Parental control apps clap back at Apple statement on MDM technology
Parental control and screen time monitoring apps are fighting back against Apple’s decision to strike the titles from the App Store over alleged security risks, saying in separate blog posts that the tech giant’s reasoning is flawed and its statement on the matter misleading.
One of the apps banned from distribution, OurPact, argued for its reinstatement in a post to Medium on Tuesday. As noted by CNET, which spotted the entry, OurPact also calls for Apple to allow parental control apps access to device management APIs.
Last week, a New York Times report highlighted Apple’s targeted removal of popular apps created to help users cut down on device usage or monitor their children’s screen time. Over the past year, the company pulled apps, sometimes without adequately notifying developers, or forced the removal of features that left titles stripped of key functionality.
Developers interviewed as part of the report implied the crackdown was prompted by Apple’s release of a competing iOS feature called Screen Time which debuted in iOS 12 and includes a number of tools designed to encourage iPhone and iPad owners to spend less time on their devices. Screen Time also incorporates parental control features similar or identical to those offered by the now banned apps.
Responding to fallout from The Times article, Apple over the weekend issued a statement in an attempt to explain the app removals. According to Apple, the apps in question used “highly invasive” Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology to accomplish their advertised tasks and thus posed a risk to user privacy and security.
MDM allows wide access to device functions and potentially sensitive data, Apple said. The technology was designed for use in large-scale enterprise device deployments, not public-facing apps available on the App Store. As such, integration of MDM by screen monitoring and parental control apps was a violation of the company’s App Store guidelines.
OurPact disagrees. In its blog post, the developer attempts to undermine Apple’s statement by comparing it with official Apple support documentation on MDM technology. A point-by-point rebuttal suggests properly vetted MDM apps pose little to no risk to end users, even those offered through public channels.
“Unfortunately, Apple’s statement is misleading and prevents a constructive conversation around the future of parental controls on iOS,” the company said. “We want to take the opportunity to set the record straight about MDM for our loyal users and the many families looking for solutions to guide healthy digital habits. Our hope is that Apple will work with developers in this space so that families continue to have a wide selection of parental controls to choose from.”
OurPact also includes a detailed timeline of events leading up to its dismissal from the App Store, noting four years of submission approvals before an abrupt removal in October 2018 “without any prior communication.”
OurPact suggests Apple provide developers with open APIs if it “truly believes that parents should have tools to manage their children’s device usage, and are committed to providing a competitive, innovative app ecosystem.” The call for appropriate screen time monitoring and device management tools was echoed by other app makers mentioned in the original NYT report.
As noted by MacRumors on Wednesday, the co-founders of Kidslox and Qustodio in separate Medium posts asked Apple to release the APIs it used to create the iOS Screen Time feature.
Kidslox and Qustodio last week filed a joint complaint with the European Union’s anti-competition office on allegations that Apple’s forced changes had a negative impact on Kidslox’s business.
Halo: Master Chief Collection's PC Delay Explained
Microsoft had originally planned to release the first beta test for Halo: The Master Chief Collection's PC version in April, but that's no longer happening. Now, developer 343 Industries has explained why the delay was necessary.
Right up top it's important to note that the PC version is being made by Splash Damage and Ruffian Games with the support for 343. "Great progress" has been made toward launching the first beta test, or "flight," for Halo: Reach, but it's just not completely ready yet.
"There are still a number of items to work through before we feel we're ready for the first public flight," 343 said. "While flights are obviously work-in-progress builds, they do require a certain level of polish and functionality to ensure that players can have a successful, enjoyable session and that the team is able to get the data they need to validate the flight."
343's own "Pro Team" are currently testing Halo: MCC for PC with the specific focus of considering how the game feels with mouse and keyboard controls. These tests are happening as the technical work continues on the development side.
In regards to what's specifically holding up the first beta test, 343 said it's finalizing the process of the technical ability for Steam users to acquire the flight. "This also includes being able to add specific content in a build while cleanly removing content that isn't needed (this helps keep the overall build size down and keep players focused on the specific areas/activities tied to the goals for the flight)," 343 said.
Additionally, work is being done on Halo: MCC for PC in the areas of security, the PC-specific UI, and telemetry.
A work-in-progress look at Halo: MCC's PC UI
You can sign up for the free Halo Insider program for a chance to get into the beta tests. The tests will start small before expanding to additional users over time.
The full Halo Waypoint blog post offers a ridiculously in-depth breakdown of how 343, Splash Damage, and Ruffian are going about trying to make Halo: MCC for PC a "best-in-class PC shooter."
Halo: MCC begins its release on PC with Halo: Reach (which is also coming to Xbox One) before continuing in chronological order thereafter--Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4. Splash Damage senior producer George Wright said many of the challenges in bringing Halo: MCC to PC is the scale and age of the individual games. Not only that, but the games are made with multiple different engines, some of which are not specific to Halo. Not only that, but the engines have different programming styles.
"Each game was also developed for a very specific set of hardware and software requirements, and we need to harmonize the games so that they’re performant on contemporary PC setups, and then start adding the features that players have come to know on PC," Wright said. "A lot of the tools used to build each title no longer exist, so we need to reconstruct, and repair these systems to make them function correctly. The games were built using older development techniques, so it’s been an interesting challenge for a lot of us used to modern AAA development to go back to the old ways--a bit like the difference between building a skyscraper and restoring the Sistine Chapel."
Wright added that development is "going well," noting that Halo: Reach is already playable. "However, we have a very high bar for where the game needs to be, so have a lot more work to do before it's ready to ship," he said.
Overall, 343 stressed that bringing Halo: MCC to PC is not just a simple copy/paste job--not by a long shot.
"Some out there may think it's 'just a lot of copy and paste' to get things to work but making games at the quality level players expect is most definitely not that simple," 343 said. "A project can have hundreds, or even thousands, of people working towards one central goal: creating fun! It is a beautiful and unique process that each studio handles with finesse and flair that helps create a unique brand of magic."
While all this work is going on, Microsoft also continues to work on the next mainline Halo game, Halo Infinite, which is coming to PC and Xbox One. That game is being made by a separate team at 343 Industries. The game is expected to be shown off during Microsoft's E3 2019 briefing in June.
Review: Picross S3 – More Of The Same, But We’re Not Complaining
There are three constants in this world, it seems – Death, Taxes, and Picross sequels. Nintendo’s long-running puzzle franchise has now seen a whopping 33 entries and shows no signs of stopping, even though little has changed in the core gameplay of the main entries. But perhaps that’s the primary strength of Picross; there’s no shortage of potential nonogram puzzles one could create in the numbered grids that each game is packed with, and this is the rare sort of game that just about anyone can play. As the latest in this long lineage of puzzle games, Picross S3 is exactly the kind of game that you expect it to be – featuring hundreds of challenging nonogram puzzles that are sure to take dozens of hours to clear in their entirety – but, rather surprisingly, it also has a few surprises to set it apart from its predecessors.
For those of you who haven’t picked up one of the many predecessors, Picross puzzles are deduction challenges that could best be described as something of a cross between Minesweeper and Sudoku. Each puzzle consists of a neat grid laid out with a series of numbers affixed to its rows and columns, and these numbers tell you exactly how many squares in that row or column need to be coloured in.
Now, you can’t fill in just any square in that row or column, so the puzzle is an ongoing battle of cross-referencing different sets of numbers with each other to find overlaps, gradually processing different sections of the puzzle and eliminating possibilities until you arrive at a pixelated picture of some sort. It may sound about as fun as balancing a chequebook or doing maths homework, but there’s a dangerously addictive quality to that dopamine rush you get upon completing each puzzle and thinking “Ohhhhhhh” when you finally realize what exactly it was that you were crafting so meticulously for all this time. This is the sort of game that you sit down to play for just a few minutes only to find yourself sitting in the same position an hour later wondering where the time went.
By now, Jupiter Corporation has gotten its tutorial creation down to a science, creating an impressively approachable experience that scales perfectly according to a player’s skill level. A wealth of (skippable) tutorials are available that do an impressive job of communicating the finer points of Picross puzzles to new players, and the presence of several dozen 5×5 and 10×10 puzzles for each puzzle type ensure that new players are given plenty of time to walk before they feel ready to run. And for those that still struggle when taking on one of the intimidating 20×20, they can use a variety of assist features that – to some degree – have the game solving itself for you.
At the outset of every puzzle, a “Hint Roulette” can be used that randomly completes one row and one column of the puzzle, giving you a solid place to start going forward. During the puzzle, you can also have it set so that there are glowing blue numbers next to any row or column in which you can currently make progress, and you can even have the game directly correct you if you happen to make a mistake in filling in a square. Those that are feeling a bit more masochistic can turn all (or just some) of these features off if they so choose, making for an experience that’s truly as difficult or as breezy as you want.
It’s rather impressive, too, how much mileage Jupiter has managed to get out of this relatively basic ruleset, as there are now four distinct puzzle types to tackle. On top of the 150 standard puzzles, there’s a “Mega Picross” mode that remixes each those 150 and reimagines them with a new, more complex ruleset in which the numbers next to the grid can apply to two adjacent rows or columns. Then there’s the “Clip Picross” mode in which you complete five monstrous puzzles in a piecemeal fashion, each one being comprised of a series of smaller puzzles. You gradually unlock these smaller puzzles by completing certain puzzles in the Standard and Mega mode, so finishing each of these Clip Picross puzzles proves to be one of the most satisfying, long-term feats in Picross S3.
New to Picross S3, then, is the fourth type of puzzle which is aptly called “Color Picross”. Whereas each of the other modes sees you simply filling in all the squares with one colour, Color Picross puzzles see you usually using three or four colours at a time. It may seem like a relatively small change, but this proves to make an enormous difference in how each puzzle is solved, easily making these the most complicated and challenging puzzles the series has offered to date. It’s no longer a simple binary matter of whether or not that particular square should be filled in, the question now also extends to which colour that square should be filled in with, if at all. Once again, the tutorials do a great job of communicating the rules, but it definitely takes quite a few tries before you can finally wrap your head around what these puzzles ask of you. Once it clicks, these Color Picross puzzles prove to be the most rewarding that Picross S3 has to offer; completing each one creates feels like an accomplishment in a special new way that the other, one colour puzzles just can’t touch.
From a presentation perspective, Picross S3 sticks to the minimalist, futuristic look that has served the last several entries in the series so well. Each puzzle is well-drawn in terms of the spritework, though the quality does notably improve as the resolution of the image is raised; this obviously goes without saying, but a mushroom drawn in a 5×5 grid simply requires more imagination to ‘see’ than something drawn in 20×20, simply due to the high pixel count. Aside from that, the ‘diamond’ aesthetic that defines the soft backgrounds and bold text is pleasing to the eye, perfectly fitting the kind of vibe that a relaxing puzzle game should go for. To match all this, the soundtrack similarly has a pleasing and subtle tone to it, though we were a bit surprised at the slightly higher ambition present here. Rather than simply focusing on jazzy muzak, this soundtrack branches out a little into chiptune and folk; nothing groundbreaking, but the uptick in variety is welcome given how long you’ll be spending with some of these puzzles.
This being a Picross game, replayability is all but guaranteed, but it also hinges on just how enamoured you are with the core concept of the puzzle-solving. There are several hundred puzzles on offer here, spread out across four different modes, which should take you several hours to complete if you’re just going for completion. Then, of course, there’s a star offered for each puzzle if you can manage to clear it without using any assist features, which is sure to significantly bump up the playtime if you choose to go for that ‘100%’. On top of all this, you can also have a friend join in for some local co-op, opening the door to some light competition as the game tracks how many squares each player has filled.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you probably already know if you’re going to pick up this game or not; Picross S3 hasn’t changed much from its predecessor and the same will likely be said about the inevitable Picross S4. That being said, we especially enjoyed the introduction of the Color Picross mode here, as it notably builds on the foundation of Picross in interesting and challenging ways, bringing something new to the arguably stale formula. Picross S3 is easily the best entry in the series on the Switch and it’s one that we can easily recommend to both fans and newcomers alike. Naturally, those of you that have played the previous games will want to take a minute to ask yourself if you’re down for another few hundred Picross puzzles, but this represents the most bang for your buck in this Switch sub-series yet and stands as an excellent example of how to do a puzzle game right.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-01-2019, 10:58 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Sea Of Thieves Gets Huge Anniversary Update
It's been over a year since Rare released Sea of Thieves. To celebrate, the online, co-op pirate adventure is getting a substantial Anniversary Update that'll introduce a new mode, a new storyline, and more.
The update adds The Arena, a mode where you compete against other crews across six different maps. Competing will net you achievements and items such as commendations, titles, cosmetics, and more, all through the Sea Dogs faction. You can also purchase sets, like the Glorious Sea Dog, from the Sea Dog Tavern in between competitions.
Through the bard Merrick comes The Hunter's Call, a new company where you can earn commendations and rewards, tattoo and makeup cosmetics, items, liveries, and more for completing hunting, fishing, and cooking challenges. Sea of Thieves will also see a bevy of new wildlife, from unique fish to formidable beasts. Combine their raw meat with the plethora of new, rare fruit to concoct novel recipes.
The biggest part of the Anniversary Update is the new storyline. The Shores of Gold tasks you with investigating a fabled lost island. The storyline brings new gameplay additions, such as collector's chests and enchanted tools, and you'll unlock new commendations and rewards upon completion. But you'll have to battle new Skeleton Lords first.
The Anniversary Update weighs in at approximately 8 GB across all three platforms--PC, Xbox One, and Xbox One X--and addresses a variety of performance related issues as well. You can view the full patch notes below.
Performance Improvements
Xbox One S Improvements – Performance on the Xbox One S has been improved.
Improved Loading Times – Time taken to initially load into Sea of Thieves has been reduced.
Game Stability – Resolved a number of client and server stability issues.
Fixed Issues
Gameplay
'Push to Talk' functionality now works correctly on Xbox One when set up in Audio Settings.
Chest of Sorrows no longer fills up a ship when placed on a docked Rowboat that is then detached from the ship.
When fighting the Kraken, moving into a safe space while it attempts to snatch you up from the ship will no longer cause you to be pulled through the environment.
If the game is unable to delete your pirate from the front end settings screen, it will no longer cause an infinite loading screen.
It is no longer possible to interact with items while holding a chest.
After undocking from a ship-based interactive item, you will now be able to correctly tap the quest radial or item radial to return to the previously wielded item.
Resolved an edge case where a Closed Crew could become an Open Crew when the crew owner leaves.
Resolved an issue preventing Xbox One players using a mouse from turning their camera.
When using the pirate chat radial, closing the second page of the radial without selecting a message will no longer automatically send a message.
UI
Players with unlocked Commendations for previous Mercenary Voyages will once again see their Commendations in the Reputation pages.
The Title counts on the Bilge Rats Reputation page will now correctly count the Titles available to players.
During the new player onboarding tutorial, handing your tutorial chest to another player and having them cash it in for you will no longer leave tutorial messages stuck on-screen.
Audio and Visual
Waterfall SFX at Plunder Valley no longer cut out.
Fauna now renders at the correct level of detail when players are in close proximity.
Shanties now play as expected when played during a server migration.
Environment
Angled palm trees found in the Shores of Plenty region now render correctly.
The cannon next to the beacon on Devil’s Ridge can now be climbed into.
The ship’s flag on the Ferry of the Damned is now correctly attached.
There are no longer palm leaves stuck to the beach at Mermaid’s Hideaway.
Players can no longer walk beneath the water on Crescent Isle.
It no longer rains in the Pirate Legend Hideout at Plunder Outpost.
It’s no longer possible to get stuck inside rocks at Thieves’ Haven.
Players can no longer get stuck between the wharf and the tree at Plunder Outpost.
It’s no longer possible to get stuck on rocks at Ancient Spire Outpost.
Known Issues
The Arena Tavern Wait Times – During times of heavy server load, crews using Tavern matchmaking in The Arena may experience an extended delay when waiting to begin a contest. To get back into the action quickly, anyone experiencing this issue should leave the Tavern, return to the front end and matchmake into another Arena session.
Health Bar UI Delays – When regenerating health from cooked food, taking damage may cause the health bar to be delayed in updating.
Sea Dogs Tavern Purchase Delays – Players who purchase an item from the Sea Dogs Tavern shop shortly before migrating to a new server will not immediately see the purchase in their inventory. The purchase has been successful, but will only be shown when the player returns to the Tavern after their next contest.
Sailor of Athena’s Fortune Commendation Progress – Players do not receive progress towards the Sailor of Athena’s Fortune Commendation while their crew have both an Athena’s Fortune Voyage and a Tall Tale active at the same time.
Quest Item Loss in ‘The Shores of Gold’ – Losing the Gold Hoarders Coin during ‘The Shores of Gold’ Tall Tale will not automatically fail the Tall Tale, but your crew will be unable to progress.
Missing Phrases on Food Items – Some food items show available phrases in the pirate chat radial, but selecting them will not correctly send them to other players.
Incorrect Ship Flag Icons on Arena Map Table – Following consecutive contests in The Arena, the ship’s map table may show incorrect ship flag iconography for rival crews.
Extended Black Screen on Loading – In this build we’ve resolved a number of cases where players could be held indefinitely on the black loading screen when returning from the Ferry of the Damned or a mermaid. However, some instances of this may still be present, which we will continue to investigate. If you encounter this issue, please raise a support ticket with as much detail as you can provide.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-01-2019, 10:58 AM - Forum: Windows
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KING5 News: The man behind the music of Microsoft
SEATTLE — Matthew Bennett has one of the world’s most important ears, “More people will hear the sounds I design for Microsoft then will ever hear anything else I will ever compose or design, and that’s OK.”
As in billions of people … every day. Many times a day. A composer since he was 7, Matthew now makes the music of Microsoft. You know these sounds. The sound your Windows Computer makes when you logon, the notification sounds when you get an email or a text. He created those sounds.
From his soundproof, floating studio in Redmond, he carefully crafts the “surround sound” of life.
“It blows my mind so I can’t think about it too directly. But we do take the responsibility very seriously.”
Microsoft composer Matthew Bennett shows us his process from his Redmond studio.
KING
He was part of the Windows 7 team, and has pioneered the new approach of Windows 10, “The old sounds are very designed to be heard, and to capture your attention. These are designed to be felt and not really to be consciously heard.”
He basks in the subtleties of sound like a “new email” alert, “It’s designed to sit in the background because most people don’t want to feel like there’s an emergency when they get an email dozens of times a day.”
The sound you hear when a text message arrives is purposefully different. “Our messaging sound is designed to pull you forward a little bit, a little more alert, a little more energetic because it’s if it’s an IM or text, you want to know that.”
The calendar reminder will always be controversial, “Some people have told me that no matter how beautiful the sound is, it makes them feel like they’re responding to a fire alarm all day, and I can’t fix people’s lives and their next appointment, but I can try to design a sound that alerts them in a beautiful way.”
Microsoft composer Matthew Bennett has created sounds that billions of people hear every day.
KING
As an ethnomusicologist, he studied how music affects culture at the University of Washington. His background is in psychology, “We try not to provoke people’s startle response.”
These are not trivial tones to his ear, “I don’t think people realize how much the sounds, even the quiet sounds around us, affect our emotional experience.”
We don’t even realize how much sound is a part of our everyday lives, “There isn’t a moment in our lives when we’re not surrounded by sound. That includes before we are born.”
When he’s surrounded by his own work, he still gets a thrill, “It’s awesome. I love walking around and hearing sounds I created in real life because it’s a great opportunity to see what they feel like in real life.”
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-01-2019, 04:43 AM - Forum: Lounge
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May Xbox One Game Pass Lineup Revealed
May is almost upon us and Microsoft has announced a new slate of Xbox Game Pass titles joining the subscription line-up over the course of the month. As usual this initial burst of announcements covers the first half of May, with more announcements likely to come later and fill out the remaining days.
First, on May 2, Game Pass subscribers will get access to Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. The first-person shooter inserts you deep into Nazi-occupied America with a cast of colorful characters at your side. That same day the service will also add Wargroove, the retro turn-based strategy game reminiscent of Advance Wars.
On May 9, the service will add the resource management sim Surviving Mars and Tacoma, the sci-fi narrative adventure game from the makers of Gone Home, along with the MMORPG Black Desert. The strategy RPG For the King is being added as well, and while it officially launches on May 10, Game Pass subscribers get it three days early on May 7. As detailed in a separate announcement, the rogue-like Descenders will also leave early access and launch on Game Pass (and Steam) on May 7 as well.
Finally, on May 16, Game Pass will add tough sci-fi Souls-like The Surge along with the notably more family-friendly Lego Batman 3.
This month will also get a little bonus benefit outside of the slate of included games. Rocket League, which is already included in Game Pass, is launching an Xbox Customization Pack with in mid-July. Game Pass members get the pack early, and free.
Xbox Game Pass is an all-you-can-eat subscription service for $10 / £7.99 / AUD $10.95 per month, offering full game downloads. This is separate from Xbox Live Gold, which just outlined its own free games for the month of May. The two also recently got an "Ultimate" bundle that packages them together. If you haven't tried out Game Pass yet, you can sample it for cheap for a limited time. The offer gives you 3 months for just one buck.
Starlink: Battle For Atlas’ Huge Crimson Moon Update Is Now Live
It was only last week when we first heard about Starlink: Battle for Atlas’ major Crimson Moon update, but all of the promised content is now well and truly here. If you own a copy of the game, make sure to update it to the latest version.
Ubisoft has shared the full patch notes for the update (including the additional, paid Star Fox content which is now available on Switch for $11.99). It’s quite a lengthy read, but we’ve got everything you need to know below. Oh, and the Switch version’s patch is 8.96 GB in size.
NEW WORLD: CRIMSON MOON
The Crimson Moon has decloaked in Atlas! Discover this new location upon the completion of the ship modding tutorial in Act 2.
NEW FACTION ACTIVITIES
The Coliseum (Outlaw Faction Story) Enter the Outlaw arena and face waves of enemies in the Crimson Coliseum! In order to access this activity, you need to complete the ship modding tutorial in Act 2. Visit the Fortune’s Rest outpost on the Crimson Moon and interact with the hologram billboard of Fortune, selecting the “Champion of the Outlaws”.
The Outlaws challenge you to compete in the Crimson Coliseum: • Brawl mode • Laserdrome mode • Champion Battle mode • Gauntlet mode (not for the faint of heart)
Atlas Most Wanted (Prospector Faction Story) Hunt down the most wanted Outlaw criminals and claim their bounties by checking in with the Prospectors! This activity is unlocked after completing the “Building Blocks” objective in Act 3. Visit the Fortune’s Rest outpost on the Crimson Moon, interact with the hologram billboard and select “Atlas’s Most Wanted” to unlock Bounty Hunting.
The Forge of Atlas (Expedition Faction Story) Investigate the secrets of Atlas by solving ancient puzzles and discover the location of the Celestial Anvil in a series of Expedition activities! It unlocks upon completion of the ship modding tutorial in Act 2. Interact with the hologram billboard of the Fortune and select “The Forge of Atlas” to begin the Expedition Story.
RACES Visit the Fortune’s Rest outpost on the Crimson Moon, interact with the hologram billboard and select “Racing” from the “Crimson Moon Missions” to compete against the most dangerous pilots in the star system! Make sure to complete the ship modding tutorial in Act 2 in order to unlock this activity. There are four racetracks to test your speed and handling: • Phantasm Chasm • Paradise • Wardens’ Pilgrimage • Foundry of Kings
PAINT JOBS Customize your starship with paint jobs, obtainable after completing activities in the Crimson Moon update! Paint jobs can be applied through the Ships Mods screen. There are over 100 Paint Jobs to collect – can you find them all?
NEW ENEMY UNITS Prepare to face new outlaw enemies! Unlocked in Act 3, these enemies will occasionally spawn from the outlaw turrets at the shipwrecks. • Wanted Outlaws have escaped imprisonment • Outlaw Sloop Tanks have been wreaking havoc on the Expedition across Atlas • Outlaw Battle-Mechs have been destroying Prospector settlements across Atlas
NEW “STAR” DIFFICULTY AND ENEMY SCALING We are introducing a new difficulty level which will display stars instead of the enemy level. Enemies will be scaled according to the equipped pilot’s level.
NEW MECHANICS • Unlock the Grappler to capture Wanted Outlaws • Decipher Electral energy rifts to learn about the history of Atlas • Use Shield Ram to knock enemies into next week
ECONOMY • Collect the Outlaw currency Cogs to purchase exclusive items on the Crimson Moon • Cogs can be acquired by defeating Outlaws and completing Crimson Moon activities • Collect Trophies by completing activities throughout Atlas • Trophies can be turned in on the Crimson Moon in exchange for various rewards
LEADERBOARDS Set your best score and compare it with other players with the online Leaderboards! In order to access the Leaderboards, sign in to Ubisoft Club and check the Social Tab in the main menu. You can find the Global and Friends Leaderboards, which are available for races and Crimson Coliseum modes.
WEEKLY CHALLENGES Complete a series of weekly challenges and earn a variety of rewards, including time-limited trials of different digital weapons! Make sure to sign in to Ubisoft Club, navigate the Social Tab and accept the three weekly challenges!
RE-MAPPABLE CONTROLS ON PC | CONTROLS SWAP ON CONSOLE One of the most requested features from the Community, we’re pleased to announce you can fully customize controls on PC. On console, players will be able to swap controls for Boost and Hyperdrive from the options menu.
NEW STAR FOX MISSIONS (NINTENDO SWITCH EXCLUSIVE) *Requires purchase* Play as Falco, Peppy and Slippy in a series of missions to hunt down Star Wolf’s lieutenants Andrew, Pigma and Leon, after completing the main Star Fox story missions. Go to Fortune’s Rest outpost on the Crimson Moon, interact with the hologram billboard of Fortune and select “A Star Fox Reunion” in order to start!
BUG FIXES • [Switch] Fixed Cargo Shuttle wreckage not appearing in game but shown on map. • [All Consoles] New Imp Hives will spawn even if the player has destroyed all the imp hives at 100% exploration on every planet. • [All Consoles] Various other bug & crash fixes.
If you want to see some of the Crimson Moon content in action, you might want to check out this video below from Nintendo Minute. Hosts Kit and Krysta recently took a trip to Ubisoft to go hands-on with the new world and racing mode now available thanks to the update.
Will you be checking out the Crimson Moon update? Are you glad that Ubisoft is still adding more and more content to the game? Let us know in the comments.
Fedora 30 is available now. You’ll likely want to upgrade your system to the latest version of Fedora. Fedora Workstation has a graphical upgrade method. Alternatively, Fedora offers a command-line method for upgrading Fedora 29 to Fedora 30.
Upgrading Fedora 29 Workstation to Fedora 30
Soon after release time, a notification appears to tell you an upgrade is available. You can click the notification to launch the GNOME Software app. Or you can choose Software from GNOME Shell.
Choose the Updates tab in GNOME Software and you should see a screen informing you that Fedora 30 is Now Available.
If you don’t see anything on this screen, try using the reload button at the top left. It may take some time after release for all systems to be able to see an upgrade available.
Choose Download to fetch the upgrade packages. You can continue working until you reach a stopping point, and the download is complete. Then use GNOME Software to restart your system and apply the upgrade. Upgrading takes time, so you may want to grab a coffee and come back to the system later.
Using the command line
If you’ve upgraded from past Fedora releases, you are likely familiar with the dnf upgrade plugin. This method is the recommended and supported way to upgrade from Fedora 29 to Fedora 30. Using this plugin will make your upgrade to Fedora 30 simple and easy.
1. Update software and back up your system
Before you do anything, you will want to make sure you have the latest software for Fedora 39 before beginning the upgrade process. To update your software, use GNOME Software or enter the following command in a terminal.
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
Additionally, make sure you back up your system before proceeding. For help with taking a backup, see the backup series on the Fedora Magazine.
2. Install the DNF plugin
Next, open a terminal and type the following command to install the plugin:
sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade
3. Start the update with DNF
Now that your system is up-to-date, backed up, and you have the DNF plugin installed, you can begin the upgrade by using the following command in a terminal:
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=30
This command will begin downloading all of the upgrades for your machine locally to prepare for the upgrade. If you have issues when upgrading because of packages without updates, broken dependencies, or retired packages, add the ‐‐allowerasing flag when typing the above command. This will allow DNF to remove packages that may be blocking your system upgrade.
4. Reboot and upgrade
Once the previous command finishes downloading all of the upgrades, your system will be ready for rebooting. To boot your system into the upgrade process, type the following command in a terminal:
sudo dnf system-upgrade reboot
Your system will restart after this. Many releases ago, the fedup tool would create a new option on the kernel selection / boot screen. With the dnf-plugin-system-upgrade package, your system reboots into the current kernel installed for Fedora 29; this is normal. Shortly after the kernel selection screen, your system begins the upgrade process.
Now might be a good time for a coffee break! Once it finishes, your system will restart and you’ll be able to log in to your newly upgraded Fedora 30 system.
Resolving upgrade problems
On occasion, there may be unexpected issues when you upgrade your system. If you experience any issues, please visit the DNF system upgrade wiki page for more information on troubleshooting in the event of a problem.
If you are having issues upgrading and have third-party repositories installed on your system, you may need to disable these repositories while you are upgrading. For support with repositories not provided by Fedora, please contact the providers of the repositories.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-01-2019, 04:43 AM - Forum: Windows
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Join us May 6 at 8 a.m. PT to watch Build 2019 live
More than 6,000 people from around the world are joining us May 6-8 in Seattle for Microsoft Build, our premier developer conference. This year’s event is focused on empowering developers of all kinds, from experienced computer scientists to tech beginners with big ideas.
Join us here at 8 a.m. PT on Monday, May 6, to watch the World Championship of Imagine Cup, our global student technology competition. The Build keynote presentations will begin at 8:30 a.m. PT, when we’ll share the latest about Microsoft’s platforms and tools aimed at helping people build great things.
Zombies are a bit like Heinz, in that they come in a variety of different types (and generally go well with jacket potatoes-ED). There are the classic slow-moving shamblers made famous by George A Romero. The fast-moving ones from the 28 Days series of films, and the mutated abominations of Resident Evil fame. There’s also sometimes toxic ones and fat ones, who, I guess, have no self-control when it comes to eating brains.
Inside the Zombicide physical box is an impressive total of 70 miniatures, which represent the spectrum of zombiekind in addition to the unfortunate survivors themselves. It is enough to put the fear of God into any self-respecting gamer, especially if you plan on painting them all. Thankfully, we digital gamers do not have to concern ourselves with such issues, leaving us free to concentrate on the business in hand, namely hacking our way through wave after wave of the restless undead.
Zombicide: Tactics & Shotguns isn’t a direct conversion of the boardgame. It has evolved from the multiplayer cooperative set-up into a campaign-driven single-player experience. The basics, however, remain the same; a group of survivors travel across the devastated city completing objectives and polishing off a few zombies along the way. The game explains the basics by handing the player control of Doug, an SMG touting ex-office worker. Doug is hungry; unfortunately, the only food worth foraging appears to be canned dog food. The zombie apocalypse means that beggars can’t be choosers but at least Doug will be sure of a lovely glossy coat and a healthy wet nose.
On each turn, every survivor will have three action points to spend. It takes a single action point to move to an adjacent space or room. If zombies hem you in then your movement options will be further limited. Other actions include picking up a new weapon or breaking down a locked door but be prepared for the possibility of a nasty surprise. Combat also requires the expenditure of action points. The survivor’s abilities, alongside the characteristics of the weapon, will determine the range, the number of attacks, accuracy and amount of damage inflicted. Another thing to bear in mind is the amount of noise that the weapon makes. The sound of a shotgun blast is obviously going to alert any nearby zombies and get them heading in your direction.
Most zombies will only have a single action point, which means that any survivors will only come under attack if they end their turn in a space occupied by the enemy. Be careful though because the fast zombies have extra action points and the survivors’ health points are strictly limited. The big difference between melee and ranged combat is that in close combat the survivor gets to select individual targets. Ranged combat usually results in the survivor, firing into an area without a specific target in mind. The problem is that each miss has a chance of hitting any unfortunate survivors that may also be in the same space. Every time that you defeat an enemy you will be awarded additional tins of pet food and the danger level increases. This means that more or tougher zombies are likely to spawn into play. It also means that your survivors may be able to trigger their skills, this may make them more effective in combat, allow them to travel further or permit them to heal wounded team members.
It’s a nice simple system that works really well and still requires some thought. Zombies may be stupid and predictable but they definitely have numbers on their side. You will want to try and keep your party together and stay on the move, otherwise you face being overwhelmed by hoards of the undead. The threat of friendly fire and the range of different enemies add some much needed variety. It is just a pity that the sound-alerting mechanic isn’t used to its full potential. There isn’t that much point in sneaking around when a few blasts from a shotgun gets the job done. Indeed, alerting enemies often makes things easier by drawing more cannon fodder into your sights. The line of sight system is instinctive, although when battling a mass of zombies, targeting an individual enemy can be rather hit or miss.
At the end of each level, cans of dog food can be used to upgrade the survivors or their weapons. As they advance, their abilities improve and they may learn new skills. Get to level five and you will have the option to equip a weapon in each hand. This is especially fun when you kit out a pair of the same weapon as you can use both simultaneously. The site of a dual machete-wielding roller-skating waitress is sure to strike fear into the unbeating heart of any self-respecting zombie.
The survivors themselves fall into one of four classes, each with their own preferred weapons and unique skills. Butchers inflict minor damage but hit a lot of targets; in contrast, assassins cause a lot of damage to only a few targets. Hunters have great long-range accuracy; finally, scouts are fearsome wielders of melee weapons. Some fellow survivors soon join Doug in his quest and there is also the option to use cash to purchase new members for your team. Although by no means essential, it is going to cost over double the price of the game itself to acquire them all which feels like a bit of a cynical cash grab.
The day-glo comic book graphics and raucous guitar-led backing track do a grand job of evoking 1980’s horror films. There are eight different zones, each of which has five stages. This means that in spite of the low difficulty curve, getting through to the end is still going to take a considerable amount of effort. It is a pity that a lot of environments just reuse the same graphics. It reinforces the repetitiveness of the missions, which usually require the player to reach specific points on the map or destroy a set number of zombies. Another minor niggle is the monotonous comments that the characters make; Yes, Doug, I know you need new shoes; you’ve told me one hundred times already.
The developers get a thumbs-up for producing a game that isn’t just a straight conversion of the board game. They have instead created a solo campaign that is a much better fit for mobile platforms. It is just a shame that the constraints of the board game appear to have prevented them from going even further by way of adding a little more variety to proceedings.
