievement score will be kept busy for several hours, trying to kill 100 worms total or 25 worms with just landmines.\nIf there's one complaint, it's that the weapon selection is severely lacking from some past "Worms" games. Exploding sheep and banana bombs are all well and good, but where the hell are my holy hand grenade or nuclear test?\nThere's the option that these and other weapons might be included in future downloadable content, but let's face it, paying extra for things that should have been in the basic game is a shady business move that is growing more and more prevalent in next-generation gaming.\nStill, what's here is a classic game and worth downloading for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) if you're a fan of the series or strategy games in general.