Category Archives: Immortality

Tale of Immortal (or ) is an Early Access sandbox sim that's only been out a week, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming one of the most popular games on Steam. Earlier today, concurrent players peaked at just over 172,000 people, making it the fifth most popular game on Steambeating out Grand Theft Auto 5 and Rust. Players seem to really enjoy Tale of Immortal too, as it now has over 15,000 positive Steam user reviews, giving it an 86 percent positive rating. Not bad for an Early Access game that just launched a few days ago with Simplified Chinese as its only available language option.

If you're getting dj vu reading this, it's because Chinese indie games have been blowing up on Steam with surprising regularity over the past few years. Charming life sim Chinese Parents and complex martial arts RPG The Scroll of Taiwu both topped Steam's global best seller list in 2018, with the latter quickly selling over 1 million copies in just a few months.

More recently, games like Bright Memorya stunning FPS made by a single person that was featured during Microsoft's Xbox Series X showcaseSands of Salzaar, Amazing Cultivation Simulator, and Gujian 3 have experienced similar success. Each one beat out notable big-budget releases to top Steam's best sellers list and has tens of thousands of positive user reviews.

This is fascinating.

Over the past few years, Steam has become a vital platform for Chinese PC gamers looking to sidestep China's rigorous and pervasive censorship of media and the internet. Though Steam theoretically shouldn't be available in China, it's remained unblocked (except for community features like the forums) and has become an extremely popular way to play uncensored games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Steam now has over 30 million Chinese players, and Simplified Chinese is the second most common language setting for the Steam client according Steam's own hardware survey.

That Chinese PC gamers are flocking to Steam and buying complex sandbox games and singleplayer RPGs challenges the basic assumptions of the Chinese gaming industry. The belief that Chinese gamers only want to play free-to-play MMOs or ultra-competitive multiplayer games like League of Legends has prevailed for decades. And yet vibrant Chinese indie games continue to blow up on Steam and outperform many big-budget releases.

The success of Tale of Immortal also represents the growth new gaming genre that's been becoming more mainstream recently. Like Amazing Cultivation Simulator, which released late last year (and is now available in English), Tale of Immortal is a "cultivation sim" where players undergo a spiritual journey of divine ascension heavily inspired by Taoism. You start as a lowly human and, through meditation, discipline, and practice of martial arts, you eventually become a super-powered god.

In Tale of Immortal, judging by the trailers, this means exploring a tile-based 2D world, building up settlements and taking on quests, and kicking the crap out of any monsters or spirits that stand in your way.

As Khee-Hoon Chan explained in their excellent preview of The Witcher 3-style Chinese RPG Gujian 3, this is an extremely popular genre of fiction called Xianxia in China. It takes the breath-taking martial arts acrobatics of films like Red Cliff (which everyone should watch because it's amazing) and House of Flying Daggers, and transplants them into a fantasy world full of gods, monsters, and magic.

Though Tale of Immortal's reviews are promising, I'm hoping its developers also plan to add English localization so I can play it for myself. If you're able to read Simplified Chinese, you can find Tale of Immortal on Steam where it costs $20.

If you want to learn more about China's indie games, you can read my report on how they're fighting to survive amid Chinese government censorship and changing regulations. For a more general overview, check out our guide to PC gaming in China.

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Chinese open-world RPG rockets to the top of Steam with over 170,000 concurrent players - PC Gamer

The Steam charts for the previous week make for pleasant viewing if youre looking to try something new. The top two spots in the Steam top sellers list ranked by revenue, not by unit sales go to building game Dyson Sphere Program and open-world sandbox game Tale of Immortal. Theyre both from Chinese development studios and are making a huge splash.

Dyson Sphere Program is a Factorio-like that tasks you with harnessing the power of the stars, collecting resources, and planning and designing production lines so you can develop your small space workshop into a galaxy-wide industrial empire. The indie game entered Early Access on Steam earlier this month following a successful crowdfunding campaign last year. Over the weekend it hit a new, all-time player peak of 59,577.

Tale of Immortal, meanwhile, has been in Early Access for less than a week and has already hit a peak of 124,271 players. Its an open-world sandbox game based on Chinese mythology and cultivation with a lovely art style. Im sure the gameplay is grand, but Id happily just sit and look at it. The game is only available in Simplified Chinese right now, though its available globally.

The rest of the list is notably more familiar, and features Rust, Cyberpunk 2077, CS:GO, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Skul: The Hero Slayer has also snuck in, which is worth your time if you fancy a roguelite 2D platformer about saving your boss a Demon King from the good guys.

If youre looking for a Dyson Sphere Program guide to help you get up and running, you know where to click.

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Dyson Sphere Program and Tale of Immortal lead the Steam top sellers list - PCGamesN

Marvel Comics presents an exclusive preview of Immortal Hulk #43, by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett.

Marvel Comics has given CBR an exclusive preview of Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's Immortal Hulk #43. In the preview, the Grey Hulk, who has control of Bruce Banner's body engages in fraud by pawning some ill-gotten jewelry. When the pawn shop owner asks for his name, he replies "Mr. Grey," which prompts the businessman to reply, "Yeah? As in Christian?" Grey Hulk doesn't deny that this is his name, which is a reference to one of the main characters in E.L. James'Fifty Shadesseries.

You can see CBR's exclusive preview ofImmortal Hulk#43 below alongside the solicitation information for the book.

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Immortal Hulk #43, by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett, goes on sale Feb. 3 from Marvel Comics.

KEEP READING: X-Men: Cyclops and Jean Grey's Costume Change Has a Hidden Meaning

Before WandaVision: How Monica Rambeau REALLY Got Her Captain Marvel Powers

L.D. Nolan is the Features Team Lead at CBR. Prior to writing online, he worked in academia. He's currently trying to work his way through a pile of unread books that threatens to come crashing down, burying everything he loves and cares about, including his cat. You can find him on Twitter @LD_Nolan.

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EXCLUSIVE: Hulk Gets a 50 Shades of Grey-Inspired Pseudonym in Immortal Hulk #43 - CBR - Comic Book Resources

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

As careful readers may have noticed, I dont like hypocrisy.

But I dislike hypocrisy even more when it will cost people their immortal souls.

All senators took an oath at the start of the impeachment trial:

I solemnly swear [or affirm] that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of [Donald John Trump], now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God.

Im not too worried here about the senators who chose merely to affirm that they would tell the truth, rather than to swear it. Although there are plenty of reasons, both moral and legal, to tell the truth after making an affirmation, the taking of an oath adds a religious reason.

After taking this oath, senators immediately started thinking and talking about the politics of this. Can the senators ignore the influence that Donald Trump has on the Republican Party? Whats politically expedient for each individual senator? Is it possible to vote to convict and get re-elected? Is it possible to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority to convict?

Please step back and think first about an oath: With God as your witness, and at risk of eternal damnation, do you swear to do impartial judgment according to the Constitution and laws?

Maybe, when I read that oath, I overlooked the bit about ignoring the truth, following your partisan instincts, and casting the vote that might get you re-elected. If so, please point that part out to me. But, if I read correctly, remember: If you cast a dishonest vote, youre making, almost literally, a deal with the devil. Eternity is a long, long time.

In the United States in the late eighteenth century, criminal defendants were actuallyforbidden from testifying in capital cases. This law was meant not to hamper, but to protect, defendants: Faced with the gallows, defendants would be tempted to lie under oath on the witness stand. This would cost defendants their immortal souls. The law was thus constructed to do defendants a favor: It prohibited their testimony, thus increasing the likelihood that they would be hanged, but perhaps saving their souls for the eternity to follow.

In A Man For All Seasons, Thomas More famously refused to swear an oath saying that he supported King Henry VIIIs divorce. More was a religious man and, even though he was about to lose his head on the block, he refused to sacrifice his soul to save his life. In his words, according to the film:

When a man takes an oath, hes holding his own self in his own hands like water, and if he opens his fingers then, he neednt hope to find himself again.

So, senators, youre holding your own selves your souls in your hands like water. If you open your fingers now, what then?

MarkHerrmannspent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeons Guide to Practicing LawandDrug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy(affiliate links). You can reach him by email atinhouse@abovethelaw.com.

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Impeachment: Senators, Oaths, And Immortal Souls - Above the Law

Whether there is life after death remains one of the biggest mysteries to scientists and the average person. It is unlikely that an afterlife will ever be fully proven or dismissed, but simply believing in it could be beneficial to an individual. Researchers state that believing provides a sense of optimism and hope which can lead to a happier lifestyle.

Suzanne Newcombe, lecturer in Religious Studies at The Open University, said a sense of hope can allow an individual to overcome struggles in their lives.

Ms Newcombe said: "Possibly appearing in dreams or even taking a physical form from time to time in my research, I have found that in practice many people slip between ideas of mortality in the body and the idea of immortality (either as a soul, in a physical body)

"Holding open these ideas the possibility of immortality can have positive effects on health.

"From a biomedical perspective, this hope might help the body fight illnesses, improve the chances of spontaneous remissions or allow the illness to run its course, it's more equanimity for the person involved.

"But even if there is no biological change, a focus on the possibility of immortality can help some individuals can disidentify from their bodily pain and develop a more peaceful relationship with their experience as their suffering.

"When this happens, improbable beliefs in an immortal body or soul can be seen as entirely rational and pragmatic even.

"However, when beliefs about immortality exclude attention to the biological physical body, it can have serious negative effects on health, and even cause untimely deaths.

"So, what we believe about death and our ideas of enteral life can really make a difference as to how we live, how we handle pain and suffering and experience being alive here and now."

READ MORE:Life after death: NDE survivor believes she turned to pure energy

They were stunned to discover brain activity surged in the final 30 seconds of their life.

Jimo Borjigin, PhD, associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology and associate professor of neurology, said: "This study, performed in animals, is the first dealing with what happens to the neurophysiological state of the dying brain.

"We reasoned that if near-death experience stems from brain activity, neural correlates of consciousness should be identifiable in humans or animals even after the cessation of cerebral blood flow."

Essentially, if the brain is more active, one might have vivid visions, leading them to believe they had seen the afterlife.

Dr Borjigin added: "The prediction that we would find some signs of conscious activity in the brain during cardiac arrest was confirmed with the data."

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Life after death: Belief in the afterlife can lead to a happier lifestyle - Daily Express

The Immortal Ashwatthama will see Uri: The Surgical Strike trio Vicky Kaushal, director Aditya Dhar and producer Ronnie Screwvala collaborate for the second time.

Soon after the release of Uri: The Surgical Strike in 2019, Vicky Kaushal, director Aditya Dhar and producer Ronnie Screwvala had announced another collaboration as The Immortal Ashwatthama. Reportedly, an action-based superhero film set in modern times, the makers recently unveiled its first poster which was received with encouraging response on social media. Raising the bar higher for the superhero genre not only in India but across the world, this film is a high-concept visual spectacle in the making, Dhar wrote on Twitter.

We now have some more updates on this much-awaited film. A source close to the development informs Pinkvilla that The Immortal Ashwatthama will roll on the floors in June this year. The film is scheduled to be shot between June 2021 and December 2021. Earlier the makers had plans to film in the UK, but owing to the present COVID-19 situation they are now looking at Hungary and Iceland. Aditya and his team will head for a recce in April depending on the situation in these countries, says the source.

However, the prep for the film has already begun. The informer further adds that Vicky is already sweating it out in the gym to acquire the look required for the film and will start his weapon training from mid-February. He will be training in archery, sword-fighting, spear-fighting and martial arts. Besides Ashwatthama, the film will also feature a couple of more characters from Mahabharata, casting for which is presently underway, informs the source.

Vicky is currently busy with Vijay Krishna Acharya's next with Manushi Chhillar. He will also be seen in Shoojit Sircars Sardar Udham.

Also Read |Katrina Kaif's latest PHOTO sparks new speculations as fans think she is hugging Vicky Kaushal

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EXCLUSIVE: Vicky Kaushals The Immortal Ashwatthama to roll from June; will begin weapon training in February - PINKVILLA