Video: Say Hello To The Two Main Protagonists Of Trials Of Mana
Trials of Mana – a remake of the legendary Super Famicom RPG Seiken Densetsu 3 – is due to hit Switch early next year, and a fresh character trailer has just been released to build up a bit of hype during the festive period.
As the first ‘Character Spotlight Trailer’, this new footage gives us a glimpse of the game’s two main heroes: the swordsman Duran from the Kingdom of Valsena and Princess Angela from Altena. A key feature of the game is the ability to play as multiple characters and experience different storylines, and this trailer does a good job of showing off how Square Enix has fleshed out the characters for this updated version.
If you’re keen for more, then you’ll be pleased to learn that this is the first of a series of spotlights on the cast of the game. The four other playable heroes – Hawkeye, Riesz, Kevin and Charlotte – will be getting their own trailers soon.
Borderlands 3: New Moxxi DLC Gameplay, Holiday Trailer, And A Discount
Borderlands 3 is preparing for the festive season with a new trailer, a sale, and some new footage from its new DLC, Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, which is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A new hotfix patch is also coming later today on all platforms.
First up, the new holiday trailer encourages you to "give the gift of mayhem" this Christmas. You could certainly do worse--Borderlands 3 earned an 8/10 in our review.
The new DLC, which launched on December 19, has been shown off as part of The Borderlands Show, which can be watched below. This includes sections and gameplay that we have not seen yet, giving us a taste of how the heist will go. There's about 15 minutes of footage from the campaign in here, followed by discussion about the game. You can also check out our own footage from the DLC here:
The sale, which includes the newly released Stadia version of the game, takes 35% off the price of the standard, deluxe, and super deluxe versions of the game. The discount runs on different dates for each separate version of the game, but here's when you'll be able to get the discount:
Stadia: December 17 – January 7
Xbox One: December 19 – January 2
Epic Games store: December 19 – January 7
PlayStation 4: December 20 – January 6
Borderlands 3 has continued to update with new content since launch; if you want to play with any friends who get the game for Christmas, make sure you've downloaded the latest updates.
The BuildBox game engine is now available in a free version. Previously a rather expensive proposition, BuildBox Free enables a much larger portion of the developer community to access this no-code required game engine.
For the first time ever, we’re releasing a completely free version of our no-code software on December 18th. We’re calling it, Buildbox Free and with it, you can create professional 2D and 3D games without writing a single line of code. Our software features unique creation layers, which makes developing games extremely easy and lightning-fast. As shown in the video above, there are many different creation layers you can choose from when you’re making games with Buildbox.
Smart Assets
The first creation layer option is smart assets. They’re predefined asset templates with pre-canned animations and logic built-in to make building out your games super fast and straightforward. Just browse the Buildbox Asset Library, which is located right inside of the software, and choose a smart asset to start creating. Smart assets let you add popular gameplay mechanics instantly to your game with one-click.
Brainboxes
One of our newest features and the second creation layer in Buildbox is brainboxes. Brainboxes help take your 3D game development to a whole new level. They work much like components did in Buildbox 2, but provide more control over a 3D model. With brainboxes, you can add ‘brains’ to any character or object in your game to give them a specific action or behavior. Choose a brainbox to make a car drive or make your character walk.
Nodes
For even more control, you can also use the third creation layer, nodes. Buildbox has an advanced node system with ‘smart nodes’ that are easy to use. They add a deeper level of complexity to your game by allowing you to easily create logic for any character or object in your game. However, you’re not limited to the nodes available in Buildbox. We went even further and added another layer of creation for our advanced developers.
Low-Code
This fourth creation layer is the low-code option. All nodes are based in JavaScript, making it easy in Buildbox to build your own nodes to use for your games from scratch. They can also be easily shared with the community or even sold in our upcoming asset store.
2D & 3D World Creation
We’ve also vastly improved the software making the user interface more user-friendly with mini-tutorials and easy navigation options. There’s also been over 100 fixes and tweaks to make your game development experience better. We’ve added many new creation layers and features including designated 2D worlds, and a fly mode for moving around 3D worlds effortlessly.
An obvious question at this point is, what are the limitations of the BuildBox Free vs the Pro edition. This was answered in an earlier blog post:
Buildbox Free is a lighter version of the Pro plan. This means there are some limitations. With Buildbox Free, you’ll be able to integrate only two popular Ad Networks: AdMob and IronSource, with a 10% or less cut taken from each. There is a one-world limitation. Plus, your game’s splash screens will feature the BB logo, which cannot be removed. Also, export is limited to only iOS and Android.
BuildBox free should be available for download now right here. Learn more about BuildBox Free in the video below and stay tuned for a more in-depth hands-on feature on BuildBox in the near future.
EDIT – They have released the following blog post now that the countdown is over. The form to get a download link and product key is available here. A warning, they seem to be suffering heavily under demand (not to mention a janky signup process).
Grab Civilization 6 DLC for free on iOS until January 1st
By Joe Robinson19 Dec 2019
Aspyr Media, the company that brought Civilization 6 to the uncivilised masses on iOS, have announced they’re running another holiday promotion this year with Civilization 6’s DLC library on iOS. From now until January 1st, 2020, players who have already paid for the full-game unlock will be able to download and acquire the other bits of DLC (not including the big expansions, Rise & Fall and Gathering Storm).
The packs you unlock rotates every two days, with the new set due to come in tomorrow. Here’s the full schedule:
December 18th until 20th: Poland Civilization and Scenario Pack
December 20th until 22nd: Vikings Scenario
December 22nd until 24th: Australia Civilization and Scenario Pack
December 24th until 26th: Persia and Macedon Civilization and Scenario Pack
December 26th until 28th: Nubia Civilization and Scenario Pack
December 28th until January 1st: Khmer and Indonesia Civilization and Scenario Pack
Civilization 6 initially shocked mobile gamers with its incredibly high price tag, although it has seen a lot more aggressive discounting this year, with the base game unlock going for as low as $14.99. The expansions – which arguably are necessary for a more robust experience – haven’t been as cheap, however, but if we’re lucky we might see some decent discounts next year.
If you’ve yet to try out Civ 6 on your phone or tablet, you can download and play the first 60 turns for free.
FCC retest vindicates Apple on iPhone RF exposure claims
By Malcolm Owen Thursday, December 19, 2019, 01:14 pm PT (04:14 pm ET)
The iPhone complies with U.S. standards for RF exposure, the FCC has confirmed after performing a battery of tests on the smartphone. Regulators promised to evaluate Apple’s handset following an August report by the Chicago Tribune claiming that the model breaches consumer safety rules.
A cellphone tower collection.
In August, it was claimed by independent testing conducted by the Chicago Tribune that there was an issue with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, with regards to radio frequency broadcasts. Performed by the RF Exposure Lab, the tests showed iPhone 7 exceeded the amount of exposure the FCC permits devices to expose to a user, by a considerable margin.
The retest, conducted by the FCC, included a mix of devices supplied by Apple and Samsung, as well as others purchased by the FCC. Testing was performed between Aug. 30 and Sept. 23.
All of the devices tested at the FCC’s own lab — not a contractor — were under the maximum legal limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram or less, over 1 gram of tissue that is absorbing the most signal. The legal limit is derived from a safe limit, which is about 50 times higher.
Test results, via the FCC
The previous testing commissioned by the newspaper measured levels between 2.5 watts per kilogram and 2.81 watts per kilogram, far above the legal limit for exposure.
At the time of the original test, Apple took issue with the results and in a statement said the results “were inaccurate due to the test setup not being in accordance with procedures necessary to properly assess the iPhone models.” Apple added that “all models are fully certified by the FCC and counterparts in other countries where iPhones are sold, with Apple further proclaiming “we are in compliance and meet all applicable exposure guidelines and limits.”
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-20-2019, 04:23 AM - Forum: Windows
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How tech intensity accelerates business value
Organizations that embrace technology intensity are inherently more successful. What exactly is technology intensity, and why is it critical for today’s enterprises to build a cohesive digital strategy?
Technology intensity defined
Technology intensity has three components:
Rapid adoption of hyper-scale cloud platforms
A rational business decision to invest in digital capabilities
Relentless focus on building technology that customers can trust—relying on credible suppliers and building security into new products.
As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella notes, “We must adopt technology in ways that are much faster than what we have done in the past. Each one of us, in our organizations, will have to build our own digital capability on top of the technology we have adopted. Tech intensity is one of the key considerations you have to get right.”
Technology intensity as a critical enabler
Simply put, technology intensity is a critical part of business strategy today. I meet regularly with leaders from companies around the world. In my experience, high-performance companies invest the most in digital capabilities and skillsets. In fact, there is a productivity gap between these top performers and their lesser performing counterparts that directly correlates with the scale of digital investments.
Other research shows that technology spending into hiring developers and creating innovative software that is owned and used exclusively by a company is a key competitive advantage. These companies cultivate the ability to develop their own “digital IP,” building exclusive software and tools that only their customers have access to. Resources are always scarce, and these companies build differentiated IP on top of existing best-in-class technology platforms.
By putting customers at the center of the OEM supply chain, a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) sponsored by Microsoft, Lorenzo Fornaroli, Senior Director of Global Logistics and Supply Chain at China-based ICT Huawei Technologies, highlights an advantage of embracing technology intensity: “…as an ICT company, we have the internal resources needed to identify new technologies early and deploy them effectively. Skills and experience with these technologies are readily available in-house.”
New business models
Manufacturers are increasingly using technology intensity principles to extend their supply chain well past the point of delivery. They are creating smart, connected products and digitizing their businesses with Azure IoT, Microsoft AI, Azure Blockchain Service, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365.
Rolls-Royce, for example, takes a monthly fee from customers of its jet engines that is based on flying hours. Sellers of industrial machinery such as Sandvik Coromant and Tetrapak are exploring the concept of charging customers for parts machined and containers filled.
Using the data that connected products transmit back about their condition and usage, manufacturers build new digital services. For these forward-thinking manufacturers, the extended supply chain is an opportunity to move away from selling products to customers based on a one-off, upfront purchase price, and to charge for subscriptions based on performance guarantees. This is “technology intensity in action”, as manufacturers become digital software companies.
Technology intensity in action
Bühler is a global market leader in die casting technology and has adopted technology intensity for connected products. Looking to continue driving innovation in the die casting process, Bühler aggregated data from different die casting cell components together under a single cell-management system. Bühler can now monitor, control, and manage a complete die casting cell in a unified, easy-to-use system. The company is also exploring additional avenues for digital transformation including real-time fleet learning by fine-tuning its Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to generate new insights.
Lexmark, a manufacturer of laser printers and imaging products, now offers Lexmark Cloud Print Infrastructure as a Service (CPI). Customers no longer manage onsite print infrastructure. Instead, Lexmark installs its own IoT-enabled devices and activates smart services, creating an always-on print environment. To roll out CPI, Lexmark worked with Microsoft to quickly adopt new Internet of Things (IoT), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), AI and collaboration tools to successfully grow their internal digital capabilities.
Colfax is another great example of a manufacturer embracing technology intensity. A global industrial technology company, Colfax, recognized the need to adopt industrial IoT technologies and the importance of embracing a comprehensive digital transformation initiative to expand the offerings of two of its business platforms—ESAB, a welding and cutting solutions provider, and Howden, an air and gas handling engineering company. Working with Microsoft and PTC, the company adopted advanced cloud technologies while building up a digital skillset.
Investing in new digital skillsets
Savvy manufacturers harness data from connected products and combine this with data from many other sources, in unprecedented volumes. The copious amounts of data require mindset shifts, requiring organizations to build skills for a new digital era. Most manufacturers concur that they need to expand their internal capabilities in this manner.
“Senior supply-chain professionals have typically been accustomed to working with a fairly limited set of data to drive their decisions—but that’s all changed now,” says Daniel Helmig, group head of quality and operations at Swiss-Swedish industrial group ABB in the EIU report putting customers at the center of the OEM supply chain. He continues, “but being able to take advantage of the huge volumes of data available to us— and these are growing every day—demands a mind shift among supply-chain professionals, based on using new levels of visibility to respond to issues quickly and decisively.”
From the same report, Sheri Henck, vice-president of global supply chain, distribution, and logistics at Medtronic, a US-based manufacturer of medical equipment and devices, commented “In the past, a great deal of supply-chain decision-making was based on intuition, because data wasn’t available. Today, there is plenty of data available, but there’s also a recognition that skills and competencies for supply-chain leaders and their teams need to change if we are to make the most of data and use it to make data-driven recommendations and decisions.”
Feature: Every Star Wars Game On Nintendo Systems, Ranked By Us
You may have felt a disturbance in the Force recently. Yes, the ‘end’ of Star Wars is upon us with the release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. The final film in what has been dubbed ‘the Skywalker Saga’, it promises to bring to a close the cinematic tales of the Skywalker clan and tie a bow on the nine-film series which began way back in 1977.
Of course, that isn’t really the end of it – there are new trilogies and spin-offs in the works, TV shows aplenty and much more planned. And with Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga coming to Switch in 2020, that galaxy far, far away will be coming at you across all media for a long time to come.
To celebrate the ‘end’ of this 42-year series, we thought we’d take a look back at every Star Wars game on Nintendo systems, and we’ve ranked them below from worst to best. In instances where the same game was released on multiple platforms, we’ve opted to mention the lesser of the two – invariably the portable version – in the other’s entry.
It must be said that the Force is… distinctly middling with many of these. Unfortunately, many can be summed up with the adjectives ‘average’ and ‘repetitive’. Anyone who’s only ever played Star Wars games on a Game Boy deserves particular pity, though. Those Nintendo portables had a lot of things going for them, but a high midichlorian count wasn’t one of them.
So, come with us on a journey to a galax– oh you know the rest…
Publisher: LucasArts / Developer: THQ
Release Date: 21st Nov 2003 (USA)
We start off with the absolute worst. It’s the worst because it’s got Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon on the cover – the two coolest things in the Star Wars universe – and the game sullies their good names. As with all terrible Star Wars games, the iconography fools you into thinking ‘ah, it can’t be that bad!’, but our review conclusion sums this up perfectly: “Flight of the Falcon is a very bad game. As such, you should not play it. However cool the screenshots look, however promising the premise sounds, just remember that the Force is not with this one in any way, shape or form.”
Han, mah boogie, you deserved better.
Publisher: THQ / Developer: LucasArts
Release Date: Dec 1999 (USA)
You have to remember that while Yoda is a beloved character, this game came before we’d ever seen him wield a lightsaber and the Force in what is easily the best scene in Attack of the Clones. No, at the time the name Yoda Stories brought to mind sedate challenges on Dagobah involving moving pebbles. Well, contrary to the title, here you control Luke Skywalker in a top-down adventure as he chops snakes in two with his lightsaber. How bad can that be?…
Really quite bad, it turns out. ‘Sedate’ is too generous a word, and whole game is a technical embarrassment. It’s tempting to blame the hardware, but then you look at Link’s Awakening and see what might have been. Link’s Awakening this ain’t. Poodoo, plain and simple.
Publisher: THQ / Developer: David A. Palmer Productions
Release Date: May 2002 (USA)
Fittingly, the weakest movie in the saga got one of the weakest Star Wars games ever. Normally we’d caveat a statement like that with ‘arguably’, but Episode II really is inescapably pants (except for that Yoda bit at the end – we remember quite liking that). The tie-in GBA game is a turgid side-scrolling beat ’em up that lacks the artistic polish even the dullest examples on this list bring to the table. Coarse, rough and irritating, indeed.
Publisher: THQ / Developer: Helixe
Release Date: Nov 2002 (USA)
An isometric platformer that takes place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, you control the petulant young Skywalker in this stodgy action game. Considering the platform it’s on, the game looks and sounds okay. Beyond that, though, it’s dull, repetitive and so s-l-o-w. Anakin, you’re breaking our heart.
Publisher: THQ / Developer: HotGen
Release Date: Nov 2001 (USA)
With passable animation and audio (considering the system) and boring, finicky platforming, Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles falls into a regretfully familiar pattern of portable Star Wars games. It’s not as hateful as some, and it’s a little faster paced than New Droid Army, but it’s a similar story. Perhaps developer HotGen was trying to faithfully capture the excitement of The Phantom Menace‘s trade disputes, in which case job done. Some might call the non-canon blue lightsaber wielded by Mace Windu on the cover unforgivable, but we were too bored to care.
Publisher: JVC / Developer: Lucasfilm Games
Release Date: Mar 1992 (USA)
A relatively ho-hum 8-bit platformer where you play as Luke battling through variations on the locations from the movie, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back could not be more average. For a kid desperate to play as hero Luke, it was passable filler but no more. A Game Boy version also exists, but if you’re desperate to play through what is arguably the best film of the saga in video game form, you’re much better off going with the 16-bit ‘Super’ iteration. Indeed, LucasArts didn’t even bother with an 8-bit Return of the Jedi – the developer simply jumped generations and started afresh with Super Star Wars on the SNES.
Publisher: THQ / Developer: HotGen
Release Date: Nov 2000 (USA)
Another one quick to tick the ‘dull’ and ‘repetitive’ boxes, if you think the isometric adventures on the GBA were tough going on the eyes, Obi-Wan’s Adventures takes that style of game back a console generation in an ‘adventure’ which takes place concurrently with the events of Episode 1. It’s not awful, just ugly and entirely pedestrian.
A tie-in with the movie and TV shows surrounding the events between Episodes II and III, it was the same old story when it came to this action platformer. Uninspired, unengaging, unexciting – take your pick. A least the bad games are really bad and inspired an emotion other than disappointment. Republic Heroes is just painfully, crushingly average. We’re off to dig out our thesaurus because we’re running out of words for ‘unremarkable’, and we think there are several more to come before we get to the good stuff.
Publisher: JVC / Developer: Beam Software
Release Date: Nov 1991 (USA)
Another platformer, to be fair it did a decent job of providing some variety and touching on the main characters and locations of the movie, but it’s pretty unmemorable (and unforgiving). The token Game Boy version upped the difficulty as it reduced screen real estate, but possibly the most interesting of the 8-bit versions is the entirely different and earlier Famicom game developed by Namco in 1987. ‘Interesting’ because it’s not afraid of significantly deviating from the source material and having Darth Vader turn into a scorpion, Not ‘interesting’ because it’s any good, sadly.
Publisher: Ubisoft / Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: Sep 2004 (USA)
A Ubisoft side-scroller, Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force sure looked impressive. It used the same engine as the console’s port of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, with smooth animation and 3D-style character models. Giving players the chance to relive the original trilogy anew, bland gameplay was once again its undoing. Totally vanilla, utterly underwhelming, but could’ve been worse.
Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: LucasArts
Release Date: 3rd Nov 1996 (USA) / 1st Mar 1997 (UK/EU)
Ah, yes – Shadows of the Empire. There’s huge nostalgia for this one, and it has its moments – specifically the opening Hoth battle which stands head-and-shoulders above anything else the game has to offer – but it undeniably benefited from the fact that there were so few games available for the N64 for several months following launch. Players who did pick it up paid an arm and a leg and were possibly inclined to give it more chances than it deserved. It’s not the worst game on this list by quite some margin, but it’s probably best left in the memories. Time hasn’t been kind to ol’ Dash Rendar.
Still, cracking box art, no?
Publisher: LucasArts / Developer: Factor 5
Release Date: 15th Oct 2003 (USA) / 7th Nov 2003 (UK/EU)
The best thing about this game is the other games it features. Included on the disc is almost the entirety of Rogue Leader now playable in split screen 2-player mode. It also features the original Atari Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi arcade games. These alone make it worth picking this game up if you see it cheap.
Rebel Strike itself, though? Oh dear. You think the on-foot sections might be passable, then you play them and realise no, they’re just terrible. Simply delete the marquee game from the disc and this is actually a fine Star Wars package.
Xbox Insider Release Notes – Beta Ring (1911.191205-1530)
Hey Beta ring users! Today’s Xbox Insider Release Notes highlight the latest fixes, known issues, and features coming to your console. Starting at 6:00 p.m. PT today, users will receive the latest 1911 Xbox One system update (build: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1911\18363.8125.191205-1530). Keep reading for more details.
System Update Details:
OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1911\18363.8125.191205-1530
Available: 6:00 p.m. PT – December 9, 2019
Mandatory: 3:00 a.m. PT – December 10, 2019
Fixes for Beta
We’ve heard your feedback, and we’re happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented for this 1911 build:
Party Chat
Fixed an issue where some users would disconnect from party chat when playing a backwards compatible title.
Store
Trailer playback on product pages should be disabled by default.
Known Issues for Beta
We understand some issues have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes. These issues aren’t being ignored, but it will take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. We appreciate your patience at this time!
Audio
Users who have Dolby Atmos enabled and console display settings set to 120hz with 36 bits per pixel (12-bit) are experiencing loss of Dolby Atmos audio in some situations.
Workaround: Disable 120hz or set Video Fidelity to 30 bits per pixel (10-bit) or lower.
Profile Color
Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.
Are you not seeing your issue listed above? Make sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of your issue. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.
Learn more about feedback and how each ring is differentiated in the following links:
For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter and join the community subreddit for support and updates. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox One Update Preview ring!
