Following on from a John Wick and Avengers: Endgame collaboration, the free-to-play battle royale Fortnite is now teaming up with the sportswear brand Jordan, to promote the NBA finals at the end of this month.

This latest update adds a new free event called “Downtown Drop” requiring players to bomb hills, launch off massive jumps, grind city streets and collect as many coins as possible to win. In all honesty, it looks like a scene out of Sega’s Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or the Jet Set Radio series.

Show off your moves in the New York City inspired, Downtown Drop LTM by Jordan featuring Creative artists NotNellaf & Tollmolia. Launch off massive jumps, grind down city streets and collect coins to win!

As you might have already noticed, this promo also adds a variety of kicks (aka. shoes) to the popular online multiplayer title. So, get ready to see a lot of people wearing Nike’s Air Jordan line in-game.

There’s also a Hang Time Bundle up for grabs, requiring a certain amount of vBucks. If you do jump on this offer, you’ll receive a Grind Outfit, Clutch Outfit and a challenge pack exclusive to the set. The free challenges also give you the chance to unlock “Back Board Back Bling” skateboard styles and four unique sprays.

Will you be participating in this event? Tell us down below.

It’s with that mindset in place that Hasty sets out to bridge the gap between dreams and reality.

“Not long ago, check-in was about a 30-minute process to get you on board a cruise line,” Hasty explains, touting a recent breakthrough. “It really felt like going through the TSA, not starting a vacation.”

To streamline things, Hasty and his team envisioned an “invisible experience,” fueled by customer-submitted cellphone selfies and pre-checks. But as they workshopped the idea, they discovered that removing all friction just resulted in confusion and guilt.

“It’s that feeling you get at a store with no registers; you’re supposed to just walk out, but you feel a little shady about it,” he explains. “That’s even more amplified when you board a cruise ship. You’re like, ‘Am I just supposed to walk on?’ As it turns out, guests need the feedback; something saying all is well.”

In search of a solution, Hasty turned to some old friends. “When I took it to Microsoft, some of the first conversations were: ‘We’ve never tried to do it this way.  Let’s think with our hands to see what’s possible,’” he recalls. “It was never ‘We can’t get there,’ it was always “Well, this is what would be required to get there, so this is what we’ve got to go do.’”

In the years since Hasty has begun working with the Commercial Software Engineering (CSE) team, the relationship has empowered him to imagine with no limitations – confident in the knowledge that CSE will bridge the gap between his team and Microsoft’s product engineers, accelerating their capabilities through tech and innovation.

“They provided resources to help us validate things Royal didn’t have access to, like cognitive services and cloud computing capability that allowed us to recognize faces in a millisecond,” Hasty explains, pointing out RC’s privacy policies that ensure customer transparency and that captured images are only used for the cruise experience.

“The first prototype was a camera and a laptop with Cognitive Services. Can we see these people, connect them to our data; can we check them in just using their face? From there, we realized that we want to talk about the guest experience, the height of the camera, the quality of the camera that we need, the flow of people, how fast can the camera pick up people, how many people can be in the frame at once.”

Utilizing an open source mindset, the CSE team worked alongside Royal Caribbean every step of the way to develop a solution that was both “invisible” and interactive enough to remove that sense of guilt.

“We noticed that when all these people went by, they didn’t quite know where to look, so we put a light ring on it. Then we realized people needed feedback, so we put a screen on it,” Hasty says of the project, which averages split seconds per passenger and is significantly faster than the manual review process.

“The LED ring gives you simple color codes – white says ‘We’re looking for your face,’ blue says, ‘We found your face,’ and green says, ‘You’re all clear.’ It happens almost instantaneously, everyone understands it instantly, and we’ve created a beautiful appliance that you can walk through with your whole family together at once.”

“Now boarding is literally, go up the escalator, walk by the facial recognition machine and onto the ship – welcome aboard,” Hasty adds with a smile. “We like to say car to bar in minutes.”

Echoes Schneider: “Joey and I are huge fans of the CSE group. Our focus right now is on how we leverage emerging technology to transform the guest experience, and Microsoft keeps us on the next edge of technology as it relates to disruption in our industry.”

To date, the relationship has manifested itself in a variety of ways. The aforementioned Edge Access tour app, for instance, is powered by Microsoft’s Capture Studio technology. Elements of Azure, AI and dashboards manage guest experiences daily, and RC attended last summer’s One Week hackathon on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, engaging with the CSE team on video analytics initiatives.

You may have thought we’d be past the days of the cheap and gimmicky accessories that plagued the Game Boy and its future generations. Anyone who remembers the Worm Light or the Handy Boy will probably cringe at the thought, but arcade stick manufacturer Qanba decided to take a stab at the old magnification idea with their MAX Screen Magnifier for the Switch.

Now before you dismiss this, just think about how far technology has come since the release of the Game Boy. It’s all a matter of getting the magnification right, and with the 720p screen of the Switch, it has to look better when blown up than the Game Boy’s did. I guess you’ll just have to take a peek at our video to see what we thought.

The Qanba MAX Screen Magnifier is available now on Amazon for $19.99 and is also currently on sale at Play Asia for only $11.99.

Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

Did you ever use one of these on the Game Boy back in the day? Have any thoughts on giving this one a go? Let us know down below!

Famitsu’s Japanese chart figures are now in for 13th May – 19th May, revealing that eight out of this week’s top ten games are on Nintendo Switch.

It’s a familiar story as a new PS4 game enters the chart at number one this week, followed by a Switch-heavy list full of Nintendo-published titles. The game to secure number one this time around is Ys: Memories of Celceta – Kai, which managed an estimated 13,895 sales this week.

Here are the top 10 (first numbers are this week’s sales, followed by total sales):

1) [PS4] Ys: Memories of Celceta – Kai (Nihon Falcom) {2019.05.16} – 13.895 / NEW
2) [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo) {2018.12.07) – 8.507 / 3.085.499
3) [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 7.258 / 2.302.993
4) [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} – 6.954 / 783.332
5) [PS4] Days Gone (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2019.04.26} – 6.276 / 166.459
6) [NSW] Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! (Pokémon Co.) {2018.11.16} – 5.991 / 1.530.747
7) [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Nintendo) {2019.01.11} – 5.087 / 616.477
8) [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} – 4.524 / 3.067.711
9) [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 4.518 / 1.319.464
10) [NSW] Yoshi’s Crafted World (Nintendo) {2019.03.29} – 4.068 / 134.812

On the hardware side of things, Switch remains at the top of the pile, albeit with a slightly lower sales tally than usual. Here are this week’s figures, followed by last week’s in brackets:

1) Switch – 32,564 (41,736)
2) PlayStation 4 – 5,572 (8,823)
3) PlayStation 4 Pro – 3,988 (6,179)
4) New 2DS – 2,160 (4,420)
5) New 3DS – 369 (756)
6) PlayStation Vita – 290 (544)
7) Xbox One X – 60 (98)
8) Xbox One S – 52 (93)

< Last week’s charts (actually 29th April – 5th May)

Any surprises this week? Let us know in the comments.

Our nation’s Veterans have contributed to our country in so many ways, in countless locations around the globe. When they return home, many Veterans who reside in rural areas are not able to access broadband internet which is critical to using telehealth services, gaining educational opportunities, and growing a small business or running a family farm.

There are 2.7 million Veterans enrolled in Veterans Affairs (VA) who are living in rural communities, 42% of them do not have internet access at home which could support their use of VA telehealth services, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’, Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Rural Health. These rural Veterans live in areas where access to fast, reliable internet service may be limited or inaccessible and are facing higher rates of unemployment, longer drives to reach the nearest clinics and medical centers, and lower levels of educational attainment compared to their urban counterparts. Connectivity has the potential to improve this reality — with broadband, they can access telehealth services offered by the VA, identify and compete for well-paying jobs, improve and grow their own businesses, and take advantage of online education classes.

Microsoft and VA have been strategic partners, working together to improve the lives of Veterans, for more than 20 years. Today, I’m excited to share that Microsoft will begin expanding that work by helping VA to help bring connectivity to many Veterans living in rural towns and communities. Microsoft and its partners will be working with VA to provide capital, technology expertise, and training resources to bring broadband access to people in these underserved communities. Our hope is that this effort will unlock new economic opportunities, while also enhancing quality of life.

Through the partnership, we’ll help VA identify communities with Veterans in need and work with our internet service provider (ISP) partners across the nation to bring broadband services to those regions. Following our Airband Initiative model, we’ll also provide the Veterans in these newly connected communities with digital skills training so they can take advantage of the tools and services connectivity enables, including critical telehealth services provided by VA.

In the past 22 months, through the Microsoft Airband Initiative, we have seen firsthand just how many communities lack connectivity at broadband speeds and how this can hinder growth and new opportunities. We’ve also seen that partnering with ISPs to serve those most in need is an effective strategy to make progress quickly on this important issue. Our work with VA builds on those lessons and approach, which has resulted in partnerships that will bring connectivity to 1 million unserved rural residents in 16 states to date, with a plan to reach 3 million by 2022.

This also builds on our commitment to the military and Veteran community. We’re passionate about our work with this community and take a holistic approach to helping Veterans gain the critical career skills required for today’s digital economy through career training and re-training, soft-skills support, and hiring. The company’s cornerstone Veteran program, Microsoft Software & Systems Academy (MSSA), provides the Veteran community with an 18-week (or two nine-week terms) training for high-demand careers, with graduates gaining an interview for a full-time career at Microsoft or one of the company’s more than 400 hiring partners. We’re also proud of our strong network of partners, all of whom champion our same vision to assist the community.

We owe it to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our nation. Veterans living in rural communities deserve to have the broadband internet access enjoyed by many who live in urban areas. Addressing the broadband gap across the country requires innovative solutions from both the public and private sectors, and we hope this partnership will help us make significant progress toward closing the connectivity gap for the Veteran community.

Tags: broadband access, Microsoft Software & Systems Academy, MSSA, rural broadband

In this 2019 GDC talk, Monomi Park (Slime Rancher) founder Nick Popovich explains how you can make your game stand out and survive amongst the thousands of games released every year.

Key to Popovich’s strategy is the idea that selling your game is just the starting point: to help it survive and thrive, you need to give it a “pulse” (through updates, etc) that makes players feel engaged with a living game.

He also delves into what makes a game feel like “home”, and why cultivating that sort of appeal is so key to ensuring players keep coming back to your game — and talking it up to their friends.

Popovich’s talk was rich in practical examples and lessons learned from Slime Rancher’s development, and now you can watch it (completely free!) over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

Newsbrief: Sony Santa Monica’s God of War has sold over 10 million copies in a little over a year’s time.

The game’s sales were briefly mentioned in Sony’s recent presentation to investors, alongside information on PlayStation’s next-generation platform goals.

It’s a sizable milestone, and one that other Sony flagship games like Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us have also reached in their lifetime. Back in 2018, God of War managed to sell 3.1 million copies in just its first three days on shelves, and, according to Sony’s data, has now managed to surpass its predecessor God of War 3 in lifetime sales as well.

Rage 2 is what you get when you bring together two gaming studio powerhouses, one gigantic asteroid to wipe out 80% of the planet’s population, and a lot of turning things up to 11 (and in some cases, 12). One of our most hotly anticipated titles is here and we hope you’re ready to embark on the wildest adventure of the year with Rage 2 on Xbox One. It’s time to party hard.

The culmination of taking as many crazy ideas as possible, and then throwing them into an open world first-person shooter blender, Rage 2 from id Software and Avalanche Studios brings us back to the wasteland established in the Xbox 360 classic, Rage (available now with Xbox Game Pass).

With a massive arsenal of modifiable weapons as your disposal, the ability to traverse the open world in a variety of vehicles from monster trucks to gyrocopters, and upgradeable powers that let you execute some truly ludicrous attacks, the “shooterverse” is ready for you to discover this wild adventure on Xbox One.

This time in the wasteland you’ll play as Walker, the last ranger who’s seeking revenge and to deliver his own lethal brand of justice. Having been robbed of his home and left for dead, he’ll seek to destroy the tyrannical Authority who desire to rule the world of Rage 2 with an iron fist.

Standing in your way are a variety of tyrannical factions and bloodthirsty gangs, each with their own group of madmen, monsters, and mutants that you’ll need to dispatch. Thanks to the wide variety of weapons and extraordinary Nanotrite powers, and Overdrive tech that lets you push your guns beyond their limits, you’ll have all the tools necessary for you to restore freedom in the apocalypse.

You can pick up Rage 2 today for Xbox One on the Microsoft Store. And as an Xbox One X Enhanced title, you can experience crisp 60fps gameplay on the world’s most powerful console, Xbox One X.