May 20th : New Preview Alpha Ring 1906 Update (19060.190516-1940)
Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1906 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4028.190516-1940).
DETAILS:
OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1906\18362.4028.190516-1940
Available: 2:00PM PDT 5/20/19
Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 5/21/19
New Features:
This first update is meant to lay the groundwork for what’s to come in 1906, so while you’ll find fixes and known issues listed below, please keep an eye out for feature announcements as they’re ready to be previewed. Thanks, as always, for your passion for helping make Xbox One system updates the best they can be prior to release to GA!
Mixer
Users can watch full-screen Mixer streams on the Mixer Twist. Simply navigate to the Mixer twist, select a stream and hit A. Please test out these new features and provide feedback.
Fixes:
Audio:
Fixes addressing the stability of audio when the console comes out of Instant on mode.
System
Fixes to narrator bugs in Settings.
Various UI alignment fixes to the Home and settings.
Localization fixes.
Known Issues:
Audio
Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.
Profile Color
Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.
My Games and Apps – Apps/Games taking too long to start error help needed!
We wanted to reach out and let you know about an experience you’ll begin encountering with an upcoming build of 1906.
Starting with todays build of 1906, we’ve introduced a deliberate console crash when a game fails to launch due to an activation timeout (0x8027025A). We realize this isn’t the best experience, but this will help us better understand the increase in activation timeouts we’ve seen in recent releases. Here’s what you can expect if you hit an activation timeout while launching a game after taking this update:
Your console will freeze on a “Something went wrong” error screen
The console’s power button will begin flashing
So that we can gather data and drive for a fix, please leave the console alone if you notice the behavior described above. Once the console is finished collecting information (approximately 2 minutes), it will shut down on its own. At this point, please turn your console back on, allowing the console to automatically upload the dump information that was collected in the background. After your console has rebooted, please file a bug using the “Report a problem” tool and indicate in the subject line that you hit the activation timeout console crash.
Thanks for helping us track down and squash difficult bugs like this one prior to GA!
Sony may be skipping E3 this year, but the company isn't ignoring the nearly 100 million PS4 owners out there. With the company officially announcing its annual Days of Play sale--starting on June 7 and ending on June 17--the only thing that could sweeten the pie is free games, and now Sony has announced June's free titles for PS Plus subscribers.
SCEE blog manager Fred Dutton took to the PlayStation blog to give the announcement. Beginning on June 4, PS Plus members can download both Borderlands: The Handsome Collection and Sonic Mania for the low price of free. You can check out the announcement trailer above. These games will be available to claim until July 2.
May's free PS Plus games--Overcooked and What Remains of Edith Finch--are available to download until the new games arrive. There's still time to add them to your ever-growing backlog before they're replaced on June 4.
In our Borderlands: The Handsome Collection review, we said, "Even considering issues presented by Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, The Handsome Collection is still a great compilation, allowing you to witness not only Jack’s tale, but play a major role in shaping the history of Pandora itself, along with its lonely moon."
In our Sonic Mania review, we said that "Sonic Mania methodically uses its sentimental appeal to great effect, but in the process, it heals the wounds inflicted by its most disappointing predecessors and surpasses the series' best with its smart and interpretive design."
June 2019 PlayStation Plus Games For PS4
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (June 4 - July 2)
Vectronom Drops Some Chiptastic Tunes On Switch Today
Releasing today on Switch eShop is Vectronom, a colourful beat-based puzzler which marries cuboid rolling mechanics with a thumping soundtrack of electronica.
The debut project from German developer Ludopium, the game requires you to navigate a cube through a course, avoiding hazards that pop up and disappear in time to the beat. Things get psychedelic pretty quickly, as you can see from the launch trailer above. We’ll include some screenshots below, but it’s probably best to watch the video – the music appears to be an integral part of the game.
Highlighted in the official blurb are the following features:
A challenging solo campaign that will completely entrance you
A drop-in, drop-out multiplayer mode that will hypnotize your friends
Colorful and atmospheric levels with a powerful electronic soundtrack
Hobby composer can sync their own tracks with the game by connecting an analog synthesizer to the headphone output.
BONUS: the game is compatible with digital dance mats and MIDI instruments, so it won’t just be your fingertips showing off their best moves!
Unless it involves some special adaptors, we imagine that last point must be a PC-only bonus feature, but the drop-in multiplayer looks like it could suit Switch very well indeed. We’re big chiptune fans – it’s always nice to see them in their natural habitat – and overall this looks like it could work very nicely, especially in handheld mode.
Do you like the sound of this? Are you a fan of chip-based audio entertainment? Have you played Just Shapes & Beats yet?! Let us know in the usual place.
Date For Zelda Crossover Cadence of Hyrule Altered In NOA Website Code
Update: The HTML source code now shows the release as being 20th June. Mysterious! Whether this means the game’s been pushed from a planned date isn’t clear right now, but it seems likely we’ll be waiting until after E3 to get our hands on it.
This new game of course includes both Zelda and Link, but uses the same beat-based gameplay of the original Crypt of the NecroDancer. However, we’re also getting new stages and enemies based on the Zelda franchise, which is no bad thing in our books.
So when exactly is the game coming out you ask? Well, eagle-eyed Twitter user NWPlayer123 has discovered a change in the source code of NoA’s game page which seems quite telling:
It seems like pretty conclusive evidence that Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer will be releasing this month, on Thursday 30th May to be precise. This all ties into what the Nintendo Newsletter had to say earlier this month too.
Let us know if you are looking forward to playing Cadence of Hyrule with a comment below.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-30-2019, 07:51 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
Pokemon Sleep Is A New App To Make Sleeping Entertaining
As part of the Pokemon 2019 press conference on Tuesday night, a wacky-sounding new Pokemon app called Pokemon Sleep was announced. Seriously. Alongside the reveal of a new mobile game called Pokemon Masters, the Pokemon Company and Nintendo revealed they are working together to try to "turn sleep into entertainment."
Pokemon Sleep is launching in 2020, and The Pokemon Company joked that "several Snorlax were consulted on this."
We’re pleased to announce the development of Pokémon Sleep, a new app from @Pokemon_cojp that tracks a user’s time sleeping and brings a gameplay experience unlike any other! Several Snorlax were consulted on this, in case you were wondering. #PokemonSleep is coming in 2020. pic.twitter.com/nJ7mJY09Dl
"Pokemon Sleep aims to turn sleeping into entertainment by having a player's time spent sleeping, and the time they wake up, effect the gameplay," reads a line from the app's official description.
More details about the specific functionality of the app are being saved for a later date. Sony's Wake-Up Club for Vita comes to mind, however, as a gamified version of an alarm clock.
Pokemon Go Plus Plus
Nintendo is also working on a new peripheral called the Pokemon Go Plus Plus (not a typo). That is actually its name. The idea is that you'll sleep with the new peripheral and it'll monitor your sleep patterns, apparently. The device has an "embedded accelerometer" that can track how you sleep and then beam it to your phone.
"This new device also has the same functions as the original Pokemon Go Plus, so Trainers can use it with Pokemon Go during the day and with Pokemon Sleep at night," The Pokemon Company said.
While you have to wait a while longer to experience Pokemon Sleep, Pokemon Go is being updated to introduce some sleeping Snorlax for players to catch. Here is what the Plus Plus looks like:
For more on the Pokemon 2019 Press Conference, check out the stories linked below:
Review: TerraTech – The Meccano To Minecraft’s Lego
Kickstarted back in 2014, TerraTech is one of the more successful attempts to evolve the sandbox construction genre in a new direction. A sort of Meccano to Minecraft’s Lego, Terratech focuses largely on building vehicles (or ‘techs’) which can be driven or flown around a randomly generated world. You’ll get into fights, complete quests, mine resources and refine your creations as you explore, but not without some significant control frustration and some big questions about the long term appeal of the whole thing.
At the core of a TerraTech tech is a cab block which defines the direction of travel (hide it away as deep in your vehicle as you can for protection). Blocks attach to each other at points on a cubic grid along each face. Construction is easy to understand – anyone can stick a bunch of blocks together, slap some wheels on the sides, some guns on the top, a drill on the front and let the game’s physics engine handle the result in a believable way.
Blocks fall into four distinct mechanical themes, associated with the rival corporations of the game’s lore. These cover grey military hardware, yellow construction vehicles, colourful racing vehicles and black stealthy builds. There is a range of sizes, with diverse aesthetic and mechanical functions that allow imaginative players to make and enjoy in the game’s generated worlds.
TerraTech definitely provides an interesting construction set, but it can be difficult to discover and enjoy its nuances. Descriptions of blocks in your inventory feature no useful statistics to aid comparison – furthermore, whether you’re playing docked or undocked, the whole game is plagued by small fonts that make reading what text there is uncomfortable.
Overall, there is a sense that all aspects of control and user interface needed a more ambitious overhaul when transitioning from PC to console. The controller mapping is a valiant attempt at marshalling the complexity of the construction system, but it is all too easy to forget that you are in a certain editing mode or sub menu, and what that means for the function of each button.
Though the principles of construction are delightfully easy to understand, the actual process can become exhausting on a controller. A good chunk of the interface works under the assumption that dragging and dropping items into place is an easy and comfortable motion – true for a mouse, but something to be tolerated on a controller. Something like Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was far more successful in this regard. Tellingly, there is no touchscreen support in handheld mode.
The focus on player-controllable vehicles does mean that Terratech misses out one of the most interesting parts of that Minecraft formula: a world entirely composed of building blocks you can reshape into your own creations. The undulating hills of Terratech’s landscapes are obviously conceptually more true to reality than the Minecraft’s bizarre, blocky worlds (a hell of a lot easier to drive on too), but they’re also non-interactive and entirely unmalleable.
The game’s raw resource chunks are instead solely locked up inside the trees, rocks and mineral patches that pepper the land, ready to be bashed or mined out with various pieces of equipment. Once extracted, you could run these chunks through a complex manufacturing base to refine and fabricate the blocks you need for your creations, but this is an intimidating option in need of a more robust tutorial than the game provides, and unlikely to be the route most players take considering the campaign offers far simpler alternatives.
Building blocks can instead be more easily acquired by taking resource chunks to trading posts to earn gold, which can then be simply used to purchase new blocks. Alternatively, players can earn blocks (and gold) through completing the missions also dispensed at trading posts, or salvaging blocks from vehicles they defeat in combat (though you often destroy the best blocks in the process). Block and resource chunks each have their own corresponding collector devices, though you can always just stick interesting blocks to your vehicle to nail that classic “picked up furniture without measuring the car” aesthetic.
Combat in TerraTech is a mixed bag – there’s a definite joy in filling every surface of a large vehicle with small cannon and greeting roaming vehicles with a hail of bullets. However, early game survivability is low which leads to frustration – players will have to wait a fair while before they can obtain larger batteries to power their shield and healing bubbles, but stopping regularly to recharge batteries is unnecessarily arduous.
Wading into combat without shields isn’t advisable – dying means either paying a hefty sum in gold to get your vehicle back, or taking the option of a free starter vehicle and investing the not insignificant time it takes to re-build a creation capable of taking on larger opponents (though the free vehicle is at least scaled somewhat to your mission level). If you’re dying too often, you may be tempted to simply choose the free option repeatedly and wear down difficult enemies – the game is arguably full of these instances where the proper solution can be bypassed by something far less time consuming but also less interesting. Undisciplined players need not apply.
The missions dispensed by the trading posts do a better, though imperfect job of breaking things up. Missions are posted by the game’s corporations and the theming from their available blocks carries into the kinds of tasks they offer – the heavy duty, hazard yellow Geo Corp tasks you with resource harvesting whereas the colourful Venture Corp requires you to complete quests such as time trials, fitting their race car-like parts.
This theming injects some variety, but there are still too few mission types (expect a whole lot of “find the delivery crate, oh it’s an ambush” missions). Furthermore, by making them just another thing to pick up at a trading post, there’s a limit to how interesting the campaign can ever hope to be. The world overall feels quite empty, and the graphical presentation on Switch doesn’t help matters – textures are generally very blurry and effects such as shadows pop in only a few paces ahead of the player. Framerate and vehicle graphics are prioritised – the right choice, but in a way that calls into question whether the Switch version is itself ‘the right choice’.
Of course in the creative mode, much of the above is technically moot – but campaign mode really is the best way to experience the game. For starters, players will have difficulty working out what half of the blocks do without playing at least some of the campaign. Then there’s the sense that building for building’s sake is less fun overall when you’re building vehicles – why go anywhere, shoot anything or mine anything when there isn’t a reason to? TerraTech’s campaign (and to a lesser extent, the limited build and race ‘gauntlet’ mode) gets far enough towards answering that question to not be a total write-off.
Conclusion
At the core of TerraTech is an extensive mechanical construction kit that presents an interesting canvas for creative players. However, the Switch’s significant UI shortcomings, a cumbersome console control scheme, and a limited-feeling campaign will ensure that only persistent players stick around long enough to find the fun.
Nintendo have recently put out a brand new update for the rather lovely Splatoon 2 which brings plenty of tweaks and bug fixes, while not offering any new content as such.
We’ve included details for update v4.8.0 below for your edification – let us know if this has made the game even better in your experience with a comment below.
Changes to Multiplayer
Specifications for some of the main weapons have been changed.
Weapon
Change
Jet Squelcher
Custom Jet Squelcher
Increased inking radius of shots when they land by roughly 10%.
Carbon Roller
Carbon Roller Deco
Decreased ink consumption of horizontal and vertical swings by roughly 12%.
Splat Roller
Krak-On Splat Roller
Kensa Splat Roller
Hero Roller Replica
Extended forward inking range of vertical swing.
Dapple Dualies
Dapple Dualies Nouveau
Clear Dapple Dualies
Decreased ink consumption when firing a shot by roughly 7%.
Splat Dualies
Enperry Splat Dualies
Kensa Splat Dualies
Hero Dualie Replicas
Decreased ink consumption when firing a shot by roughly 5%.
Mini Splatling
Zink Mini Splatling
Kensa Mini Splatling
Increased ink consumption by roughly 15%.
Heavy Splatling
Heavy Splatling Deco
Heavy Splatling Remix
Hero Splatling Replica
Decreased damage from 32.0 to 30.0.
Ballpoint Splatling
Ballpoint Splatling Nouveau
Decreased inking radius of long range shots when they land by roughly 8%.
Tenta Brella
Tenta Sorella Brella
Tenta Camo Brella
Decreased damage of a single spread shot from 17.5 to 17.0.
Specifications for the following sub weapon have changed. `
Sub Weapon
Change
Splash Wall
Decreased time after placing the Splash Wall until it goes into effect by roughly 5/60 of a second.
Specifications for the following special weapons have been changed.
Special Weapon
Change
Increased damage dealt to the umbrella portion of the following Brellas by roughly 25%.
Splat Brella
Sorella Brella
Hero Brella Replica
Undercover Brella
Undercover Sorella Brella
Kensa Undercover Brella
Increased damage dealt to the umbrella portion of the following Brellas by roughly 75%.
Tenta Brella
Tenta Sorella Brella
Tenta Camo Brella
Booyah Bomb
Decreased durability of armor surrounding the player using the Booyah Bomb by roughly 6%.
Points required for using specials have been changed for certain main weapons.
Weapon
Before
After
Splattershot
Hero Shot Replica
190
180
Blaster
Hero Blaster Replica
190
180
Fresh Squiffer
190
180
Splat Charger
Hero Charger Replica
210
220
Splatterscope
210
220
Tenta Brella5
190
200
Tenta Camo Brella
190
200
Kensa Undercover Brella
190
200
Fixed an issue causing the aiming reticle to indicate shots fired at an opponent’s Splash Wall before it had fully deployed were being blocked, even though they actually weren’t.
Fixed an issue occurring while charging a Splatling weapon with almost no ink remaining, causing the “Low ink!” warning to not display briefly, and for the weapon to charge at normal speeds.
Fixed an issue occurring even with low amounts of network latency, where the “shot firing” animation near the muzzle of certain brellas would occur after the shot had been fired, or indicate the shot being fired in a mistaken direction.
Fixed an issue occurring when placing a Splash Wall on an uneven or pitted surface, causing the wall to additionally ink turf in a different direction than the one it had been placed.
Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz mode, where tossing a Sprinkler at the basket at just the right timing would cause it to stick to the barrier.
Fixed an issue occurring during Rainmaker matches in Gobi Arena, where moving the crates near the center of the stage just slightly would allow two players to collide with one another in mid air, sending one of them into the turf around the enemy Spawn Point.
Changes to Multiplayer
Fixed an issue occurring on Ruins of Ark Polaris allowing Steel Eel enemies to descend from heights they should not be able to.
Other Changes
Fixed an issue occurring when rolling into the targets on the test firing range with a Baller, where the target failed to react when hit, despite taking damage.
With the recent release of Fedora 30, Fedora 28 officially enters End Of Life (EOL) status effective May 28, 2019. This impacts any systems still on Fedora 28. If you’re not sure what that means to you, read more below.
At this point, packages in the Fedora 28 repositories no longer receive security, bugfix, or enhancement updates. Furthermore, the community adds no new packages to the Fedora 28 collection starting at End of Life. Essentially, the Fedora 28 release will not change again, meaning users no longer receive the normal benefits of this leading-edge operating system.
There’s an easy, free way to keep those benefits. If you’re still running an End of Life version such as Fedora 28, now is the perfect time to upgrade to Fedora 29 or to Fedora 30. Upgrading gives you access to all the community-provided software in Fedora.
Looking back at Fedora 28
Fedora 28 was released on May 1, 2018. As part of their commitment to users, Fedora community members released over 9,700 updates.
This release featured, among many other improvements and upgrades:
GNOME 3.28
Easier options for third-party repositories
Automatic updates for the Fedora Atomic Host
The new Modular repository, allowing you to select from different versions of software for your system
Of course, the Project also offered numerous alternative spins of Fedora, and support for multiple architectures.
About the Fedora release cycle
The Fedora Project offers updates for a Fedora release until a month after the second subsequent version releases. For example, updates for Fedora 29 continue until one month after the release of Fedora 31. Fedora 30 continues to be supported up until one month after the release of Fedora 32.
The Fedora Project wiki contains more detailed information about the entire Fedora Release Life Cycle. The lifecycle includes milestones from development to release, and the post-release support period.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-30-2019, 07:51 AM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
AI Business School launches curriculum for government agencies
More than 140,000 business leaders have immersed themselves in AI Business School since Microsoft introduced the online leadership series two months ago. Now, the school is adding materials designed specifically for government agencies.
The goal: To help government leaders, policy makers and administrators learn more about how technologies infused with artificial intelligence can help their constituents, particularly when it comes to the delivery of important services ranging from applying for a construction permit to getting access to health assistance.
On May 28, AI Business School will launch a new learning path that describes important considerations and potential opportunities for government organizations as they evaluate how AI can help governments become more agile, consistent and efficient, and also better deliver services to their citizens.
“Leaders in the public sector are often faced with unique challenges when considering how to apply AI to improve the speed and quality of the government services they offer their citizens,” says Mitra Azizirad, corporate vice president for Microsoft AI marketing. “The opportunities and scenarios for AI in the public sector are ever increasing, which can make deciding where and how to apply it quite daunting. This is precisely why we expanded Microsoft’s AI Business School to now include a specifically tailored and targeted public sector curriculum to help these leaders address their citizens’ unique needs.”
Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s vice president for government, said the new government learning path is a win for both government agencies and the constituents they serve.
“Helping governments reach and serve people through cloud services is a key priority for us,” Salcito said. “Citizens want to be able to interact with governments in real time and from any device. AI enables a two-way conversation where citizens can contribute information and receive insights in return.”
“It’s really thinking about 21st century workforce skills,” he added. “The fact is that government workers across the board – and especially decision makers – don’t necessarily have that familiarity or depth on AI. This new learning path is a way to get them introduced to the concept and to understand why it’s important in the context of government work.”
A video lecture from Peter Zemsky, Eli Lilly chaired professor of innovation and strategy at INSEAD graduate business school, on why and how governments can identify the right opportunity to use AI.
A case study illustrating how the city of Espoo, Finland, is working to modernize life for its residents.
A demo showcasing how governments can use intelligent bots to help citizens access resources.
With the assistance of AI, experts say governments can do things like find ways to reduce the time people spend waiting in line for services or find ways to improve public safety.
AI tools also can help government organizations analyze data to find better ways of helping constituents. They also can be used to create intelligent assistants that get people answers to simple questions faster, freeing up government employees to handle more complex requests.
For example, the city of Espoo has been using AI to analyze how its citizens access services, with the goal of figuring out how to serve people more efficiently and effectively. Päivi Sutinen, Espoo’s director of city-as-a-service development, said the experimentation revealed that by using AI and customer data more effectively, they were able to allocate resources more efficiently. That’s helping put the city on a path towards a more sustainable future.
“We launched our experiment because we wanted to find out whether AI can help us target our services proactively,” Sutinen said. “The answer is a strong yes.”
Microsoft says governments of all sizes can benefit from the AI Business School’s new learning path.
“We believe this course is valuable for government decision makers at all levels — from small municipalities to large cities,” said Salcito. “The beauty of artificial intelligence technologies is their scalability.”
Jaime Pereña is a director of AI marketing at Microsoft.
