Review: Jack Ryan... sort of

Amazon's take on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, now with Michale Bay.

Short take. If you have read my takes on the rebooted Star Trek movies you can probably stop right now. The conclusion for this show is almost a copy paste with any specific Star Trek Reference with Jack Ryan. The show is good... possibly great. Very entertaining. But it is far more Bay action, than Clancy thriller on display here. On a bonus note... at least they didn't ruin any actual Clancy stories in this manner.

Standard warning on spoilers. I talk about the whole series if that is a problem, turn back now.

The Good:

While they shed the "just an Analyst" front way to fast... they did at least pay serious homage to the roots of the Character and the essence of Clancy stories. At a rough estimation I'd say they inverted the "Analyst to Man of Action" ratio of the Clancy books. In Red October you go almost the entire book with no guns involved. Patriot Games begins and Ends with Ryan wielding arms. Clear and Present Danger goes almost the entire book without Ryan taking direct action. Cardinal of the Kremlin is entirely gun free for Ryan if I recall correctly, as are Sum of All fears (probably the closest in relation to this story arc) and Executive orders. Considering this was a Bay production I find it commendable our Hero doesn't shed his unpretentious exterior for the the first 50 minutes of the first episode. They are never again as restrained. I don't particularly like the take here... but it was done well and Krasinski pulls off the Boy Scout heart of the character well. The same can be said of Wendell Pierce for his rendition James Greer. Suliman as Suleiman is a fantastic antagonist for the story and the arc is solid. Together, these three carry the series on their backs. Shame they killed off Suleiman. They could have played him off as a puppet master they couldn't get to for multiple seasons.

While I think in some respects it was poorly integrated, the side story about the drone pilots was powerful and one I think deserving of more time in future series. This was also another good homage to the source inspiration material. Clancy novels often have side plots like this that are often largely tangental to the main story that are used to show different perspectives.

They did not mangle an actual Clancy story with the bumped up action. Much thanks they did not juice up something like Red October, or Executive orders.

Jim Greer's problems with his career in the Agency do not appear to stem from the fact he is African American but instead rises from the actions/decisions he has made and the politics of 'field operations' vs 'headquarters'. A common theme in Clancy's books. However, a racial element is at least inadvertently if not explicitly implied in the division lead being White offering a promotion to a clearly less deserving Ryan. But that is subtle as these things go. More about that below...

The So So:

While the main 3 are solid characters, the rest of the cast is pretty thin... and even our main three are very much arch types who start and end pretty much the same. Ryan I suppose moves the most... but the rapidity with which they thrust him into action makes it hard to buy the "just an Analyst" husk he sheds was anything more than a speed bump on the way to what they really wanted to do with the character. Once Ali walks through the interrogation room door with the solider Ryan flips the switch... and it stays switched. They could have upped the gut wrenching nature of the decisions Ryan has to make in what to accept in order to do good. They could have done more to show the radicalization of Suleiman and perhaps have him struggle more with the idea that to accomplish his goals he would have to do horrible things. Do more to highlight the atrocities that drive his desire to strike. The story hints as these elements but does not embrace them... the strongest effort seems to be in the Drone pilot side story.

Not super germane but one of the analysts Ryan is working with says something about knowing someone from having been at the farm at the same time. The Farm is the CIA school for field operations. Perhaps I have it wrong but it would be odd to find a Farm graduate in that level of role working with Ryan. I suspect this was done just to get as much "Clancy" in there as possible as references to the Farm are very common in his books. This one does not seem done by someone that really understood what it was about or what the implications were for this character to say that.

The Random sex scenes. Yes its a prime original and its adult. Not complaining to much though. Biggest issue is the just "Now sex is happening" nature of 2 of the 3. The scene with Cathy and Jack is probably the closest to being actually relevant especially if you know where that is likely to be headed from reading the books. Even so... you do not have to have characters get it on to get they are seriously into each other. The scene with Suleiman and his wife comes off as creepy at best, was totally unnecessary if not out of line. The showy oddball "Vegas" sex scene with the drone pilot is pure titillation and has zero relevance. Yeah yeah yeah... I know, I am missing the point. Sex and Explosions is the order of the day for this series. Frankly, in that case... I'd rather have had far more random salacious sex and fewer explosions\gun fights.

The Bad:

Ryan's character set in the middle east disputes of the present do not ring as true to me as the Cold Warrior of Clancy. As I said above they danced with the notion of nuance but never really embraced it. At best there is conflict in the show over HOW we should be involved in monitoring and intervening in the Middle east... there is no question regarding if we should be involved at all. For USSR and WARSAW pact vs USA and NATO that kind of certainty worked. For the current situation, not so much. There is legitimate room to debate whether or not being there and doing the things we do is the right way to go. To have truly embraced the gamut of the situation there should have included a serious discussion regarding whether or not we should be involved at all... in particular I think a strong thread should have been about whether or not our involvement is self defeating if our goal is to reduce terrorist action against us. That someone who has reached the point Suleiman is at needs to be stopped is not up for debate. But the idea that our actions in stopping or preventing such a person are in fact creating more just like them is a seriously dark rabbit hole just crying out to be elevated here.

Having the CIA running around the streets of the US with guns drawn. No.... No... and NO. In general the focus on guns drawn and explosions action involving CIA operations. I mean seriously... the whole Clancy 'thing' was going away from the James Bond misconception of intelligence work. Elevating the painstaking high stakes behind the scenes work that goes on to make for successful intelligence operations. Once you get past the first episode or two, this rest of this series pretty much tosses all that into a trash can, douses it in gasoline and gleefully tosses a Micheal Bay inspired match on it.

The smarmy awkward thing with another department Given lead on the Suleiman task force, then offering a lead of that task force to obviously under qualified Ryan. Ryan is 4 years in, isn't even the lead of the financial team he is own before Greer arrives. These were probably intended to induce tension and drama but for me they were just awkward and unnecessary. They also opened the door on racial issues but pointedly didn't address them. Without these two scenes Greer is just on the outs politically and Ryan is only offered advancement when Greer goes to Moscow leaving his former post open. Less drama... also less distracting from the case. Less problematic. I mean... if they wanted to tackle racial discrimination in the work place fine, plenty there to discuss.  But I don't see that here. I just see a very insensitive blind eye/ignorance towards what is being depicted. If done intentionally I expect there there would have been explicit dialog elevating it as such.

Conclusion:

Action heavy schlock for the most part... but as far as Action Schlock goes it is damned entertaining and the plot and character motivations are for all their flaws a good bit more complex than the typical red white and blue kill the bad guy stuff. That said there are plenty of tired jingoistic tropes for a "Team America" type send up here as well. The Jack Ryan here is somewhat related to the original Clancy character but almost all else is pretty much the antithesis of a Clancy story which is frustrating if you are a fan of the Clancy books as I am. I am by no means saying they should have no action. In the end Jack Ryan is a ridiculously over done perfect at everything studly do-right.

What would make it better in my opinion?

If they really wanted to do Clancy, they should have played more to the "Analyst side" and the slow burn of intelligence gathering, uncertainty etc... Ryan working the details, Case officers making contacts etc... and slowly unraveling the story of Suleiman in a way that paints a story that is inevitable in its conclusion of how and why he became what he is.  Highlighting the grim cycle of creating terrorist through how we hunt them. The role of systemic inequality. Yes he needs to be stopped. I do not think that should be questioned in the least. I am not looking for a Stockholm syndrome story approach where we are asking the readers to sympathize and think his actions are justified. More... there obviously are those in the world that DO sympathize, that do think his actions are justified.  If we don't understand that, and how it happens... how the hell are we ever going to stop the cycle? And most of all.... I would have taken the ratio of Ryans action in the first episode and put it across the whole season. That is to say he wouldn't have been in action until the very end. The opening episode could have had Suleiman released "just a body guard" and Ryan could have had something niggling in their interaction that gave him what he needed to dig through more on him and uncover the truth that they had the guy... and let him walk. The Paris subplot can be done entirely without him physically involved. Same with trying to track down Suleiman's wife. Having him and Greer go rouge on American soil in the final chapter in order to "save the world" I am good with... more or less as is. Would it be as popular? I doubt it. But I think it would be a far more powerful story... and one that could help educate a wider audience about the nuances involved in our current Middle East involvement.

Kavanaugh Vote: Constitutional crisis live?

Sitting here this morning listening on and off again to the speeches from the floor of the Senate leading up to and including the vote I am left thinking a few things.

1. The only thing I am certain of Bret Kavanaugh is that he is neither the perfectly vile puppet of the white house he is made out to be by the Democrats nor is he the shinning saint of judicial officialdom he is made out to be by the Republicans. Seriously, each side could have stepped up and just said "what they said" for the previous speaker from their party. The speaking points were almost universally the same on either side. It is like they were talking about two different people.

2. I do not believe the Republicans would be voting in party lock step if there was clear irrefutable evidence of Ford, Ramirez, or Swetnick's accusations. There is no court case. There is no video. There is no smoking gun. Simply put there is no legal standing of the accusations. There are old memories, lots of hearsay and innuendo. Could it have happened? Yes. Did it happen? It. Is. Not. Clear. There was enough doubt to cause a hiccup with Flake's balk and the deal he required to clear his conscious in letting the vote get out of committee and to the floor of the Senate. Could more investigation possibly have helped? Yes. But how much is enough? There were supposedly 7 FBI background checks of Kavanaugh. If you don't think they are doing their job, what is an 8th going to prove? Or a 9th?

3. If the claims of Ford were whole cloth fabrications by the Democrats the story would have been tighter. This was not a story to hang their hat on. It was a story that drove them, not the other way around. That said, the timing of the break of the vs other opportunities to request investigations into the allegation does stink. If Senate Democrats request that investigation into the incident in closed deliberations and it turns up un-definitive hearsay it likely doesn't reach the public.  It likely also does not create the environment in which the follow on accusations from Ramirez and Swetnick emerged. It certainly doesn't cause the highly public extra FBI investigation into the accusations. 

4. The fact there were follow on accusations concerns me. More than concerns me. One person being manipulated (or choosing) to upend their life for a character assassination attempt is one thing. 3 accusers, From different sources, and clearly not coordinated? Again... do you think an orchestrated attempt by the Democrats includes Avenatti? The guy does not come across as positive for either side as far as I can tell. He is a walking meme for why people hate Lawyers. In court Kavanaugh faces almost no risk based on the facts of the cases. In the court of public opinion... that is a different matter. As for whichever side you fall on in the public court verdict... which court do you want to decide your fate should something happen to you? Which standard do you want the Senate to work based on? No... that doesn't make it easier. The process of government is hard. For me? There is enough doubt in what was presented that I find myself rather amazed the Republican's did not simply run down to the next candidate on the list. Conservative judges are not a rare commodity. That they did not concerns me far more than the appointment of Kavanaugh. The Trump campaign changed the game of what ends a campaign and it has now officially bled over into other areas. What previously was enough to sink someone in the political arena is no longer assured it will do so in the future. The DC game is changing, not for the better, and that should be of great concern.

5. Any Republican staunchly holding to the professional credentials argument that there is no reason to oppose this nomination needs to look hard in the mirror over the Merrick Garland fiasco. You can chase back a series of events on this one that land pretty hard on both sides of the isle. Obama was a part of a Democrat failed effort to Fillibuster a Bush nominee (Alito) which can be seen as a clear precursor to McConnell's scorched earth policy with Garland and nuclear option by which they removed the filibuster as an option for opposing a Supreme Court Nomination. But don't think this started there.

6. Guilty until proven innocent does not mean the accuser is a lying sack of shit until proven otherwise. It also doesn't mean the accused is a saint unless proven otherwise. Sexual harassment is a particularly vexing legal quandary in this nation. It is overwhelmingly perpetrated against women. The victim is always in the uphill role as the accuser in our system. A large portion of such cases revolve on hearsay and thus often have little or no chance in the legal system. Prosecuting a current case (even with DNA evidence) can be hard in cases where there may have been consent and or impaired judgement, much less a 30+ year old case that was never reported and is past the statute of limitations. Men have disproportionately held all the positions of authority in which cases of accusations of sexual harassment are judged and thus have set the precedents which are so hard for the accuser to meet. This is not some femi-nazi screed statement. This is simple fact. Doctors, Lawyers, Police, Judges are historically male positions and are still dominated by men today. What is the solution? Hell if I know... mandatory constantly cloud synced body cameras for everyone?

7. For those suddenly 'worried for their sons'.... The worst (WORST) case false accusation rate for sexual harassment I could find is around 1 in 10. That is for those who most strongly want to call out the problem of false accusations the best they can pick their studies is that the valid accusation rate is at LEAST 90% and the false accusation rate at MOST 10%. I'd say you have far more to worry about for your Daughters. It is estimated in 1000 cases of sexual assault, only 10% will be reported. Of those 100 cases, only 10 will go to trial. That 10% worst case scenario means 10 men at worst in that 100 cases where an accusation was made got falsely accused. 80 legitimately accused didn't even have to go to trial. Somewhere between 800 and 900 (depending on how many were false accusations of the full 1000...) faced no consequences at all. And of the 10 that go to trail more left without being found guilty than did. So for 1000 incidents of sexual harassment less than 10 perpetrators will face legal consequences.  900-990 victims, yet less than 10 perpetrators pay any kind of legal penalty of at least having to face a trial, fewer still face a sentence. I know as a nation we are bad at math... but sheesh.

8. Questions about his past behavior aside. His professional stance regarding presidential indictment is worrying. However, to be clear, he is not saying a president cannot be held accountable for their crimes. He is saying that to do so they must first be removed from office. That while in office anything short of impeachable offenses must wait until they are out of office. This is not just because of the Mueller investigation. This view basically says that if a president (ANY president) has the backing of congress they can do anything that will not lose them that backing as congress in this view is the only body that can remove the president from office. This is an area where the founders fell short in the creation of the Constitution. They did not foresee what was going to happen with party politics.  Party politics effectively links the Congress and President in a way not considered in the original system of checks and balances. This was as much of a problem when Obama led with a Democrat majority in both houses as it is now with Trump and a Republican congress. Of a secondary concerns is that whether or not the hearings should have gone there or not... he lied under oath to the US Senate. He could have refused to answer. He could have chosen raw honesty. Instead he chose to deceive with explanations of flatulence and drinking games for terms that were easily proven to be about sex. It is almost certain he at best omitted the truth in answer to questions regarding his drinking habits at the time.  People who lie about their drinking problems in the past tend to have problems in the present. Even if he doesn't. A high court official lying under oath to the US Senate (WHATEVER THE DAMN REASON)  is NOT a good sign for what is to come on the highest court. The irony is he himself made this argument as a member of the Ken Star investigation of Clinton over the Lewinsky affair. Instead of following his own belief as stated during that investigation, he instead emulated the man they were investigating. And in this case I sincerely doubt there ever be an apology for having done it.

9. Life appointment with no limits on Supreme Court Justices needs to end. The massive increase in life span since the founders times and refusal of justices to yield the bench as they move past their prime in almost all cases means it is time to set limits. A decade max. Social Security retirement age as mandatory time to step down. And I would be in favor of that for any government position. That is approximately half a generation time max for any one person to preside over the highest court of the Land. Or hell... lets go 12 years max. And while we are at it limit House Representatives, Senators, AND Presidents to the same. This would allow a third term for presidents which would be an increase. But it would severely curtail the decades long tenure of congress critters that has become more the norm than the exception.

10. Jeff Flake said the single most frightening thing I have heard in a long time. Perhaps it was the most frightening thing I have ever heard in my lifetime. "Would you have done this if you were running for re-election?". Flake in response " No. There is no currency in working across the isle ". A US Senator clearly stating there is no value to working across the isle as a general rule if you hope to get re-elected is an extremely frightening state of affairs. Congress has to work as a whole in the interest of the Nation as a WHOLE. That is how it was designed.

11. The Media and by extension "We The People" need to get our collective shit together. Fox and Sinclair are clearly aligned Republican. Many major national outlets are clearly aligned Democrat. Facebook and the rest of the internet first newcomers are whatever the hell you want them to be because they reflect and confirm your biases as function of their design to hook you and draw you deeper and deeper into their systems. As a result,  there is no one clear voice looking to hold ALL to account. Elon Musk is in the midst of going full Howard Hughes (Eccentric genius Billionaires should never go "Full Howard Hughes") ... but one of his nuttso rants about founding a media outlet dedicated to verification of truth resonates with me. Its nuts... pretty much no realistic way to do it. But damn it would be nice if there was a nice easy one stop shop where you, and your worst enemy, could both rest assured and agree you were getting a clear unbiased scoop on a given issue.  Social media is not the cause of this problem. It is simply a new lens that gives us a new perspective on news. Broadcast news of the past wasn't any better... take the rose tinted glasses off already on that... they were just less questioned. And a bit more centrist... at least to the majority culture in power. The days of Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite had plenty of problems too.... we just were not as "Woke" to them. In many ways we have it better today. The problem is we suffer from to much of a good thing. Pick a side, any side... and a few quick google searches will lead you to like minded folks. This is insanely bad because it means almost zero chance of ever having your assumptions and world view challenged in any meaningful way. This is potentially catastrophic. The bubble phenomenon is something I largely think is leading to an ever increasing calcification of our political views that drive elections and thus party politics and that has led to the present situation where a Senator says there is no currency in working across the isle. It has broken the process by which the party system has worked despite itself to make our democratic institutions of government function... and that in turn stands a chance to break our government itself. We are not there yet. But we continue making progress in that direction. It will get easier and easier to continue in this direction... and harder and harder to course correct. Congress is not a failing of the parties. It is a reflection of us. The Media is not some conspiracy corporate menace manipulating us. It again is a reflection of us... and attempt to give us what we want, or at least what we respond to in the way necessary to make them money. If we as a society figure out how to shift our views on this... these institutions will follow suit. But it is obviously easier said than done. Whether the tail wags the dog, or the other way around, you still have to make the change. And the party and media are both mechanisms through which we inform ourselves and through which our desires are reflected. But they exhibit inertia just like physical things. Change of this nature is not easy.  But it isn't all bad. That ability to join like minded people also means it is FAR easier to make people aware of your point of view exists even at the same time it is ever easier for folks to tune you out. Creating these communities affirms that your view exists outside of just you. It affirms that there are others like you. In the case of Neo Nazi's that is bad. In the case of sexual harassment/assault survivors it can be a beautiful, life saving thing.

12. A prediction. Should a Democratic candidate take the White House in 2020 with a Democratic Congress there will be talk about expanding the Supreme court in order to appoint more liberal Justices to counter balance the overly Conservative makeup we are now about to have. The number of Justices has changed before. They can change again. Congress has the power to change the number. It will take a willing president as even if a Veto is over ruled, the nominations must come from the Executive Branch. The last time it was attempted was by FDR as a part of trying to secure support for the New Deal.

3D Printing: Rapid Prototyping

One thing leads to another... and suddenly....

As I may have mentioned before I often get asked.... so what is a 3d printer actually good for? Well if you look at this picture and follow along with me I may be able to walk you through one thing they are just fantastic for. Rapid Prototyping. 

Over on the left you will see a pale green bulbous plastic thingamabob with a hole in it. This is half of a doggie poop bag dispenser sort of shaped like a bone that is missing its other half. What happened to it? Don't know. Fell off during a walk we think. Anyway... doggie poop back dispenser with only one half isn't much use now is it. If I were a normal person I would have gotten on Amazon or headed to Petsmart and just gotten a new one. But....... 3D PRINTER. #I_CAN_DO_IT #MakeItYourOwn etc... etc.... etc....  

Right, much scrambling in fusion 360 later produces the missing half. You won't find it on here because.... shocker... it fell off too. Ok... Fusion has a nice feature that auto does threads... so I just make a whole new doggie poop bag holder. Move to the right from patient zero we can follow the home brewed epidemic as it spreads. The White, Blue and White, green and blue and first all blue.... errr.... creations. Are indeed functional 3d printed doggie poop bag dispensing thingamabobs... and they work just fine and dandy.... 4 iterations into it. First one was the half that didn't work. Then I made the other half... the one that actually dispenses. Oval hole, roughly size of the example. Check, handle.... hmmmm this will work. Nope.... to skinny to fit a Carabiner... kinda flimsy to. This will work... Nope... big enough but Carabiner doesn't move well in it... making it bigger gets awkward so make it round. This will work... success. Well work on the supports a little. Different material? Ok... this works. There are several of these steps not pictured. Gift to Mom, first fully functional one is sitting in my window at work etc... but you get the idea. Towards the middle of the table the original plan has been executed and a fully working prototype has been made and refined. Let us not really think about the cost comparison when it comes to filament vs the 5$ish cost likely to replace it... if that. This was fun. 

However... that is only half the story. We are only at the middle of the table when things get really fun. My Wife was in the midst of making one of her diaper changing stations with nice fleece, storage and it all folds up nicely. So... she asked if I would make one of these for diaper bag duty in her latest baby shower offering. Sure. 

Hmmmmmmm...... Baby's. How about I add a baby powder holder on the bottom of the bag holder? Two in one. Does it make sense? Who cares? Because...... yep.... you guessed it.... 3D PRINTER!!!! Now my simple two sided tube with a hole in it and a ring on it gets a bit more complicated. The simple end now needs to connect to the new piece so it gets re-designed. Then I need a reservoir to hold some powder. And the powder needs a way to get dispensed so I need  a cap. That has open and closed states. Preferably without requiring lots of hands in the midst of the joyous rigamarole that is changing a poopy diaper with a squirmy little 'un. No need to over think it, Johnson's has had this licked for ages. Twisty cap that aligns closed one way, open the other. Easy peasy. Or not. 

The connector is easy enough, just have to get the dimensions right and do the threading tool right... the second time. Why get it right the first time? To easy that way, no fun. Ok, reservoir. Now I learn the revolve tool to make a rounded contour on the lower bit for the cap to go over. How big to make the holes? How many holes? Here is where the rapid part of rapid prototyping comes in. Of course... I can't test the holes because I can't get the tolerances right for a cap made out of PLA or PETG to snap over the end of the reservoir without snapping bits off. Ack. In the midst of trying to do this I have enough success to realize that eyeballing it to figure out if the holes are aligned isn't going to cut it so the bottom reservoir and cap grow some bumps. The bump on the cap stays between the bumps on the reservoir (if you don't get to spin happy at least). At one end opened, at the other closed. Also figured out I need larger holes, and a better alignment for closed/open. Square pattern(easy) gives way to round (easy now that I know how to do it). But... won't do any good if you can't get the cap on the gosh darned thing without breaking it in the process. 

There is this stuff called TPU. Flexible filament. Those who know 3d printing are now cringing. It is darned useful stuff. But.... its primary attribute of flexibility is present when trying to get it to feed through your printer as well. Yeah.... let us just say it is a wet noodle when you want something a bit more stiff. I have avoided it. But now I have an actual problem that it can solve. I learned something. I was right about staying away from it. It can and does lead to some painful jams. I had one that was so goofed up in the midst of this the filament was both pulling in and pushing out at the same time on one side of the gear. Tell me how the hell that happens? Cause I still can't figure it out. Thankfully I got it all out of there somehow and finished the job. And this stuff is addictive. In the midst of this I designed an 'extruded' shock absorber to go on 20x20 extrusion to keep my baby CNC router from walking around on the work bench when it was doing its poor imitation of CNC wood cutting. But that is a story for another time. 

Much easier idea... some squares, concentric circles and a single extrude, made a second that was a bit squishier for options... even printed on the first attempt. 

Now we are getting to the far right of the table and we see some taller 3d printed thingamabobs that dispense both poop bags and baby powder with a functioning sealed cap.... ish. Johnson's baby powder containers are not exactly perfect seals either. Mine is not as quite as good... but it is 100% better at dispensing poop bags so take that Johnson and Johnson's! 

Now we are all the way to the right and you see some silverish with blue bottomed "production" units of the "Diaper Bag Buddy". Now we are done. 

All the bits and bobs. Flexible Cap to the far left. Powder Reservoir next, Connector, and finally, the Poop Bag dispenser

All assembled and ready to go

Open

Closed

Right????

Ummmm..... "How about one that dispenses dog treats instead of the baby powder?" Yes dear... coming right up, because......  3D PRINTER!

The silly nature of this particular venture aside, you have to sit back in amazement if you have any real appreciation of what exactly it takes to iterate a real design. Prior to having something like FDM printers (now more likely SLA, or SLM) available could make the above represent quite a chunk of change to walk through some variations and ideas to get to a finished product. Until the patents ran out and the RepRap crowed launched the whole home cooked 3d printer world even what I did here could have cost thousands, tens of thousands if you counted the cost of the machine itself.  That I can do this in my home now for a few hundred bucks is simply astounding.

If you want to make your own, you can download the files at MyMiniFactory. 

State of AR: Magic Leap has leapt

So Magic leap has finally gotten out of the shadows and is starting to ship a dev kit. The Verge had an interesting take on it you can read here. If you haven't read it and are not familiar with the Microsoft Hololens then the rest of this article will not make much sense.

As someone who has spent a bit of effort professionally trying to figure out what to do with this technology I take some exception to the overall take here. Yes, Magic Leap oversold their capability. Yes, they are behind in some ways compared to Microsoft. But... based on what I am reading here and in other takes, they are ahead in a few crucial ways.

1) A 45% increase in field of vision is huge. Is it still to small for what the dream is? Most certainly, but gains in resolution require monumental gains in processing power and this is a new realm and its form factor is working on smart phone type hardware budgets with top end desktop graphic card needs. If you really need the field of view Meta is waiting for you with open arms and a tethered headset. But being free to roam with a significant increase in field of view is a (pardon me) "leap forward". Despite its limited field of view the capability of the Hololens is still immense, and for properly focused applications you quickly forget the "window". The problem is a lot of AR is trying to do VR, or AR on the scale of VR and it just isn't what it is good at.... and yet all the obvious use cases seem to point you in that direction. You can work around it... but there is nothing obvious about finding what those keys and tricks are. The further away that field of view gets from your focal area the less it will matter in true AR applications as your periphery is able to distinguish fewer and fewer details. 

2) Getting weight off the head. The biggest single draw back to the Hololens in my opinion is the learning curve in getting it on and off. Even after more than a year of getting to do this it is not a simple thing to get it on 'right'. It is easier, and it is quicker, but it isn't simple. Worse. Even at its best, the weight is problematic. I have worn the thing hundreds of times, and gotten to put it on first time users heads a similar amount. It is an 'interesting' solution to the problem... but it isn't fantastic. Steam punk aesthetic aside, the fact the magic leap looks as easy to put on as a pair of goggles and has all the weight of the battery and computing hardware not on your head is a huge deal in the ergonomics front. I haven't gotten to use it yet but it is possible this could be enough to get it from "impressive but not quite there" form factor of Hololens, to "marginally acceptable". Things are only going to get better so long as development on this class of hardware continues.

3) Inside out Self contained 6DOF tracking of your head and a hand controller??? Did I really read that right? If that is correct and you can reach around in space with a controller with confidence approaching the Oculus Rift/HTC Vive hand controllers.... then you have consistent input via the controller (buttons, pad, combinations) and you are in a whole other world from the gaze, bloom, pinch and "idiot talking to idiot software" interface of Hololens. If you can use two controllers at once this thing could be the killer combination AR needs. 6DOF freedom of movement in a mobile package with inside out 6DOF hand tracking and consistent varied interface input capability is simply put, a MASSIVE "leap" past Hololens. Hololens starts off on the wrong foot with the ergonomics and the disappointing field of view. But the dagger in the heart is the frustrating lack of efficient user interface abilities. You are just way to limited and the interface interaction success rate needs to be 99.9% instead of 90ish in ideal circumstances, and trending much worse in less ideal environments. Even so it still has massive potential due to the lack of anything else readily available with its capabilities.

That said there is a general take the author had in this article that I agree whole heartedly with. It is concerning they don't have the mind blowing app/experience to show off. Now is the time to knock people's socks off if you have something and suffice it to say that is not the reaction of the tech world at this point.

However... This stuff is new... and no matter how big their team, they are isolated and in a bubble and have been acting in a lot of secrecy which seriously impedes the ability to find the right match. A LOT of folks are looking for a way to leverage this tech, and where there is money in it few are wanting to talk with each other about it because there is a sense of at some point this is going to take off on an exponential curve and anyone who is on the ground floor stands to reap HUGE rewards.

In this fractured environment the newness of the interface is extremely daunting. There are no established best practices. There is no magic bullet. Many existing design tropes simple do not translate. So what is happening is you are seeing the birth of a new machine/human interface paradigm in real time. Keyboard, Mouse and GUI was not an overnight thing, it took decades. AR is starting to climb the curve. It is a pity Magic leap didn't 'leap' first on the scene. From what I am reading there is a decent chance if they could have launched this at the same time as Microsofts effort it may have had enough steam with the boost in attention to AR to reach a critical mass event to launch the field into the mainstream. Granted.... not at these prices... and not without a fully realized interface and killer application.

Nostradumus: Tesla Predictions

Not a typo... NostraDUMUS as in dummy. Future predictions are always fraught.

Next week sees the start of Q3 of the calendar year which means the Q2 results for Tesla. If you have been keeping track that means an important question is going to get answered. Have they reached 5k per week or not? This is the goal set by Musk that is needed to reach profitability over the course of Q3 and Q4.

Today Tesla opened up the option for all current reservation holders to confirm their orders and make their build selections.

As tea leave signs go, I'd say this one augers well for the news at the Q2 call. Here is why...

There are ~300k + reservation holders. Those wishing to commit need to drop down another $2500 and select their build options among what is currently available (35k base model is not available yet). This goes 1 of 3 ways. Very few bite. Most bite. or Some bite. 1 in 3 biting would be 100k committed orders and at 5k a week production would represent roughly 6 months of production which neatly matches up with predicting numbers for Q3 and 4 so lets go there.

100k committed orders at $2500 nets a cool 250 million to Tesla. Not a bad take for 3 days. The current order options have been generating something around a $50k average sale cost. So somewhere north of 250 million in down payments leading to something around 5 billion (corrected earlier goof with 125 billion...) in sales across the next two quarters assuming they can manage a 5k average weekly production throughout the 2 quarters.

And if that all goes to plan then Elon Musk gets a lot of soiled underpants from those shorting Tesla for a Xmas present when Q4 results show Tesla in the Black. Probably gets some for Xmas in July if they are at or exceeding 5k a week and are above expectations on cash burn for Q2.

So the above is what I think more or less will be how things go barring some major new surprise. For example the tent production line blows/burns down literally or metaphorically (atrocious production quality issues perhaps?).

How could things go better? Higher take rate on higher optioned cars... but I doubt it. The notice sent out says 2-4 months to fulfill the orders. That seems to indicate they think less than 100k folks will commit with the current more expensive build options. Unless they have supireme confidence they can hit well above 5k a week production levels in the next 4 months. 100k+ takers ensures a longer period of $50k average sale price which drives profitability higher faster. But takes longer to clear the backlog before they can get to the lower spec builds.

How could things go worse? Very light commitment from the remaining pool and a mass exodus of reservation holders pulling their deposit back. I think that combination is what could cause Tesla to bleed out if they can't get from where they are to the lower build spec that is the foundation of the 3 concept.

Taking Musk's claim at face value that 5k a week production level means Tesla reaches profitability but thinking the rate to make the 35k build not eat them alive will have to be higher. I think the path forward for them is to bootstrap profitability at lower production rates with higher per vehicle sales then continue to ramp production to the point the base model sales and resulting lower avg sale price won't sink them. That said, one thing that is almost certain is that Tesla is not going to see 30% margins on their sales long term. That was based on early ideas of hitting 10k a week with a higher level of automation keeping cost of production per car down. Some of that is definitely gone with the removal of automation and increase in manual line work. But 30% margin leaves a lot of room to fall down from predictions and still make a decent profit.

Hard Predictions:

• Weekly production numbers a little shy of 5k a week... say 4750 +-100
• 50-60k commitments from the current window so 125-150 million in deposits
• Insignificant drop/no change in overall reservation churn (IE no large block exodus of reservation holders)
• ~4-5 billion in sales over the second half of the year
• Announcement of base model availability date at the end of the year leading to a significant net increase in reservations
• Massive furor will ensue over the fact the federal rebate will be at least half of what it is now by the time the baseline models begin delivery because the two quarters after the 200k delivery will be taken up delivering higher order commitments being made right now. IE no one will get a sub 30k model 3 after rebates. 
• Assuming the tent production line doesn't fall on its face... Tesla is close in Q3 and makes it into the black for Q4.  

Note to self... set alarm for January to come back and check on these...

The search for the new Family Truckster: Part 1 - The Contenders

The time has come. The need for a new Family conveyance is upon us and the search has begun. What to get?

First up... used? No. Why? Primarily because the active safety revolution is upon us and recent used cars with them are typically not that far off of used. And since these are electronic brain power based to a degree no other car technology has been it is also subject to rapid improvements from year to year and a plateau has not been reached yet... and may not for a while with the push on to autonomous driving. Of course.... the top car on my list from an emotional standpoint does not have active safety features. And for that reason... I am likely not going to be able to seriously consider it. More on that in a bit when we get to the contenders.

So... wanting active safety features has me looking new.

A minivan? I'll be honest for a second. Pretty much any family with 2 kids and a dog would do well with a minivan. I can admit that. But on a purely emotional, subjective level, neither I nor my wife have any desire to drive one. So do as I say and get a minivan... and not as a I do... which will be to get anything other than a minivan. Really... almost literally anything else. For some strange reason I don't think we are alone in that viewpoint.

So... we could use minivan space I grant. Emotional disconnect aside... we don't need the space day to day so a minivan is a bit overkill for us and I would hate it as a daily... and it would be my daily as my Wife is not giving up her imminently practical but absolute blast VW GTI. If we had a third human child instead of the 3rd being of the four legged variety I imagine we would be shopping swagger wagons no matter what our feelings about them were. Bet we are not.. nor at this point will we have a 3rd. So we can cross them off the list.

So after scratching used and minivans from the list lets look at the check list for the contenders to try and stack up to...

• Reliability, Reliability, Reliability. Easy to come by these days compared to decades past. I expect this vehicle to be a 10 year minimum addition to the family. 
• Active Safety Features, namely emergency collision breaking assistance. Why? This feature is largely credited with reducing insurance claims in cars that have the feature by more than 10%. I put this at the top of the list and it has killed my number one choice I arrived at before really giving the used vs new serious consideration. DOUGHT. 
• 4x4. Preferably with a Transfer case (low range) and some useful ground clearance. We are talking some back woods creek crossing capability... not a bit better in the rain AWD. 
• 5000lbs of towing. Not a deal breaker to have less... but this allows use of max size Uhaul trailer which is a capability I like to have. 
• Something I (Dad) will at least not actively hate while daily driving. I have a 3 pedal Mustang GT with the 5.0 Coyote to scratch the performance itch when needed. But not looking for a penalty box that I spend the most time in. Mostly this means nice adjustable leather seats, first choice color... and not a minivan.  
• 3rd Row would be nice, but not a deal breaker to me.... may be one to my Wife. We shall see. 
• My wife can drive it.... most likely kills any notion of a manual transmission... even if such a beast could be found in this category that meets our needs. 

After roaming the wilds of the internet car sites and review sites etc... what did I find that met enough of the above for consideration? 

The contenders:

• Jeep Grand Cherokee with Quadratrack II
• Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk
• Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
• Toyota 4Runner
• Subaru Ascent
• Ford Flex
• Toyota Tocoma
• Chevy Colorado
• F-150 Super Crew (and similar half ton trucks)

What got canned from the list before I even started test driving? 

F-150 (and similar). To Damn Big... and yet still to small. Two kids and a dog could probably work in the back seat. Having a truck bed would be nice for Home Depot runs and the like. But not enough to put up with its size. And DAMN did they get expensive. Lariat F-150 super crew with 4x4 stickers out in the 50's only if you pretty much ignore the options list. Granted they deal pretty hard in this category but still. Odd case of over and under kill at the same time. 

Colorado and Tacoma go the same route. The ZR2 and TRD PRO packages are tempting. The ZR2 Diesel in particular, or TRD PRo with a stick would be nice but they bomb out on usable family trip space. Do not think a dog could go in the rear with the kids. Especially as they get older. Rear leg room was less than our current GTI..... NOPE. 

Ford Flex. Were it not for the desire to be able to get off pavement this one would merit a harder look. As well as the more common 3 row CUVs like the Highlander, CX-5, Pathfinder, Explorer etc. I like the Flex in this class because it is distinct and it has racked up a pretty solid reputation on the reliability front. I wouldn't say they are attractive. But its lower set makes for a nice drive and it has all the space you could ask for. But it is definitely pavement limited. It is a practical non minivan minivan option that I think I could otherwise live with if I could give up on the off road chops. 

At the other end of the off road capability spectrum you find the Wrangler Unlimited.... which is a bit too rough. Held out some hope the JL would tame it a bit. But the early reviews are in... and its is still a wrangler. That is a good thing mind you. But a bit rough around the edges even for my taste. If it had a bit more cargo space I'd be tempted just because it has the option for a manual. Resale is awesome. Reliability is hard to judge as it is type of vehicle that gets abused. The V6 is solid, and a manual gets around the transmission gremlins.   

So... that leaves us with 4 contenders. 4Runner, Ascent, Trailhawk Cherokee and the Grand Cherokee. 

I test drove the two Jeeps this weekend. Here are my thoughts on them. 

Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk Elite (2019). Olive green option looks very nice in person. Works very well with the Trailhawk black graphics on the hood. Interior does not impress. The elite has the nicest seats on offer in the Cherokee and from 10 minutes in the lot and 20 minutes of test driving I never got them where I liked it. Good visibility though. And not awful seats by any stretch. They may wear in nice. But for a vehicle with a sticker of 41k... color me unimpressed. While we are on the subject of value for the money.... the overall sensation in the cabin was of vehicles of a lower tier... in a mid 20's base that pushed just into the 30's it would be on the bubble. Pushing into the 40's this was a deal breaker for me. Beyond that... it is a bit small for what we need. It would be smaller than the current Grand Cherokee we have though a tad bigger than the GTI which we are using for family trips now. Would still be using a roof box with it. That said... it is a unique proposition in what it is. The 4x4 capability of the Trailhawk is surprisingly robust and the approach, break over and departure angles are better than the Grand Cherokee unless it is on the quadra II system and jacked up on the air suspension max. It is probably a tougher system as well. Towing is at 3500 so not what I was after but definitely useful. Jeep is dealing hard on them... the one I drove could have been had at 35 before any real hard haggling. 33 to 34 was probably doable if I was in signature mode. Overall.... not bad. But it is punching well below its MSRP unless you are after that better than average 4x4 capability. And even if you are like I am.... it is way to close to the Grand Cherokee's to take to seriously (at least at MSRP). An Elite at sub 35k may still be something I consider once it comes time to take on the payment. But it is now at the bottom of the pack after the test drive... but still on the list. Biggest knock on it is not enough of an upgrade in space... bad first impression on the interior quality front was only in regards to what I was comparing it to. Was still a pretty nice ride. 

Grand Cherokee, Drove a Summit but would be after a Limited (lower trim) or Trailhawk. Like the color, interior options on the Limited more. The key is the drive train I am after. The V6 and Quadra Track 2 4x4 system (same as in Trailhawk). Limited is the first trim it is available in. It is also the lowest trim that enables you to select the active safety package. And that is key for me to consider this option. The air suspension in the Quadra II system is a tricky proposition. It is a complex solution that enables you to do very impressive off road feats in a very comfortable vehicle. However... .it has a bit of a glass jaw reputation. If you are going into the Boonies routinely this system would not be a fantastic choice. But as an every once in a while option? It does a fantastic job of retaining serious Jeep Chops while also helping in day to day comfort. The ride in the Grand Cherokee with this system was miles better than the Cherokee Trailhawk... and in a different world than the dual solid axle rattle bucket ride I currently have in my '04. Overall this was a superb vehicle. The feel was in line with its sticker. Bit richer than I am looking for in this trim but the ride is the same in the Limited I am after. The test drive put this option back in serious contention when I had largely thought I would not consider it due to fears of FCA quality issues. 

I have yet to Drive the Subaru Ascent. It is a new kid on the block. And while it is firmly in the CUV line.... Subaru has done their usual good enough 4x4 schtick here and you find a class leading 8.7" clearance which while nothing to scream about is roughly the same as my current Grand Cherokee. It has very competitive pricing. Perhaps the most usable 3rd row in the class (seems a toss up between this and the Atlas) and 5000lbs of towing on all but the absolute base model. On Paper this one was at the top of the heap until I test drove the Jeep. The added refinement of the current Grand Cherokee and additional 4x4 chops is going to make me look hard at it. But the Ascent is cheaper, has better active safety (standard mind you... on ALL of them), and considerably more space in a package I think I can swallow as it has Subies decent split bias 4x4 system with some rough stuff auto control modes rather than a fwd first awd solutions that barely improve wet weather handling. Some of you might be thinking why not get an Outback? And it is a legitimate question. But... it has pretty much no advantage to me over the Grand Cherokee except MPG and maybe cost. Thee two are more or less twins in terms of space. But 4x4 and towing are definite wins to the Cherokee. The Ascent brings big wins to the table in terms of MPG and space and pulls enough behind it. I am concerned about the drive train.... but Subaru has a LOT riding on this vehicle being rock solid. By the time I can buy something there should be some early returns on whether or not the combination of the turbo 4 and CVT transmission are not up to the task. All the early take reviews have been surprised at how competent the combination has proven. The power is there. And I have long thought the turbo 4 probably should be the primary engine in damn near every thing. Twin scroll turbo's have eliminated turbo lag and they have plenty of torque. Reliability is largely solved as well though end life maintenance is still something of a concern. But stacked against fuel savings... it is mostly a wash at this point. The real question to me is the CVT, but Subaru seems to have the engineering on them licked as they have not had the same issues most other brands have been having with them. 

The last I also have not test driven. That is the 4runner. I haven't tested it because I want the unicorn TRD Pro and it is damn near impossible to find one on a lot, or even an off road with the upgraded suspension. On paper before I did my research on active safety I had pretty much settled on this one. It isn't the most practical. But... it is about as bullet proof a drive train as can be had currently. The 4x4 capability is bested only by Rubicon trim Wranglers but they are far more daily livable. It has 5k towing. Space is about the same as the Ascent though without any 3rd row. Resale is phenomenal... and if I get the Voodoo Blue option in 2019 there is a decent chance it will never drop much below MSRP and it could be a rare enough unicorn it never goes below. 3 year old TRD Pro 4runners with 50k miles are going for damn near MSRP. That is the good... .the bad is a 5 speed slush box and 4 liter V6 from 10+ years ago that gets the package real world MPG under 20. That kind of dulls the shine on the likely 300k plus life time. Lastly, it has the dubious distinction of being the only offering in the entire Toyota fleet that does not have active safety. It is a standard option across all other vehicles they often. It is not available on the 4Runner. and it isn't coming in 2019. Bastards. I am still damn tempted. But right now it is sitting 3rd in the list behind the closely matched Ascent and Jeep Grand Cherokee. 

I still don't have a clear choice. But I still have plenty of time before I will be getting to any kind of paper signing. Need to sell our old house for starters. Here is where they sit. 

Where the 4Runner is a rock solid monolith head and shoulders above damn near anything else out there when it comes to reliability. The Ascent is an unknown quantity coming from a manufacturer that is currently growing rapidly largely based on its resurgent reliability numbers. The Jeep is a dubious quantity in this regard. But most of the Major chinks in the Grand Cherokee armor have been addressed. The transmission programming has been sorted. I am actively avoiding the bells and whistles electronics/luxury package... they couldn't pay me to take it. The 3.6 liter V-6 is well regarded. Even the HEMI is well regarded if thirsty. The knock on the Jeeps is not the drive train... but the electronics. And for the most part that is a long term problem reflected in the not so fantastic re-sale (though it isn't terrible). I think my largest core concern is regarding the air suspension. So.... Cost, Space and active safety go to the Ascent. The Subaru system is a much more highly regarded system  than the one in the Jeep. As an added bonus, none of it is mounted in the front bumper which makes it less likely to incur expensive repairs. True 4x4 with active safety defaults to the Grand Cherokee. If it had the cargo capacity of the other two it would be hard to beat.  Reliability, Space and Top 4x4 goes to the 4Runner. The reliability and true rough and tumble capability along with a decent upgrade in cargo capacity had it at the top of my list. And it still has my heart. My head says we should probably get the Ascent... room to haul Grandma and the kids, or couple of kids friends etc... in a package that can still get a bit off the beaten path is damned enticing. The compromise between the practical choice and the heart choice looks to be the Grand Cherokee. I gave my wife the job of researching the active safety front and she has the power to veto the 4Runner that I still can't stop thinking about. If she nixes it I will have to make the call between practical options and the one with better 4x4. That choice got a lot harder after test driving the Grand Cherokee. The Trailhawk Cherokee remains a long-shot.... but I don't think it would be cheaper than the Ascent... and it is WAY less practical. But it is probably just big enough... and surprisingly capable when the pavement ends. 

Part 2 will be more about why I didn't look at some other options... Tall wagons, Sedans. The more mainstream CUVs etc... and a bit about why I am somewhat concerned buying anything right now with the potential electric and automated driving revolution underway. 

Review: Lone Echo, A Great VR game at last!

The short version? Lone Echo is the first VR game I have played that 1, has to be in VR rather than VR as an enhancement, add on or worse, a gimmick. 2, I was sad to see the end of it. WANT MOAR!!!! Before this the best two VR titles I would point out to folks have been Mission ISS, and Project Cars. For a story/experience I recommend Apollo and Henry. That said, Mission ISS isn't really a Game and is more of a concept demo. And Project cars is enhanced by VR but by no means a VR game. I have heard that the Climb is also a worthy title but I have yet to plunk down the cash for it. Sci Fi is a draw for me... not fear of hights :-) Job simulator is fun... but it isn't AAA game material. This really is the first full up new world VR game that is successfully implemented.

There are spoilers ahead so if you are worried about that turn back now.  You have been warned.

Introduction, and 30 second synopsis of the game:

You are Jack, An AI in a robot body. You are a companion and helper for Captain Olivia Rhodes and are stationed on the Kronus II in orbit around Saturn. An anomaly occurs which causes systems malfunctions on the Kronus and you have to work together with Captain Rhodes... Liv, to fix them. After fixing systems and encountering a lot of anomalous data you finally get in position to put the full capability of the outpost to scan the anomaly only to have a massive mysterious ship appear and wreak further havoc in which you get knocked offline. You come back to on the bridge to find Liv is not on the ship as its life support has failed and you locate her transport inside the mysterious new ship and off you go to find her. You encounter an infestation called "BioMass" that is unsightly in dormant phase and immediate loss of your robot shell if touched in its active phase. Radiation dangers abound all over. Once on the new Ship you boot up its Tactical AI system and go about trying to repair the ship to try and have it locate Liv. The ship turns out to be from 400 years in the future, The crew is dead and the BioMass gets more active the more systems you bring online. You find Liv as she is on the last dregs of oxygen in her suit and scramble to bring the ships main reactor online to restore main life support. This fails due to all the damage to the ship making it impossible to maintain an atmosphere. You rush to the Bridge as the most likely place to be able to isolate and maintain a life support environment and after clearing it you finally get it pressurized only to have to bring Liv back through the use of a defibrillator. But... more bad news... now that the ships main reactor is online the infestation is growing again and the only way to get it back to sleep is to drain all the power... by a faster than Light jump. The same thing that caused it to jump back into the past. No option, no time to waste you make the jump... and find yourself 400 years in the future. Safe for now.... but but but... what happens next? Will have to wait for Lone Echo II to find out.

So... how is it to play through?

The Good:

The story is engaging. The game play serves the story and the pacing is often pretty well in line with the actions you are performing. It is like the best bits of Uncharted games where the dialog and gameplay magically align from time to time. IE you don't feel like you are doing a thousand things for a 'game'.  I want to read the book. I want to play the next chapter.

The introductory sequence of the mechanics is one of the better sequences in recent memory for introducing new game mechanics. In general the game concept that you are an AI in a robot body helps with a lot of game immersion elements. Re-spawning after a failure like getting burnt to a crisp by a plasma beam, or radiation exposure makes a lot more sense than if you are supposed to be a person.

Speaking of the mechanics... the interface in the way they house the various functions on your wrists and you activate with touch is super intuitive once you 'get it'. You turn your light on by touching the side of your VR headset. It all works really well. I suspect we will be seeing lots and lots of takes on this kind of setting/navigation mechanic.

Movement. Beats Adrift (a pre-touch micro g space game) by miles. This is basically the same movement mechanic as Mission ISS with an excellent directional thruster mechanic thrown in.

Character engagement. There are only 4 characters in the whole story. Olivia Rhodes (the Captain), you as an android assistant called Jack and the two ship AIs. One on the Kronos II you start on, and a second on the Astreaus that pops out of the "anomaly". The dialog is unfortunately sparse in bits but it flows well and at least for me I got very engaged in the process of saving Liv. If you played Firewatch that is about the only other example of dialog I can think to compare this to... though it isn't as constant as it was in that game. Ok... 5 characters. There is someone that contacts you at the very end after you have jumped the ship back into the future.

There are real challenges in navigating the puzzles and tasks but failing is not painful. The challenges are nothing super cerebral, mostly timing and balancing task vs exposure to a danger. When you do fail you pretty much get to pick up where you left off, no retracing steps/ repeating actions other than  getting from the spawn point back to what you are doing, typically pretty close by. No needing to remember to save etc... The idea that this is a process of transferring your AI from unit to unit works well. May wear a bit thin in places if you are really struggling (is there a never ending supply?). But it could be worse.

While there is an alien agent (biomass) invoked to create some elements of danger. The game is not violent. There is death. Finding the crew of the Atreaus dead in their pods had more impact than I expected. I suspect it impacts more strongly being in VR. I have a growing dislike of shooting as the primary game mechanic in way to many games and you will find very little in the way of "shooting" in Lone Echo. You can use your torch as a sort of short range flame thrower to eliminate some "spore's" but not much else. VR is finally making more nuanced player interaction with the environment possible and Lone Echo stands out in this regard.

Three Sea Shells!!!!...... THREE SEA SHELLS!!!  THHHHRRRREEEEEEE SSEEEEAAAA SHEEELLLLLLSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Side note... Demolition man was in large parts an atrocious movie tragically infected by the action movie tropes of the time. Much like this games infestation of Biomass. But... buried in it were some shockingly good future thought experiments. If you don't get the three sea shell thing go watch it... you only have to watch I think the first 20-30 minutes to get to it. Call me crazy... I think its worth it if you haven't seen it. It is nothing earth shattering but it was a scene that stuck with many geeks through the years.

The So So:

The necessity of the way you regenerate near where you last failed works excellently on your original ship the Kronos II. Not so much once you move to the Astreaus vessel. This ship is human at least... but it is from 400 years in the future. Obviously they don't have a bunch of Echo units in the future so what exactly are you transferring into? You spawn on the ship from 400 years in the future as if transferring to one of the units stored on that ship. The idea that they had new units the Jack AI could transfer to isn't exactly absurd. But it might have helped if they had played with that a bit... IE given you new functions once you spawned in the new ship after a failure. Maybe a game play completion bonus for not having to download into a unit on the new ship?

That said it is absolutely fantastic they didn't make you spawn back on the original ship and make you trek all the way back through the new ship to where you were. So it is an understandable compromise. With a little bit of story telling to close the gap I think it would have worked better. But it also could easily have been much worse. I only mention it because it is one of the few immersion breaking elements. A good example of what I mean by using story telling to bridge the gap a bit is the induction panel discovery for charging your shields. It isn't much... but the concept of induction is one that could make sense across 400 years of technological differences.

The dialog mechanic is... interesting. It is at turns elegant and at others very clumsy. In particular it can be very awkward bringing up a response option list if you are in the middle of a task as the functions are overloaded. If you are in the midst of carrying something it is easy to lose it and lose track of it or end up picking options you didn't intend to.

The Bad:

First off.... most of this section is nit picking. This is a very well executed game... but all games have flaws. So lets take a look at some of Lone Echo's. Also... this is something of a quirk of my reviews. The games I like more I tend to find more things to pick at that could be better. For crap games I generally just throw my hands up at them rather than try to understand them and think of how they could be improved. So... contrary to what may seem logical, longer gripe sections in my reviews tend to reflect games I was much more engaged in, and in general enjoyed more than those I find little problems with.

There are lots of blocks in the progression of the story where if you don't launch dialog things cannot be interacted with. Things you can cut through won't be active to cut through. It is immersion breaking. Once a game mechanic is introduced of how to interact with the world then those elements should always be consistent. Find something the scanner/game tells you is significant and it obviously should allow you to start it up or cut it open then it should allow it. Not wait until you talk about it.

Also... I know it is a gaming mechanic choice they may have had to make, but having to do things like cut through the access panel to a defibrillator which would always be easy to access, or through designed maintenance hatches made little sense. There should have been a mechanic for opening these things just like the storage crates. Which... while we are mentioning those, are the one element the game did NOT introduce in its tutorial section. Something that had me stumped a couple of times. In retrospect it is obvious... and looking in things in a physical way is such a nice way to be able to interact with the game world. It really should have been used more... as is I think it was used twice. But for whatever reason... prior training, lack of imagination, lack of having to do it to progress the story. I just didn't consider it as something that needed to be done. This caused the one time I went to the net for an answer about how to proceed.

Another issue I hit in particular (and found plenty of evidence on forums that similar incidents happen) is an issue with the micro-G environment and the need to transport items you have to grab. If you goof up and drop them in transit they can fly off. When outside this means they can fly off into space. And you can only get so far from your ship. In one case this happened to me with a critical element. It was helpfully highlighted with a distance listed... that was beyond the limit of how far I could go. It required me to repeat about an hour of game play. Now in most cases they have reset elements for this kind of stuff. But it doesn't always work and it when it doesn't it is very frustrating. At one point you have to retrieve a spare 'core' for a reactor. The storage container has multiple cores but only one you can actually pull out... and if you lose it you can't progress the story. For me nothing would reset it and the save point I had prior to that event was 2 hours of game play back. That sucked. Granted the second time through I did it in about 45 minutes... and could probably do it quicker still now.

Lack of being able to call up dialog history, or any kind of map of your surroundings. The few times I felt lost both in terms of what exactly I was supposed to do next or in where I was could be tied to these two things. It is a common mechanic in adventure games with multi step 'quests' and it developed for a reason.

The story is WAY to short. Start to finish was maybe 8 hours? And that counted a major replay element of the first section of the story due to the afore mentioned lost core. It is probably 6 hours with a smooth play through. Could probably do a speed run once familiar with it in less than 3... possibly way less. I would dearly love this to have been a 20-40 hour epic ala an uncharted game or Tomb Raider. It was like it was just getting started when it finished.

The BioMass. Everything else about this game feels fresh and new until you get to the BioMass as the 'adversary' component that drives some very familiar elements of game play. I get it. I actually accept it. But... it just seems like it was a cop out. Instead of artificially limiting your navigation this way I think they could have done just as well by increasing the complexity of the ships interface puzzles. The cherry on top problem with the BioMass was the uneven ending. You pop to the future with an infected ship and that information isn't something you broadcast to the team coming to rescue you? One of the few serious beats in the story the dev team missed. The only other one really was when you start hearing Liv on the Comm again after a long separation and no certainty she is even still alive you do not have an immediate dialog option to re-establish contact? This is a minor problem in a more traditional game. In a VR game that sucks you in like this one it is painfully immersion breaking... LET ME TALK TO HER DAMNIT. Oh yeah... I am in a game... she isn't real.... she isn't real... this isn't real. Oh crap, need to get life support on for Liv before she asphixiates... back into the thick of it.

The lack of logic and and ability to explore the Astreaus. Kronos II is ultimately a more engaging ship than the Astreaus. The added size is mostly locked away from access and you are shuttled from area to area.. and often your repair tasks have you going through 'vents'... read long tunnels with lots of pipes. You are rarely faced with much in the way of choice in terms of navigation at any point. But the tantalizingly open nature of the 'fix things to scan the anomaly' of the early game presents you with gave me a lot of hope the game would just continue to open up in terms of exploration options. But... once you get on board the Astraeus, the way the Fury transports are used to shuttle you about might as well be a level load screen and you can only go forward. When introduced to the Fury you have multiple destinations to go to... once you get to the Astreaus you only ever have one. The second that Ship appeared I got my hopes up I was going to get to really explore it open world sandbox style. VR makes that an engaging possibility in a way old school FPS games just couldn't pull off. I spent a good 15-20 minutes just going around Liv's cabin reading logs and checking things out.   3 SEA SHELLS !!!!!  Another good session bouncing around the bridge of the first ship. I have done this before in cool game settings... but for a fraction of the time and with a fraction of the immersion of feeling like I was exploring a real place. Between VR and the extremely well implemented navigation mechanic that lets you explore the world in a very natural and physically tied way (as opposed to pushing on d-pad or joystick) it is very easy to get lost in this story and feel you are there. Adrift had a similar problem with its fairly linear progression through its story. I didn't find the task nature of the game nearly as intriguing as the idea of exploring that station in its complete state.

Jacks tools are well implemented. But there are obviously tools scattered about the game that serve no purpose other than to be flotsam. Pity. Using larger Drills or Saws etc... to do bigger actions than your attached cutter could have been interesting. Along with the battery charging system... could have made for an interesting resource management mechanic. Think tool choice for different ways to solve problems vs Gun choices for different ways to dispatch waves of enemies in most games.

Lastly... as enjoyable as the story is, in retrospect it seems there really are no branches to the story based on how you interact with Liv... just differences in how the dialog goes. This is a shame as it would be interesting to have some re-playability in terms of different paths/solutions through the story. I aim to give a replay a try but I am not expecting to much from it other than to just get to enjoy the world a bit again. Maybe feel a little less rushed in terms of side quests.

Conclusion:

I loved the game. Seriously, this is the first VR game I feel like raving about. It is worth the price of admission.... my only hesitation on that is that it is ultimately a bit short... but then it isn't 60$ either. And I enjoyed the time I did spend in it a LOT more than many other games I have paid full price for through the years.

I got invested in it very quickly. I put it down after getting a bit frustrated with the first mission I tried outside the ship but it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to finish it unlike most other VR titles I try, get to the frustration point, put down and almost never return to. Once I got back to it I stayed for the longest sessions I have had in VR by far. Other than this I have maybe half hour to 1 hour sessions in Project Cars. In this I spent 3 hours straight and lost track of time.

I am REALLY looking forward to what is a likely glut of micro-g navigation based space games. Just hope there are some nice adventures where exploring is primary vs shoot em up. An early puzzle first tomb raideresque experience translated to this movement mechanic on to something the scale of the Astreaus.... yes please.

Ideas:

As I said above, I think they could have seriously expanded the Astreaus. Make a logical ship layout and systems of interfaces along the lines of what they already did. Continue to grow Jacks skills by having him find and transfer into a unit (series of... selection of?) on the Astreaus which grants him access to more and more ships info, tools etc... to complete the needed repairs. Jack is an Atlas asset and so by the same logic the Ships AI accepts Rhodes as captain it should accept Jack as valid.

Jack really needed a storage/attachment mechanic when having to haul things around. Magnetic stick point on back, chest etc... There were a lot of interesting looking flotsam about that looked like they could have been a lot of fun as tools trying to learn how to use them and make needed repairs. This would have allowed a much more complex set of interface options without increasing the amount of back and forth travel needed to fetch things etc... or problems holding on to them. Fury as a pack mule in same vein for larger tasks. Or as a staging point when entering new sections of the ship.

If you drop the BioMass mechanic as a navigation impediment, danger element you need another reason for the ships crew being dead. Though not that hard to say that power loss drove it. Or keep the biological element but not have it be so invasive. Just a biological weapon that killed the crew that couldn't get into suits before being infected, or stasis pods etc... Ship comes through dead with no/few survivors... and survivors are locked in stasis and being able to bring them out is a major problem to solve. In general Liv is limited in where she can go due to the biological element and Jack has to scout ahead and clear the way etc...