Gameplay.

The player takes control of Nathan and has to collect items, talk to NPCs, and solve riddles in order to advance in the story. Later in the game, the player can toggle the protagonist's AVR headset, which allows them to see the augmented virtual reality, revealing different hotspots in the game's world. The AVR headset is needed to solve certain kinds of riddles.

Plot.

One day, Nathan wakes up and his girlfriend Jay is missing. In order to contact her, he has to have his AVR headset repaired. After visiting a shop downtown and repairing his headset, Nathan finds that his girlfriend is a hacker and involved in obscure hacking activities. Nathan wants to find out the truth and gets dragged into a world of technomancers, AVR graffiti artists, hacker gangs, tribes of crypto shamans, digital archaeologists, epic cyberwars, and virtual reality debauchery.

Development.

VirtuaVerse was created by the Finnish indie developer Theta Division Games. The team consists of heavy metal band Master Boot Record who was responsible for the story, sound, and music, Alessio Cosenza alias Elder0010 who was responsible for the programming, and Valenberg who did the art for the game. Furthermore, the game was localized into several languages by the team Warlocs. Development of the game started in 2016, and after four years, it was released on May 12, 2020.

Reception.

"VirtuaVerse" received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic, based on 10 reviews.  Claudio Magistrelli from the Italian online magazine The Games Machine gave the game a rating of 8.3 out of 10, and said: "VirtuaVerse is a lot of things. It is a tribute to old school point&click adventures and, at the same time, a modern take on the genre. It is also an act of love to cyberpunk and his themes. But more than anything else, VirtuaVerse is a great adventure set in a detailed world built on a great pixel graphic, fantastic music and a suggestive atmosphere."  Jörg Luibl from the German online magazine 4Players gave the game a rating of 76%, saying "Despite its old-fashioned statics and occasional illogical moments, VirtuaVerse is an entertaining point&click adventure with great cyberpunk flair and in interesting story."

VirtuaVerse is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Theta Division Games and published by Blood Music for Windows. The game is set in the future and features science fiction and cyberpunk elements. It was released on May 12, 2020 on the online platforms Steam and GOG.


History.

"Ocean Monarch" was built by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, Walker, at a cost of £2,500,000. She was yard number 119, and was launched on 27 July 1950, with completion in March 1951. She was the first postwar-built ship designed especially for the American cruise market. "Ocean Monarch" was awarded a gold medal by the American Institute for Designing for her "outstanding beauty and unusual design features of a cruise ship".  "Ocean Monarch" was used on the New York - Bermuda route. As well as conveying passengers she was used to supply fresh drinking water to the island. She served with Furness Withy via subsidiary Furness Bermuda Line until 1966. On 22 September she was laid up in the River Fal, Cornwall. In 1967, she was sold to Navigation Maritime Bulgare and renamed "Varna". Operated by Balkantourist, Varna, She was used on cruises from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. "Varna" was laid up in 1970 at Perama, Greece. In 1973, "Varna" was chartered by Sovereign Cruises, but only made two voyages with them. She was then laid up again. Her name was changed to "Venus" in 1977, and "Riviera" in 1978. in 1979, she was refurbished for use by Trans-Tirreno Express.  She was chartered by SUR-Seereisen, Germany, who announced a series of Mediterranean cruises to take place in summer 1981. Her name was changed to "Reina del Mar". Before these cruises took place the ship was renovated. On 28 May 1981, a fire broke out which completely gutted the passenger accommodation. The ship was towed out of Ambelakia, where the renovation was being carried out. The tow parted and "Reina del Mar" ran aground on Salamina Island. After being refloated, she was moored near "Rasa Sayang", which had also been gutted by fire. On 1 June 1981, a new fire broke out on "Reina del Mar", and she was then scuttled off Kynosoura.

Description and propulsion.

The ship had a crew of c250 and carried up to 414 passengers, all 1st class. She was long with a beam of.

Reina del Mar was a cruise ship which was built by Vickers-Armstrongs in 1950. Originally named Ocean Monarch, she served with Furness Withy for fifteen years, then with a Bulgarian company for three years, renamed Varna. She spent much of the 1970s laid up, and was renamed Venus and then Riviera. In the early 1980s, she was renamed "Reina del Mar" and refitted for further use as a cruise ship, but a fire gutted her; and she was scuttled on 1 June 1981 after another fire broke out.


Life.

Minderhout was born in Rotterdam. For unknown reasons, he was known as the 'Green Knight of Rotterdam'. He arrived in Bruges in 1652. He may have spent time in Italy in 1653. In 1663, he joined Bruges' Guild of Saint Luke. Subsequently, from 1672 until his death in 1696, van Minderhout lived in Antwerp where he became a member of the local Guild of Saint Luke. He gifted a large canvas of an oriental port to Antwerp's guild to be exempted from any guild duties. In 1673, he married his second wife, Anna-Victoria Claus. The couple had five children, of whom two, Antoon van Minderhout (26 Sept 1675 – 22 Dec 1705) and Willem August van Minderhout (28 Aug 1680 – 31 June 1752), became painters.  He was the master of Lucas Smout the Younger.  He died in Antwerp.

Work.

Hendrik van Minderhout mainly painted large views of seas and harbours and marine battles. His subjects included realist views such as of the ports of Antwerp and Bruges, as well as imaginary views of Mediterranean and oriental ports. It has been suggested that the wide variety of works bearing the signature Hendrik van Minderhout points to the existence of two artists of the same name who were active at the same time.  His later marine works are comparable to that of the Dutch seascape painter Willem van de Velde the Younger.  Van Minderhout was appreciated as a staffage painter by his Antwerp colleagues and it is known that he contributed the figures to works by local landscape and perspective painters including Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg and Jacob Balthasar Peeters.

Hendrik van Minderhout (1632 – 22 July 1696) was a Dutch-born marine painter who was primarily active in the Flemish cities Bruges and Antwerp. He also collaborated as a staffage painter with Flemish landscape and perspective painters.


Family.

He married Datin Muhaini Zainal Abidin in 1986. His son or popularly Dafi was a former student of Akademi Fantasia Season 5, an entertainment reality show that is now a singer.

Education.

Ismail Sabri started his schooling at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bangau in 1967. He then continued his education at Sekolah Menengah Air Putih, Kuantan in 1973 and Sekolah Menengah Teknik Kuantan, Pahang in 1976. He then studied form six at Jaya Akademik and continued his studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya in 1980. The title of his LL.B thesis is "Layanan terhadap tahanan politik di Malaysia" (approximately Treatment of political detainees in Malaysia).

Career.

He started his career in 1985 as a lawyer. He was appointed as Member of Temerloh District Council in 1987 and Member of the Temerloh Municipal Council in 1996. In 1995, he was appointed Political Secretary to the Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik. He also was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Pahang Tenggara Board (DARA) in 1995 as well as the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board in the same year. Before entering Parliament in 2004, Ismail Sabri served as Chairman of the National Sports Complex.

Politics.

In 1987, he was appointed Member of the Temerloh Umno division committee. Then, in 1988, he was appointed as Temerloh UMNO Division Information Chief. In 1993, he was promoted to Head of Division Youth Movement, Deputy Head of Division (2001) and became Head of Temerloh UMNO Division in 2004.  Ismail Sabri was elected to Parliament in the 2004 election, becoming the first member of the new seat of Bera. He was re-elected in 2008 election, and was appointed in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as Minister for Youth and Sports (2008-2009). In April 2009, under new Prime Minister Najib Razak he became the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (2009-2013). After the 2013 election, in which he retained his parliamentary seat, he was appointed as the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry (2013–2015). He served as Federal Minister of Rural and Regional Development (2015-2018).  On December 20, 2018, he was appointed to carry out his duties as the new UMNO Deputy President after his incumbent was elected President (de facto) from 18 December 2018. He was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament since 2019.

Controversy.

Boycott call.

In 2015, Ismail Sabri sparked a firestorm of protest over his Facebook post urging Malay consumers to boycott the monopolising and profiteering Chinese businesses who discriminate non-Chinese entrepreneurs, arguing that it was necessary for Malays to exercise consumer power to prevent "profiteering" by the Malaysia's ethnic Chinese that control over 90% of Malaysian economies.  In reply, political analyst Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs think tank, said in personal capacity that any Malaysian voter regardless of race, would be repelled by Ismail's comments. “I think the reaction of any right-minded Malay or Chinese who believes in Malaysian unity would be of disgust. “And I think, or at least hope, that the Chinese voters will remember what he said when it comes to the vote”. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar stated that the minister would be investigated under the Sedition Act 1948 and Ismail Sabri has since deleted the Facebook post.

Low Yat 2.

In 2015, Ismail Sabri once again provoked controversy when he proposed to set up "Low Yat 2", a digital gadget mall expected to house solely Malay traders. Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of Barisan Nasional, criticised the proposal. MCA publicity bureau chairman Datuk Chai Kim Sen labelled Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob as a regressive Cabinet Minister for his proposal. MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said that the setting up of Low Yat 2 would only hurt racial relations, and described the proposal for the bumiputra-only mall as an “antagonistic approach”. MCA public services and complaints bureau advised Ismail Sabri to approach issues from a multi-racial viewpoint and stop making ridiculous statements such as “Chinese traders are profiteers” and “a Malay-only Low Yat 2” and said that “We are appalled at Ismail Sabri’s attempt to apply his race-centric thoughts onto the issue of Chinese schools and to accuse others of being racist. His thinking is completely illogical, and this mentality of his must be discarded at once in order to become a true minister for all races”. Fellow UMNO member Saifuddin Abdullah also criticised the proposal, saying that Ismail Sabri’s proposal would not be beneficial to Malays and Malaysians in general, pointing out that having business areas where traders are separated by ethnicity will only backfire.  Many Malay netizens also criticised the proposal, with many mocking the concept of Low Yat 2. Two Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP), a Barisan Nasional component party, Youth leaders later lodged a police report Ismail Sabri, claiming his speech on ‘Low Yat Plaza 2 for Malay traders’ on Tuesday was seditious. The ministers also demanded the state authorities bar him from entering Sarawak. SUPP Youth central publicity and information secretary Milton Foo said that “He is not fit to be a minister after making several racist remarks in nature. After his ‘boycott of Chinese merchants’ remark in February, now again he did it. Obviously, he is not repentful". On 8 December 2015, Ismail Sabri officiates the opening of all-Malay MARA Digital Mall at Medan Mara, Kuala Lumpur. Although the traders are all Malay, Ismail calls on the minorities to support the mall.

Taylor's University sponsorship cancellation.

On 16 September, Taylor's University bus service contractor Wawasan Sutera used vehicles bearing the university’s logo to ferry passengers to the 916 red shirt racial rally without its permission. Two days later, Taylor's University announced that they would terminate the contract with Wawasan Sutera. Subsequently, Ismail Sabri announced that Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) would terminate the sponsorship for the next intake of students to Taylor’s University, in what was seen as a tit for tat exchange. He did not name the reasons behind the revocation. Social media was abuzz when a screenshot of a statement allegedly made by him went viral, ordering the Mara director-general to terminate the sponsorship of its students with immediate effect.  Democratic Action Party (DAP) MP Teresa Kok criticised the decision, calling it a "personal vendetta and abuse of power", and called for the cabinet to censure Ismail Sabri, as well as challenging him to publicly reveal the reasons for the decision, as well as publish the internal report which led to the decision. MCA Publicity Bureau Chairman Senator Chai Kim Sen said the minister’s inability to state even one reason for this decision was not only “unbecoming” but “even childish”. Saying that Ismail Sabri was infamous for his racist remarks when he called for the boycott of Chinese businesses, MCA’s Chai said his latest announcement about Mara would only “further weaken his already-tarred reputation as a racist”. He further condemned the minister for working against the government’s aspirations of producing 160,000 foreign students by 2020 and added, “Education institutes are expected to remain apolitical.

Turtle eggs issue.

On 4 November 2015, a photograph of Ismail Sabri having dinner at a seafood restaurant in Sandakan together with Beluran Umno chief Datuk James Ratib went viral. A plate of a dozen of turtle eggs on the dinner table was seen in the photo. Ismail denied consuming the turtle eggs, citing "health reasons". On 9 November 2015, Ismail claims that he was not aware of the law that prohibits the possession and consumption of turtle eggs in Sabah, which is one of the protected species under the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997. On 19 November 2015, another photos surfaced and went viral on Facebook showing fragments of turtle eggshells on the table in front of some of the diners. Following the issues, various non-governmental organisation (NGOs) and research organisation of Sabah urge Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) to take action against the guests of the dinner as well as the restaurant that served the eggs. According to Ismail Sabri, he has directed his lawyers to take legal actions against parties who accused him of consuming the turtle eggs, of which three of the lawsuits were directed to Daily Express newspaper for publishing three allegation articles on him consuming protected turtle eggs which he claimed "the articles suggested he was evading responsibility, had no respect for the Wildlife Conservation Enactment and showed disregard towards the investigation process". His judicial review bid were however dismissed by the high court in Sabah with Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru said the case had been filed in the High Court of Malaya and the jurisdiction of the Kota Kinabalu High Court was limited to cases registered in the state, while the recent decision to transfer the lawsuits to Kuala Lumpur court were seen as against the Malaysia Agreement where Malayan Court had no power to transfer the case under their court authority as enshrined under Article 145(3A) of the Federal Constitution to determine "which court a case shall be transferred must necessarily be subject to the limitation that it can only transfer a case to a court which has the jurisdiction to hear the case". DAP leader Lim Kit Siang also agree the case should only be heard in Sabah court rather than need to be transferred to Kuala Lumpur. On 6 September, the suit was dropped by Ismail without need to go through trial after the matter have been resolved amicablly through a case management between him and the newspaper.

Vaping industry.

On 9 November 2015, Ismail Sabri stated that he supports the vaping industry in Malaysia. He says that the Malay-dominated industry is a success story for bumiputera entrepreneurism despite health warnings by the Malaysian Health Ministry. He has gone further in hoping that the unregulated industry can expand globally. Many prominent doctors and physicians have publicly chided Ismail Sabri's support for the industry, including the Sultan of Johor Ibrahim Ismail, who publicly decreed that all vape outlets must be shut down by 1 January 2016.

2018 pre-general election comment.

On 13 April 2018, Ismail Sabri again provoked a controversy when he said "Every vote for the DAP is akin to giving power to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact to eliminate the purported Malay “special rights” and the “uniqueness” of Islam" as was reported by the Malay language-newspaper "Utusan Malaysia". This was subsequently responded by Kit Siang, who said that Ismail Sabri seemed "to be attempting to frame the coming general election as a battle between the Malays and Chinese as well as between Islam and its enemies", and asked if Ismail Sabri and the UMNO-owned newspaper of "Utusan Malaysia" would be charged under the government's recently passed "Anti-Fake News Act 2018" for the provocative comments. Kit Siang also explained that Pakatan Harapan's basic documents, including its election manifesto, had been clear and specific in giving unconditional support to Article 153 on Malay special rights and Article 3 on Islam as the official religion of the Federation, also saying that although the DAP or other races party managed to form a new government in the country if winning the election, the Malays will never perish since the overwhelming majority of Malaysian voters are still Malays and the overwhelming majority of parliamentary and state assembly constituencies in the country are Malay voter-majority constituencies.

Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob (Jawi: اسماعيل صبري بن يعقوب; born 18 January 1960) is a Malaysian politician currently serving as the Senior Minister for Security and Minister of Defence since March 2020 after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration. He also served as the Leader of the Opposition from March 2019 to February 2020. He has also served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bera since 2004. He is the Vice-President and member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a major party in the Perikatan Nasional coalition.


History.

In 1882, the private society De Vereeniging was established with a concert hall at the Keizer Karelplein. Around 1900 the old Nijmegen concert hall turned out to have had its best time, plans were made for a new one. That these plans were not a superfluous luxury, was evident from the attitude of conductor Willem Mengelberg. He refused to visit Nijmegen any longer as long as nothing was done to the accommodation. After the construction of a new concert hall was started in 1914, the official opening took place in February 1915. The architect of the whole was Oscar Leeuw from Roermond. It took another two years before the small hall (Kleine Zaal) was opened. The Vereeniging turned out to have become a 'Gesamtkunstwerk', because both the architect Oscar Leeuw and his brother Henri Leeuw jr. (Painter and sculptor) had contributed. The figurative work was developed in Nijmegen by the painter Huib Luns and the Antwerp sculptor Egidius Everaerts, while the non-figurative work was made by the sculptor Jacques Oor.  Erected in strict, classically oriented Um 1800 forms. Various characteristics of Art Nouveau and Art Deco can be found in the building. Mengelberg is known to have found the building 'the most beautiful Concerthall in the Netherlands'. The great hall is known for its good acoustics. Other rooms in the building are the Entrance and Colonnade, the Keizer Karelfoyer, the Annazaal, the Sociëteitskamer, the Leeuwzaal and the Grand Café Restaurant. Originally the building would serve as a concert hall with opera or theater and as a ball or exhibition hall. The building is considered the 'opus magnum' of Oscar Leeuw's oeuvre.

Concertgebouw de Vereeniging is a concert hall located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The facility officially opened in 1915 and is built in a mixture of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. It has a capacity of 1,800, and is renowned for its outstanding acoustics for orchestral music.