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Mario Kart World

With the release of teasers for Mario Kart World, there have been many concerns about the game. One concern is the gameplay. In this new game, Nintendo has chosen to make Mario Kart World an open-world game, meaning that it is one massive world that you can drive around. To add this concept into the gameplay, Nintendo made it so you must drive to the next track to race there which has raised some concerns. Firstly, there are a lot of straight lines. This could make the gameplay boring as there isn’t much to do. Luckily, Nintendo added a new mechanic, ground tricks. To perform a ground trick you must charge it up before releasing it. This offers a solution but by analysing the gameplay we can see that it is slower. This means that the fastest driving technique might just be going straight which is very boring. There are other concerns around the gameplay such as the drifting mechanics but I will dive deeper into them in my reflection.

Looking at the gameplay so far I do like the older Mario Kart 8 Deluxe more than Mario Kart World. Considering the fact that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is much more developed, I still believe that it is much more complex and fun. This is because the gameplay in Mario Kart World is much more simple due to some new game mechanics such as charge jumps and snaking being slower. This makes the long straights of Mario Kart World very boring in my opinion. Another reason I prefer Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is because of the drifting mechanics. In Mario Kart World the drifting mechanics seem to be very different. Firstly, they swing you out wide and have a weird bouncing animation. In my opinion, it just doesn’t seem as satisfying and interesting. I do understand that the gameplay is still unknown and may become much better, not to mention the new cool game mechanics allowing for awesome shortcuts. I do still have hope and don’t want to judge it too much as new techniques get discovered but so far I prefer Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Fusion Reactors

With the growing problem of energy, fusion reactors have been proposed as a source. Fusion reactors are basically mini suns, They produce lots of heat which we can turn into electricity. They work by heating up the hydrogen gas to the point where they lose their electrons. This makes the air charged allowing you to manipulate it using magnetic fields. This is called plasma. They then use the magnetic field to contain the plasma. Producing them are superconductors which are materials that have been cooled to near 0 kelvin making them lose all electrical resistance. This also allows them to produce very powerful magnetic fields which are useful. The magnetic field then compresses the hydrogen atoms while it gets heated to reach a high engine temperature for the hydrogen to fuse. Once we get to this point it should sustain itself, but it is much harder than it looks. Firstly, keeping an even magnetic field to compress the hydrogen is hard. Additionally, it is also very difficult to contain it. If it doesn’t perfectly contain it the fusion process would stop and halt the energy production. Furthermore, due to the extreme temperatures, the walls wear and may make it dangerous for fusion to be sustained for long periods. All these factors add up making it difficult to make a reliable and constant energy source from fusion reactors.

I think that there is lots of potential in technology and it will become the future of our energy production, but with the numerous problems that need to be solved, it will take some time. It will also solve the energy crisis as it will give us virtually unlimited energy, only limited by the amount of hydrogen. It would also unlock a new way to power our space travel. By implementing these on large space ships we could propel them efficiently and quickly. The only issue is how to store the hydrogen as it isn’t very dense. They could also allow for localised reactors to cut down transportation costs. It is also very clean, producing minerals like iron as a byproduct. With all these benefits I think it is only a matter of time before such technologies become widespread.

F1 25 Reverse Racing

In the new F1 game, F1 25, EA has introduced reverse racing. This is where instead of driving the track the normal way, you drive it in reverse. Unfortunately, this feature is only coming to 3 tracks, Zandvoort, Silverstone, and the Red Bull Ring. They will also be available in season 2 of my team career mode. This feature has made the need for new AI code to drive them in reverse as they are drastically different when driven the wrong way. They have also changed other things for this like the brake marker boards, pitlane, marshalls, tire marks and many more. This is a risk from EA as it may be met with mixed reactions.

From my side, I think that it is a good step for EA as in recent years they have been taking away features like short versions of tracks rather than adding them which wasn’t met with good reactions. Now they are adding reverse racing which shows that they might not only add more tracks and features but also bring back other features like the short versions of tracks and classic cars. I also think that it will add a new challenge and depth to the game as the characteristics of the track will change. Not to mention it will be a completely new track you have to learn. Overall I think that is a good change that will be met with positive feedback.

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