Game pioneer Will Wright's personal gaming startup falls apart in ...

Game pioneer and SimCity creator Will Wright was enthusiastic about pioneering a new concept in games dubbed ?personal gaming,? where developers use mobile and social data to create a game that is targeted at just one person. To do that, he formed the startup Hive Mind.

?Rather than craft a game like FarmVille for players to learn and play, we learn about you and your routines and incorporate that into a form of game play,? Wright said in an interview with GamesBeat in November.

But Hive Mind is now in legal limbo, thanks to a dispute among the founders that has led to a legal battle over ownership. Jawad Ansari (pictured right), Hive Mind?s first chief executive, is in litigation with the company to protect his 30 percent equity. He was replaced by the directors, which included Wright and Raj Parekh, managing diector of Redwood Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.?Wright, whose games, including The Sims and Spore, have sold more than 100 million units in his career, is creatively stymied at the moment as the case works its way through the legal system.

Ansari sued earlier in February in superior court in Alameda County, Calif. Ansari sued Wright, Parekh, and the Stupid Fun Club, which is Wright?s think tank for entertainment ideas. Wright countersued in Delaware, where the company is incorporated.

Wright said in an interview with GamesBeat that he is constrained from talking about the specifics of the case because of the ligitation. He said he was excited about the product direction of Hive Mind. Ansari also said he was not allowed to talk about the details of the case.

The company was started in the summer of 2011. Ansari, who formerly ran the GCube gaming fund company, was appointed as the CEO on June 14, and his job was to raise money so the company could execute on some ideas created by Wright?s existing startup, the Stupid Fun Club, which raised $10 million from Electronic Arts for a 40 percent to 50 percent stake ?(although EA apparently hadn?t yet shown an interest in a specific idea produced by the company).

The concept was to implement and monetize a ?new cross-platform, cross-media social gaming experience that Wright had envisioned.? Wright?s involvement with Hive Mind gave the startup ?instant credibility,? the suit said.

Wright?s concept would include not only games but also? broadcast television shows. The platform would use location and situational awareness of an individual to enable entertainment, social, and lifestyle software applications. The game, app, and TV show would connect users who had the same goals in mind. One of the ideas was a Shadow Net game with a spy theme.

Ansari was previously managing director at GCube Capital, which tried unsuccessfully to raise a fund to focus on games and entertainment. The company looked promising, but it was stymied by the global financial crisis in 2009. Previously, Ansari was the founder and former general partner of Miven Venture Partners. The suit said the skills of Ansari in finance and Wright in creative were complementary, and Wright was not able to make the Stupid Fun Club into a going concern with any revenues.

Ansari had 120 days to raise $5 million for HiveMind. After that, the Stupid Fun Club could repurchase the rights back from Hive Mind. The suit says that John Riccitiello, chief executive of EA, verbally committed that EA would invest $5 million in Hive Mind, based on a $100 million valuation of Hive Mind.(EA declined to comment on that).

But Ansari said that Wright worried such a deal would make EA turn sour on the Stupid Fun Club. He also alleged that employees of Stupid Fun Club were alarmed that they would have no ownership of Hive Mind, and Wright then took their side. Ansari?s suit alleged that Hive Mind signed agreements to hire two Warner executives as senior vice presidents of Hive Mind. But Ansari alleged that Wright abruptly canceled meetings with those people and asked Ansari not to set up any more meetings without Wright?s approval.

On Aug. 22, just two months after hiring Ansari, Wright recommended that the board replace Ansari as CEO with Lauren Elliott. By September 1, 2011, Wright asked Ansari to resign and minimize his participation in the company. By October, they agreed to sell off the company. But Ansari alleged that Wright and Parekh just tried to shut down Hive Mind and reclaim its intellectual property.

Ansari said that Wright tried to push him out of the company and committed an ?atrocity? by trying to take away Ansari?s equity. In a memo he circulated to friends and industry executives, Ansari called the dispute a ?genocide.? David Lisi, attorney for Wright, said that many of the allegations in Ansari?s complaint were false.

In papers disclosed by Ansari, Ansari said that Hive Mind was in talks to be acquired by or receive an investment from Zynga, the largest social gaming company. That deal reportedly valued Hive Mind at $75 million. The talks took place in November, but nothing ever panned out. By December, Parekh and Wright resigned.

It was unclear whether Zynga was really serious about buying Hive Mind at a high valuation, or if it simply wanted to hire Wright. Ansari alleges that Wright is trying to sell the Hive Mind ideas again, only through the Stupid Fun Club, as if that entity owned them. He also says Wright is trying to implement the ideas through yet another company, Friendly Gravity.

In a countersuit, the defendants said that Ansari did not have deals in place, did not have commitments to raise money, did not work well with people that Hive Mind wanted to hire, and did not state the truth about the value of the ideas that Hive Mind had the rights to.They said that Ansari failed to do basic things like make payments for office space leased for Hive Mind. Wright and Parekh alleged that Ansari had ?volatile and erratic work habits? and had failed at his job of finding funding.

Ansari hired a law firm to investigate allegations of misappropriation of Hive Mind?s intellectual property by Wright and the Stupid Fun Club, and Wright?s attorney called that a ?pretext and a sham.? They accused Ansari of trying to smear Wright?s reputation.

The proceeding threatens to tie up one of the game industry?s brightest creative minds. Wright has spent decades making games at Maxis and Electronic Arts. His games have sold more than 100 million units, and they include hits such as The Sims, SimCity, and Spore. He left the company to create the Stupid Fun Club and strike out on his own in 2009. EA invested in that startup and retained the right of first refusal to publish games based on the Stupid Fun Club?s ideas.

?It didn?t work out at all,? Wright said. ?Hive Mind is still a company. But it has no money. No nothing. It?s just sitting there because of the litigation. It is frozen. It?s so complex and there?s quite a bit of disappointment.?

Ansari withdrew his lawsuit in Alameda, Calif., and in Delaware, the court appointed Wright, Randy Breen and Ansari as the board of Hive Mind. The litigation is still ongoing.

Wright is still coming up with gaming, toy, and other entertainment ideas at the Stupid Fun Club, a startup that predated Hive Mind and is the home to his various creative ideas.

?It?s a shame this didn?t work out,? Wright said. ?We have to find out where this is going in the near term.?

As for Ansari, he recently tweeted, ?Looking for PR professionals to build awareness for ?THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT WILL?, an expos? documentary, releasing on YouTube 6/2012.?

Here is a copy of the original lawsuit:

And here is a copy of Wright?s complaint.

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When Considering Health Insurance You Should Compare The ...

Track your health insurance premiums to cut down your tax liability. Many people are not aware that your health insurance premiums count as a tax deduction. The money spent on deductibles, prescriptions and co-pays for doctor visits are also deductible. State taxes are different than federal taxes though, so make sure to check the guidelines.

Health insurance plans are negotiable, to some extent. It is possible to only buy coverage for certain things, while leaving out other things. For example, prescription coverage, vision coverage and co-payments can all be added or taken away. The constant factor, of course, is that the more coverage you buy the more it will cost and vice-versa.

Remember each year to verify what is covered with your prescriptions. Health insurance companies like to change what medications they are willing to cover, so make sure you read the fine print every time you re-enroll. When your daily meds are dropped by your health insurer, then start the hunt for a new plan right away.

Look at your personal health insurance needs when it?s open enrollment time. Your insurance needs can rapidly change as your health changes and your family grows. You can also make changes to vision, dental and other insurance options.

See if there?s an employee-wellness program with your company that could possibly save you money on health insurance. Many companies offer benefits for those who choose to make important lifestyle changes. You might be able to get into fitness programs that will help your company save cash when it comes to its insurance coverage, therefore lowering your own premiums.

Health insurance is likely to be the most important insurance policy you own. It is easy to be frustrated and overwhelmed from all the plans and coverage options available. Use these tips to choose the right insurance for you.

We hope you found these tips useful. You might find these sites on the following issues interesting as well. For examples, How about scars and scar removal treatment related issues, like Scar Treatment Reviews or what about scars and scar removal treatment related issues, like Home Remedies For Scars. We wish you health and happiness!

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cell phone jammer needs the mounting screw to be fixed ...

The setting of cell phone jammer has the threshold range.
In addition, as electromagnetic radiation of a cell phone electromagnetic radiation standards ?for electromagnetic radiation protection? (GB8702-88) must meet the provisions of a series of national standards. In addition, the U.S. telecommunications industry has established the International Mobile Communications Industry Association (CTIA) have a unity of control for the mobile communications industry in the United States, including its provisions; since August 1, 2000, I hope registered to the CTIA cell phone manufacturers, SAR monitoring information must be submitted to the CTIA, to indicate the user?s manual, this initiative protect the health interests of American consumers, while more expensive SAR value cost of monitoring costs to the cell phone manufacturer themselves. The threshold setting of cell phone jammer should be carefully treated.
Has not been established in China, such a unity of organization, learn from this mechanism, and thus improve cell phone electromagnetic radiation protection standards and implementation of the policy is an important aspect of our country will need to focus on. Cell phone electromagnetic radiation protection measures. Contemporary fast-paced daily life of the large amount of information has given way to cell phones become an essential communication tool indispensable to our living and working under the premise we can not escape the side of such a danger in how to maximize protect their own physical health is everyone should be concerned about the problem, in general, should adhere to the ?purpose of? Nourishing seeks profit from research, production, standards formulation, widely publicized, a number of aspects to improve cell phone electromagnetic radiation protection measures. cell phone jammer needs the mounting screw to be fixed.
Fundamental mechanism for analysis of cell phone radiation have a lot such as finite element, FDTD, boundary element and so on, can simulate and calculate the size and distribution of cell phone radiation field, however, the calculation method and not well applied in practice All of these quantitative analysis for an accurate estimate of the impact of cell phone radiation field on the human body formed only as a kind of individual studies, the same time, many methods are also approximate calculation, the result is not reliable, the terms and conditions within the context of constraints; (2) research means confined to the population sample surveys and animal experiments, the study results are not direct and accuracy, it should be possible for more to introduce the study of medicine and hygiene means Get more universal and accuracy of the conclusions. The mounting screw of cell phone jammer should be stainless.

Posted in Cell Phone Jammer by admin at June 2nd, 2012.
Tags: Cell Phone Jammer

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RolePlayGateway?

Every person has a fear so deep, they can't tell anyone about it. But these tend to be illogical, impossible or improbable. These are connected to our strengths, and this, my friends, is the basis of our story.

Our characters are superheroes. They became what they are after a freak accident involving a car, a tree, and a whole lot of explosions. A car, rigged with bombs, crashed into a tree and set off the bombs. Our heroes are the ones who walked through the flames. They did not come out uninjured, but they survived the flames.

Then, one day, their fears began terrorising the earth. Each hero saw only their own greatest fear, and could not impact on the others. They could see the damage caused, but not what was causing it. They could still be killed by these invisible fears. However, they could co-operate and figure out how to beat them.

They also each had a power that could help them beat their fear. This related to their strength.

But not all fears can be beaten, and the earth is not indestructible. Our heroes are mortal, with flaws that could destroy them. However, the earth is strong. Our heroes have good sides as well, with strengths that can impact on their world. They were the ones chosen.

I need four girls and three guys, ideally. But evem if I had one more guy and two more girls, I would be happy. Here are the existing characters to give you a taste of what they're like. To be honest, I need one or two lighthearted characters to balance it out.

Played by iCat

My Name Is: Valora Lowe

I Am This Old: 16

This Is My Greatest Fear And How It Works: Demons

I am terrified of demons. They manifest wherever and whenever I am not expecting them to, and they manifest when I expect them. They attack me and only me. Nobody else is affected by their claws. Most of the time I feel the pain of the attack but am not injured by it.

This Is My Strength And How It Works: Soundwaves

I can manipulate a mental speakers and the soundwaves can knock away the demons.

I Look Like This:

Here Are Some Lyrics About Me: Turn It Off- Paramore

I scraped my knees while I was praying
And found a demon in my safest haven
Seems like it's getting harder to believe in anything
Than just to get lost in all my selfish thoughts

I wanna know what it'd be like
To find perfection in my pride
To see nothing in the light
I'll turn it off, in all my spite
In all my spite, I'll turn it off

And the worst part is
Before it gets any better
We're headed for a cliff
And in the free fall
I will realize I'm better off
When I hit the bottom

The tragedy, it seems unending
I'm watching everyone I looked up to break and bending
We're taking shortcuts and false solutions
Just to come out the hero

Well, I can see behind the curtain
(I can see it now)
The wheels are cranking, turning
It's all wrong, the way we're working
Towards a goal that's non-existent
It's not existent, but we just keep believing

And the worst part is
Before it gets any better
We're headed for a cliff
And in the free fall
I will realize I'm better off
When I hit the bottom

I wanna know what it'd be like
To find perfection in my pride
To see nothing in the light
I'll turn it off, in all my spite
In all my spite, I'll turn it off
Just turn it off
Again, again, again

And the worst part is
Before it gets any better
We're headed for a cliff
And in the free fall
I will realize I'm better off
When I hit the bottom

And the worst part is
Before it gets any better
We're headed for a cliff
And in the free fall
I will realize I'm better off
When I hit the bottom

Something else about me: I am usually very chatty, but after the attacks I am so overcome by fear I cannot speak.

Played by Lucian1549:

My Name Is: Rosiel Radomil
I Am This Old: Eighteen years
This Is My Greatest Fear And How It Works: Ghosts

I can see ghosts. People have called me insane, but I know they're there. They haunt me. Some of them are kindly ghosts who try to help me, but many are not. Many try to harm me, and many times have I ended up in the hospital because of the injuries they have inflicted. They can smell my fear. The more scared I am, the more that attack me. My main fear, though, is that they harm other people. When ghosts attack me, they can also injure others. I don't want that to happen!

This Is My Strength And How It Works: Blood

My own blood will chase the demons away. What attracts them also repels them. If I manage to draw a line of blood from the top of their forehead to the tip of their nose, they disappear and are banished to the hell which they came from. Of course, this is only temporary, and they come back. They always come back.

I Look Like This:

I am about five feet, nine inches tall. People have called me skinny, I prefer to say that I am slender, after all, I am a perfectly normal weight. Unlike most guys, I prefer to keep my hair long. It is wavy and a dark blond colour. My eyes are somewhere in between blue and hazel, I'm too lazy to be bothered to find a name for the specific colour. People have said that my face looks feminine, however, I think that's really just because I wear a whole lot of make-up. I know, it's weird for most guys to wear make-up, and that they're usually teased and called gay. But I am gay, so attempting to use that as an insult would make me laugh in your face, and, besides, I like the look make-up gives me. I dress in fairly stylish clothes, although they're usually just black track suits. People say they look elegant on me, though, and that's good enough for me. I am almost always wearing a white choker around my neck, for my own reasons. There are multiple scars on my fingertips and hands from my power. I almost always carry a pocketknife in my pocket just in case the ghosts come back.

Here Are Some Lyrics About Me:
No Time to Cry - Cradle of Filth
It's just a feeling
I get sometimes
A feeling
Sometimes
And I get frightened
Just like you
I get frightened too
But it's

No, no, no
No time for heartache
No, no, no
No time to run and hide
No, no, no
No time for breaking down
No, no, no
No time to cry

Sometimes in the world as is you've
Got to shake the hand that feeds you
It's just like Adam says
It's not so hard to understand
It's just like always coming down on
Just like Jesus never came and
What did you expect to find
It's just like always here again it's

No, no, no
No time for heartache
No, no, no
No time to run and hide
No, no, no
No time for breaking down
No, no, no
No time to cry

Everything will be alright
Everything will turn out fine
Some nights I still can't sleep
And the voices pass with time
And I keep

Everything will be alright
Everything will turn out fine
Some nights I still can't sleep
And the voices pass with time
And I keep

No time for tears
No time to run and hide
No time to be afraid of fear
I keep no time to cry

No, no, no
No time for heartache
No, no, no
No time to run and hide
No, no, no
No time for breaking down
No, no, no
No time to cry.

Destroyed - Within Temptation

I did my best to please you
But my best was never good enough
Somehow you're only able to see
All I am not
Did you ever look behind
Aren't you afraid of the pieces you'll find
I have failed you
But you have failed me too
It's so easy to destroy and condemn
The ones you do not understand
Do you ever wonder if it's justified
It's so easy to destroy and condemn
The ones you do not understand
In your life why didn't you ever try
I close my eyes as I walk the thin line between love and hate
For the person with the same blood in his veins
You show no regrets
About all the things you did or said
I have failed you
But believe me you failed me too
It's so easy to destroy and condemn
The ones you do not understand
Do you ever wonder if it's justified
It's so easy to destroy and condemn
The ones you do not understand
In your life why didn't you ever try
It's so easy to destroy and condemn
The ones you do not understand
Do you ever wonder if it's justified
It's so easy to destroy and condemn
The ones you do not understand
Do you ever wonder if it's justified

Field of Innocence - Evanescence
I still remember the world
From the eyes of a child
Slowly those feelings
Were clouded by what I know now

Where has my heart gone
An uneven trade for the real world
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

I still remember the sun
Always warm on my back
Somehow it seems colder now

Where has my heart gone
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything

Where has my heart gone
An uneven trade for the real world
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything
Oh, Where

Where has my heart gone
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything

I still remember.

Haunted - Evanescence
Long lost words whisper slowly to me
Still can't find what keeps me here
When all this time I've been so hollow inside
(I know you're still there)

Watching me and wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you pull me down

Hunting you, I can smell you alive
Your heart pounding in my head

Watching me and wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Saving me, raping me, watching me

Watching me and wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you pull me down

Something else about me: I refuse to speak about my father. Don't ask me any questions about him. I may have to injure myself purposely to use my power, but don't you dare think I enjoy it in any way.

Played By 2 Minutes Ago:

My Name Is: Aoki Kazuo

I Am This Old: 21

This Is My Greatest Fear And How It Works:

"For as long as I can remember, I've always been agateophobic. It has kept me up many nights as I remember how my brother was, running around and-... well... How do I put this...? He had a certain taste for human flesh. My younger brother was a mentally insane cannibal, having merely begun as a simple curious child. His last act was caught by some civilians who ran away and reported the incident while he was busy feasting and the authorities... to say the least, he took a bullet. What I hate most about this situation isn't the fact that my only sibling was killed or that even when he had such habits, mother refused to allow anyone to know of it.

It was the fact that I was glad he was dead.

He was the epitome of all my fears; insanity. I thought that after 3 years, I would have gotten the memory of him diluted from my mind, but... he just keeps coming back. No matter how many times I lock myself away, no matter how hard I try to hide, he still comes back to remind me.

I don't... I don't want to end up like him. I don't want to be that type of man. Just thinking of the possibility of myself becoming a madness such as he, it terrifies me. This fear of mine...

It in itself is my personal insanity."

This Is My Strength And How It Works: Bone Manipulation

Kazuo has the ability to manipulate the bones in his body and use them for offensive/defensive means. He can reconstruct and mutate the generation of new bone mass, project bones out from his skin and/or rearranging them in order to give his body a new formation.

I Look Like This:

Here Are Some Lyrics About Me: TBA

Something Else About Me: "I have a love for felines. They're just... so fascinating."

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Is a $400 Cricket iPhone worth it?

2 hrs.

Sean Captain, TechNewsDaily managing editor

The groundbreaking news Thursday?was that cellphone provider Cricket would be the first mainland U.S.?company to offer iPhones on a month-to-month plan. And the rumor now?is that Boost Mobile will follow.

That means a higher price for the phone than if you went with a two-year contract from the likes of Verizon or AT&T. But the far-cheaper monthly charges ultimately lead to big savings. And it is commitment-free ? handy should your financial ?circumstances change (a layoff, for example).

Still, is it worth the price? The cheapest option is a $400, 8GB iPhone 4 ? a model that debuted in June 2010. The other is a $500, 16GB iPhone 4s ? the current model, but one likely to be replaced by a radically new iPhone 5 in October. Cricket has not said if it will also sell the new iPhone.

For a tech fanatic, this probably won't work. If the overwhelming crush of rumors is right, a new iPhone may run on superfast LTE networks, not only providing an excellent online experience but possibly making services like Skype dependable enough that you can downgrade to the cheapest voice plan. It will likely also have a larger screen (the latest rumor says it will be 5 inches tall). [How Much Smartphone Data Do I Need?]

Still, is all that worth spending an more than $1,000 extra over the two-year contract? That's what you could save over the same two years with a budget, no-contract provider such as Cricket or Boost. [Cricket Spills Details on No-Contract iPhone Plan]

Then there is the issue of service. For many people, Cricket isn't an option because its patchwork network doesn't cover their area. That includes major cities such as New York City and Chicago. You can see if Cricket serves your area by visiting its site and entering your ZIP code.

Boost would be a different story, however. It runs on Sprint's nationwide network, so it's available more widely.

Aside from the area of coverage, what about the quality? TechNewsDaily asked Brad Akyuz, director of analyst group NPD Connected Intelligence, about Cricket. His reply: "Cricket offers a decent service at competitive service price points." Not a rave, but somewhat reassuring.

For years, the best gauge of wireless providers has been Consumer Reports' massive annual survey of customers. The magazine always has ratings for the big-four carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon), but not for Cricket, Boost and several other no-contract providers.

It does have results for Virgin Mobile, however, which uses the same Sprint network as Boost. Virgin's overall reader score of 78 actually beats the big four, but it ranks just fair for voice, text and data service.

That's a bit behind parent company Sprint and far behind Verizon, but still better than T-Mobile and especially AT&T. If Boost is as good as sister company Virgin, and it gets the iPhone, it will be a compelling deal. And if it turns out not to be, you would have 30 days to figure that out and return the phone for a refund (possibly minus a $25 "restocking" fee).?

Cricket has a 30-day policy, as well (with the addition of shipping fees). So there is little risk in trying.

If you aren't fanatic about having the latest tech, but instead want a reliable phone with long battery life and the biggest selection of apps, you should at least try Cricket ? or possibly Boost, should the rumor prove true.

Copyright 2012 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Excellence on Campus West (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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BlackBerry PlayBook Update Adds Improved Android Compatibility

The RIM PlayBook by just received a developers update that adds some interesting new Android functionality to RIM’s tablet. This new version now supports Android apps running in their own windows, improving compatibility with the general Android app universe. From Crackberry: Improved HTML5 support Portrait support for Email, Calendar and Contacts Improved folder support including IMAP folder support Full device encryption is now supported, so that the whole device and personal partition can be secure. Screenshots are now saved in lossless PNG format. Each Android app will now run in its own window. This greatly improves the user experience and consistency among the other application runtimes. Access to the Camera hardware is now supported for Android apps, allowing many more application types to work on the BlackBerry? PlayBook? tablet. In-App Payment is now supported through the BlackBerry Payment SDK, so Android applications can include virtual items for sale in their applications. This version is butting up against the incoming BB10 OS that will soon appear on phones and tablets, but, as the Verge notes, the BB10 PlayBook should be able to run apps written for previous OS versions. Oddly, this version seems like a bit of a dead end but it’s nice to see Android functionality getting fleshed out more concretely. via RIM

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Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp heads back to 15-day DL

Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp, right, scores on a double by Andre Ethier as Milwaukee Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado looks on during the first inning of their baseball game, Wednesday, May 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp, right, scores on a double by Andre Ethier as Milwaukee Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado looks on during the first inning of their baseball game, Wednesday, May 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp looks on after scoring on a double by Andre Ethier during the first inning of their baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Wednesday, May 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Los Angeles Dodgers placed center fielder Matt Kemp on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday for the second time this month because of a left hamstring strain.

And this time, the training staff is going to make sure there are no recurrences when he returns to the lineup.

Kemp went 1 for 4 with a double in two games since being reinstated from the disabled list on Tuesday. He left Wednesday night's game against Milwaukee after scoring all the way from first base on a first-inning double by Andre Ethier.

"He has a little bit of swelling in the same area, as well as a new strain in a higher part of that hamstring," said Sue Falsone, who is in her first year as the club's head athletic trainer after spending the previous five seasons as the team's physical therapist.

"They're both Grade-1s, which means that there's not a lot of muscle fiber tear. It's the lowest grade of a muscle strain, so that's good news. But having multiple strains in one muscle, obviously it's going to be a little bit longer from a rehab standpoint. So we're just going to take it day-by-day."

Falsone said the best-case scenario for Kemp is four weeks before he can play again. He spent two weeks on the disabled list the first time the hamstring bothered him and when he got back to the dugout after his latest mishap, he broke a bat over his knee in frustration.

"It's nobody's fault," Kemp said after Wednesday's game. "I was happy to be back. It felt great, and I thought I was 100 percent. But now I'm going to be sitting out a while. It feels worse than the first time. This is my first time ever really having any hamstring problems, so I don't know how to really treat it. I know they're very tricky and they can always come back. So I definitely have to take it slow and make sure it's healed."

Kemp was leading the league with 12 home runs when he aggravated the hamstring running out a grounder May 13 against Colorado ? ending his consecutive games streak at 399. He played in two rehab games with Triple-A Albuquerque over the weekend, going 5 for 7 with two homers and five RBIs.

"We have benchmarks and milestones in place, and he achieved all of them or he wouldn't have been out there playing," Falsone said. "But I don't think you can say that the first strain caused the second strain. So we'll put him through all the same rigors that we did before ? all the baserunning, all the deceleration stuff ? but we're just going to take longer to do it."

Los Angeles entered Thursday with a major league-best 32-18 record and a 5?-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West despite their first three-game losing streak. And with Kemp's bat missing from the third spot in the order, the Dodgers will be hard-pressed to fill the void on a long-term basis.

"It's frustrating for everybody," Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said. "We all feel bad for Matt. I know nobody feels worse than he does. He wants to play ? bad. It's never easy for the team to deal with when your superstar's out. But at the same time, the games keep coming. So you've got to keep playing and keep grinding."

"This is our first tough stretch of the year, but we'll come out of it and we'll be better for it," said. "We don't know how long Matt's going to be out, but we've got to play like we did the first time he was out, and the guys who stepped up have got to keep doing that."

Kemp, who finished runner-up to Milwaukee's Ryan Braun in last year's NL MVP voting, is batting .355 with 28 RBIs in 36 games. Last season, he hit .324 with 39 homers and 126 RBIs ? falling one homer shy of becoming only the fifth player in big league history with at least 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in the same season.

"We thought Matt was ready to roll," manager Don Mattingly said. "We wouldn't have thrown him out there if we didn't think he was a hundred percent ? or if he didn't think he was a hundred percent. This should be a challenging time for us. It's the time you find out what kind of club you are and what kind of character you have. We were pretty resilient for a couple of weeks when Matt was out (9-5), and guys stepped up and did their thing. And we're going to have to do it again."

The Dodgers promoted second baseman-outfielder Alex Castellanos from Triple-A Albuquerque. Castellanos, who will be making his major league debut, was hitting .379 with 10 doubles, four triples, five homers and 14 RBI in 22 games with Albuquerque.

Associated Press

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