Apple Blowout Sale: Macs as low as $499, savings up to $900 off
By Christine McKee Wednesday, June 12, 2019, 08:12 pm PT (11:12 pm ET)
B&H has slashed prices on new and closeout Apple hardware, with upgraded Macs as low as $499. Save up to $900 instantly on everything from MacBook Pros to iPads and Apple Watches, with free expedited shipping and special financing incentives. Shop the Apple sale today, as many of these discounts won’t last long.
Apple Sale at B&H
$499 Macs and more
Kicking off the savings event, B&H has issued a $500 discount on Apple’s last-gen Mac mini. This configuration features a faster 2.8GHz Core i5 processor compared to the standard model, as well as a 1TB Fusion drive.
Along with Mac mini deals, B&H is making room for 2019 MacBook Pros by clearing out 2018 inventory with Apple discounts of up to $900 off. Like the Mac mini offer, these prices are the lowest available, according to our MacBook Pro Price Guide.
Apple’s 2017 iMacs are also discounted heavily during the blowout sale, with prices starting at $899 for iMac 4K systems and $1,399 for the larger 27-inch iMac 5K. These are the lowest prices we’ve ever seen on the 2017 desktop Macs.
Shoppers in eligible states can also take advantage of an instant sales tax loyalty rebate with B&H’s Payboo Card.
Fresh price cuts are also in effect on Apple’s 2017 iPad Pros, with loaded 512GB models with Wi-Fi + Cellular capability falling to just $719 with free expedited shipping within the contiguous U.S. This represents $560 cash savings off MSRP, with optional AppleCare available for $129. These are the absolute lowest prices available, with many other Apple retailers charging hundreds of dollars more, according to our iPad Pro Price Guide.
iPad deals
Up to $420 off Apple Watches
Apple Watch blowout deals
Triple digit markdowns on Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 4 devices are also in effect at B&H Photo, with savings of up to $420 off. A variety of styles are on sale, from Nike+ models for working out, to sleek Space Black Stainless devices with Milanese Loop bands. Top picks can be found below, with more Apple Watch deals in our Price Guide.
Apple Watch Series 3 (Stainless Steel) + free gift
Apple Watch Series 3 (Aluminum) + free gift
Additional Apple Deals
AppleInsider and Apple Authorized Resellers are also running a variety of exclusive promotions this month on Apple devices that deliver the lowest prices anywhere. These deals are as follows:
Any reviewer will tell you that the fun of Cultist Simulator is the mystery. The obscure mechanics and gradual process of discovery are precisely what make the game such an evocative simulation of delving into the chthonic world of esoteric knowledge. While true, what they don’t tell you is that you can also get easily frustrated managing the game’s earlier, more mundane tasks. Cultist Simulator is one of the few games where you can starve to death in the first ten minutes from pure ignorance.
Whether you are brand new to the game or just someone who googled ‘Cultist Simulator Tips’ after staring blankly at its virtual table, this guide is for folks who want a softer landing when they’re getting started, but don’t want the cool stuff later on spoiled. Feel free to stop reading once you think you have enough to get going on your own!
The most important rule is this: pause the game. Don’t leave the timers running while you are trying to figure out what to do. Run time with a purpose and keep track of everything that is happening. Stop time when you need to check up on something, read some tooltip text, or sort your cards. It’s easy to get pulled into a complicated task without realizing something terrible is about to happen.
This can be difficult because the playing field is larger than you might expect, especially on a tablet. When you pause, be sure to zoom out and check the state of all your Action timers, and make sure no unexpected new ones have appeared. In addition to your standard Actions like Work, Study, and Dream, temporary ones will appear and are often an emergency you’ll want to deal with right away, like Sickness.
The most important one to keep track of is Time Passes, which consumes one Fund every minute and spits out a new Season that keeps things interesting. When Time finishes Passing, pause the game and check what new hell has been dealt to you so you can try to take it on. Once you are familiar with the Seasons, you can preview the one on deck by opening the action, giving you a chance to plan ahead.
Daily life
Your first priority is to acquire the Funds that are necessary to feed the Time Passes timer. For this task of course the Work action is what you need. Each of your basic resources, Passion, Reason, and Health, can feed Work. Using Health will spit out a single Fund for menial labor, plus a Vitality. Passion lets you try painting, which is unreliable in terms of Funds and generates Mystique that may be used against you but is good for your mental health. The most reliable is using Reason to get an office job. This generates a steady stream of Funds, but the job card will decay, so you have to show up to work constantly. This will continuously occupy the Work action, preventing you from using it for anything else. It’s hard to be a cult leader when you have a day job.
Mental health
After going destitute the next easiest way to prematurely end your life as a master of secrets is by going mad. There are a few cards you’ll want to keep track of here. Dread is one you’ll pick up frequently, and if the Despair action appears on the table it will draw Dread into it—three Dread will end the game. Contentment is what you need to counteract that, and the easiest way to obtain it is to use a Fund on Sleep to buy opium. Painting also generates Contentment on occasion, and painting can consume the Restlessness cards before they decay into Dread too. Fascination is the opposite of Dread and accumulating three of those can also doom you to madness. Luckily you can actually use Dread to consume Fascination through Sleep. Dream is also the action you’ll use to care for your mundane health, helping you clear any Afflictions with Funds (medicine) or Vitality.
Self-improvement
One of your first projects can be upgrading your Abilities. All three basic Abilities have an Advancement that you can Study two of to give said Ability a boost. Two Vitality gets you more Health, a pair of Eruditions gain Reason and a couple Glimmerings net Passion. Studying any of your basic Abilities will get you the Advancement cards, but there are plenty of other ways too, so keep your eyes peeled. Each further level will take more and better Advancement cards.
Baby’s first cult
Eventually you’ll pick up your first piece of Lore, probably from reading a book you really shouldn’t have. These are the color-coded cards with inscrutable descriptions that are your first step to the deeper mysteries. One of the first things you can do with Lore that you might not have thought of is put it on the Talk action. This sends you out proselytizing to the streets and will probably get you a new Acquaintance that can easily become your first cult member.
That should be enough to keep you playing for your first hour without dying in a gutter. After that you’re on your own. I fear I have written too much of the deeper mysteries already. Remember: “The Wood grows around the walls of the Mansus. As any student of Histories knows, the Mansus has no walls.”
Do you have any tips or tricks for getting through the early stages of Cultist Simulator? Let us know in the comments!
Epic Games Acquire Houseparty Social Video Chat Platform
Epic Games, the makers of Unreal Engine and Fortnite, just acquired Houseparty a multi person video chat based social network. Houseparty is available in application form for both the AppStore and Google Play. The reason for the acquisition isn’t entirely clear, but couldn’t have been cheap as Houseparty was fairly well funded.
Today is a big day for us at Houseparty because we’re joining the Epic Games family!
Houseparty is the synchronous social platform that lets you connect face-to-face with the people you care about most. By teaming up with Epic, creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, we’ll be able to help even more people connect with their friends, family, and peers.
“Joining Epic is a great step forward in achieving our mission of bringing empathy to online communication,” said Sima Sistani, Co-founder and CEO of Houseparty. “We have a common vision to make human interaction easier and more enjoyable, and always with respect for user privacy.”
“Houseparty brings people together, creating positive social interactions in real time,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games. “By teaming up, we can build even more fun, shared experiences than what could be achieved alone.”
So, why would a gaming company like Unreal Engine by a social video chat platform? My best guess is to support their upcoming cross platform online services initiative although that is entirely speculation at this point. If you are an existing Houseparty user, according to the FAQ in the linked Medium article, your life should remain unchanged in the near future at least.
Ubisoft’s freshly announced Story Creator Mode has launched into an open beta and lets Assassin’s Creed Odyssey players create and share their own quests for the game, complete with their own custom stories and written dialogue.
Revealed during the pre-show for Ubisoft’s E3 press conference, the Story Creator Mode allows players to create in-game quests with a variety of objectives.
“We know our community is quite creative and I think whether you’re into art or writing or just very curious about how games work, Story Creator Mode can appeal to you,” explains associate producer Anthony Straub in the mode’s launch trailer
The web-based tool lets players use character models from the main game and assign them new roles and dialogue by using tools based on the ones Ubisoft itself used in the development of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Different individual quests can be linked together as one larger story, and those are then sharable online and playable on any version of Odyssey, no matter the platform used by its creator or player.
Alongside the announcement of the Story Creator Mode, Ubisoft revealed that the educational Discovery Mode from Assassin’s Creed Origins will be launching for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as well. Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece cuts out the combat and instead offers a guided tour filled with information on Ancient Greek philosophy, war, daily life, mythology, and architecture as a free update this fall
We are looking for an exceptional UI/UX Artist who can design & build beautiful and intuitive interfaces for an upcoming game focused on female fashion. This role is based in our brand new game studio in Los Angeles.
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Design intuitive interfaces that convey complex information in a format that is easily digestible to a casual user.
Partner with product leaders, game designers, and engineers to identify and convey critical info needed for player engagement
Conceptualize, design UI architecture, create wireframes and prototype cohesive UI
Set a standard and provide guidelines for excellent mobile game UI
Create and implement assets
REQUIREMENTS
4+ years experience working on mobile free-to-play game required
Ability to quickly prototype and wireframe
Market awareness for current mobile game design trends and aesthetics, plus a sense for contemporary visual design sensibilities that is demonstrated in your portfolio
Graphic design experience
Unity experience integrating UI assets and screens
Ability to make complex information easily digestible
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Passion for working in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
Ability to meet deadlines
Understands game production design process and methodology.
Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.
Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.
Today, I’ve got a question for you. Can a platformer be nonviolent, while having a deep story, adventure, dynamic platforming, and more? That’s one of the game design questions we answered when working on the upcoming Even the Ocean.
Even the Ocean is a platformer adventure where you play as Aliph, a government worker who repairs power plants. You’ll travel across the countryside, meet diverse people, and attempt to restore the world’s balance of light and dark energy. In the power plants, you’ll use obstacles and hazards to shift Aliph’s energy levels and movement physics.
Central to Even the Ocean is the two-way energy bar. This bar shows Aliph’s alignment between dark and light energy. By touching energy-charged obstacles, she’ll shift her alignment — dark means she’ll run faster; light means she’ll jump higher. Absorb too much energy of one type… and Aliph will die. Every level contains multiple ways to overcome its challenges. A dark-energy laser might be a hazard at some alignments, but it might be a huge benefit at other alignments.
I hope you’ll play the game to discover all the different ways we use the two-way energy bar! But, you may be wondering… “Wow, that art… looks pretty good… what’s the deal with that?”
Good question!
Well, you see, Even the Ocean is roughly divided into two types of areas. Outdoors areas and power plant areas. The first picture in this post was a riverside outdoors area and the photo beliw is a power plant area.
The town areas are more organic, more natural feeling. They have hills, slopes, forests, water, and more. So, our artist Marina Kittaka used a special pixelized, painterly style to create these flowing hills and backgrounds. We wanted to create a feeling of being outdoors and hiking. Please take many screenshots and be sure to use the dedicated sit button and enjoy the sights.
As for the power plant areas? They’re far blockier and more geometrical. That’s because we wanted to emphasize the man-made-ness of those levels, and also, it’s easier to create platforming levels that are blocky and square shaped. You might also notice that those areas are made up of a patchwork of tile-based graphics, just like older games. This allowed us to make the levels art faster.
Now, the art we’ve shown here is just a mere taste. The game has a rich, character and dialogue-driven story, which will take you to many wondrous places. I hope that this post will enrich your experience and time with the game!
And, by the way! Even the Ocean is one of the first indie games to feature an extensive accessibility and gameplay options menu. You can turn on blocks to make levels easier, toggle the platform physics – even play the game without story or without platforming levels! Please utilize these options to make the experience as fun for you as possible!
Anyways, thanks to the support of prolific Ratalaika Games, we’re happy to be bringing Even the Ocean to Xbox One.
I hope this post has piqued your interest in the game. Please look forward to playing Even the Ocean later this year! Until next time… Chief Happiness Officer Sean Han Tani out. (Be sure to check out our other game, Anodyne, also on Xbox One!)
DOOM Eternal is Now Available for Pre-Purchase on Steam!
As the DOOM Slayer, you return to find Earth has suffered a demonic invasion. Raze Hell and discover the Slayer’s origins and his enduring mission to rip and tear…until it is done.
Experience the ultimate combination of speed and power as you battle your way across dimensions with the next leap in push-forward, first-person combat.
E3 2019 - Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled Free DLC Revealed, Including Spyro
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled's release date for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch is just days away, but publisher Activision is still revealing more information about the game. The company has now revealed during E3 2019 that the racer will receive a bunch of free DLC and live events after launch, including Spyro the Dragon as a playable character.
The seasonal events are named Grands Prix, and they'll each add a new track, unlockable characters, and more customization options. The first track to be added will be Twilight Tour, a brand-new arena for the series. The first Grand Prix, which kicks off on July 3, will also allow you to unlock Tawna. Spyro the Dragon, meanwhile, will be included in one of the next two Grand Prix seasons.
Konami Just Revealed The PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 Mini
Konami – which holds the rights to the PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 brand via its ownership of the now-defunct Hudson Soft – has lifted the lid on yet another retro-themed micro-console.
This time, it’s NEC / Hudson’s legendary PC Engine, the system which took Japan by a storm in the late ’80s and came to the US in the (slightly less successful) form of the TurboGrafx-16.
The console will come in three designs. The Japanese market will get the original white PC Engine, while Europe will get the Core Grafx revision (which was basically just a different case colour with AV output rather than RF). In the US, players will get the TurboGrafx-16 case design, which was larger to appeal to American sensibilities.
Games confirmed so far are:
It has also been confirmed that the Japanese version will have Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, a regional exclusive which was only released on CD-ROM.
There’s no pricing info or even a solid release date, but we’ll update this post the moment we know.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-12-2019, 11:22 PM - Forum: Windows
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Microsoft announces quarterly dividend
REDMOND, Wash. — June 12, 2019 — Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share. The dividend is payable Sept. 12, 2019, to shareholders of record on Aug. 15, 2019. The ex-dividend date will be Aug. 14, 2019.
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
For more information, financial analysts and investors only:
Investor Relations, Microsoft, (425) 706-4400
For more information, press only:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications, (425) 638-7777, rrt@we-worldwide.com
Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at https://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers, and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. Shareholder and financial information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor.
