We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox!
One Piece World Seeker Arrives on Xbox One March 15, Pre-order Today Hello everyone, my name is Florian, I’m the Europe Product Manager for the One Piece brand and I’m truly excited to give you more information on One Piece World Seeker today! Please join me as we follow Luffy and his crew for this 20th anniversary extravaganza and discover the latest of their video game adventure… Read more
Xbox & 2K Foundations Celebrate Community in North Carolina During All-Star Weekend This past Saturday as part of All-Star Weekend, the Xbox team partnered with 2K, the publisher of NBA 2K19, and Project Backboard to celebrate all-things basketball and the recent renovations to the McCrorey YMCA in Charlotte, North Carolina. McCrorey YMCA has been an icon in the Charlotte community for over 83 years… Read more
Xbox Game Pass Announces New Games – Alien: Isolation, The Walking Dead: Season 2, and More It’s true, constantly bringing more games to you is kind of our schtick at Xbox Game Pass, so let’s talk about the journey these latest additions took to get from us to you! We started with the customary good luck ceremony, during which we wrote heartfelt haikus in tribute to each game, and the social media team sang their rehearsal solos… Read more
Riot: Civil Unrest is Available Now on Xbox One Riot’s story began with Leonard Menchiari who experienced the rioting first-hand in Italy during the NoTav protests, (the NoTav protests opposed the building of a high-speed railway from Turin in Italy, to Lyon in France). Protestors were opposed to the destruction of the landscape, the potential pollution… Read more
Paradox Interactive and Xbox Join Forces to Launch Paradox Mods We are absolutely thrilled that Paradox Interactive has teamed up with Microsoft to release Paradox Mods on Xbox One! Now, for the first time, PC mod creators have a direct line to showcase and publish their work for Xbox One gamers to enjoy — making this a momentous day for gamers and modders everywhere… Read more
Treasure Stack Coming Soon to Xbox One and Cross-Playable on March 1 Hey everyone! Some games are developed with the intent of being online multiplayer experiences from day one. Others reveal themselves as the perfect candidates more gradually. When we began working on Treasure Stack (our first commercial release) 3+ years ago, we intended for it to be a local multiplayer experience… Read more
Free Play Days: Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and Halo Wars 2 Take command of this weekend’s Free Play Days and put on your real-time strategy hat! Xbox Live Gold members can experience the Halo universe from a unique angle with Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and Halo Wars 2. The Free Play Days event begins Thursday, February 21 at 12:01 a.m. PT and runs through to Sunday, February 24… Read more
Old Man’s Journey: Making a Game about Life, Loss, and Hope Our latest game Old Man’s Journey was born out of two main ideas. We wanted to make a game about wanderlust and we wanted to include the whole spectrum of human emotions into this game. Not only the positive ones like happiness and love -which are very common in games- but also the ones that are seen more negatively… Read more
Welcome (Back) Aboard – 5 Ways Sea of Thieves has Evolved Since Launch When’s the last time you’ve teamed up with a few privateering pals and set sail in Sea of Thieves? If you’ve taken a break from the breakers, you may be surprised at how much more you’ll find floating around the game these days. Rare has continually updated Sea of Thieves (over 30 times in less than a year!), including 4 major, game-altering expansions… Read more
Next Week on Xbox: New Games for February 26 to March 1 Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to… Read more
Inside Xbox One X Enhanced: Anthem Many of gaming’s most compelling stories come from those who’ve helped to create our favorite Xbox One games. In our Inside Xbox One X Enhanced series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of the work involved in enhancing these epic games for Xbox One X, how they’ve helped chart the course of the world’s most powerful console… Read more
Anthem is Available Today on Xbox One – Here’s What You Need to Know Get ready to suit up and start an incredible adventure! Anthem has just launched on Xbox One, and we’ve got the details you need to get a successful head start in this dangerous and beautiful new world. Javelins Javelins are at the center of both combat and mobility in Anthem. They’re built to protect you from almost anything the world… Read more
How Unexplored: Unlocked Edition Generates a Startling Amount of Surprising Dungeons When I came across an area in Unexplored that consisted entirely of nicely decorated floating rooms all connected by teleporters, I knew we had achieved our goal – we had created a game that could surprise even us, the developer, with the imaginative and interesting levels that our dungeon generation tech could produce… Read more
Kill la Kill: IF Is Bringing Its 3D Battle Action To Switch In Europe
Publisher PQube Games has revealed that it will be bringing Kill la Kill: IF to Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS4 in Europe.
Being developed by Arc System Works, this game is being designed to recreate the feel of the original series, with animation studio Trigger keeping a careful eye on proceedings. A press release for the announcement states that the anime from which the game is based on will “be faithfully reproduced, bringing fans their favourite scenes revived with stunning visuals and cinematics – as well as a whole new story in a brand new ‘IF’ scenario”.
Players will find themselves performing devastating combos with their favourite characters from the anime in 3D arenas. Once again, the press release notes that the game “combines the perfect balance of simplicity in control with complexity in depth to provide players with a uniquely satisfying fighting experience”.
No specific release date has been revealed just yet, but the game has been scheduled for a release sometime this year. The tweet above mentions that it will be arriving both digitally and physically.
Are you hyped for this one? Will you be picking it up when it launches later this year? Let us know in the comments.
Nintendo Reveals Average Salary, Age And More Of Its Employees In Japan
For most fans of the company, working at Nintendo probably sounds like a dream come true. Being surrounded by your heroes on a daily basis, working on incredibly exciting projects and – of course – the potential for free games all sounds pretty lovely, but what is it actually like working in the house of Mario?
Well, while we can’t really know without going ahead and working there for ourselves, these new statistics released by Nintendo paint a pretty good picture of life at the Big N. The company is currently hosting a recruitment drive for new graduates to start in 2020, with roles in game development, system development, network service, and many more all up for grabs. The figures below have been shared as additional info for potential candidates.
These stats may have changed slightly over the last few months (some are only correct as of March 2018), but it’s still pretty interesting to see. The length of employment figure stands out in particular, with an average of 13.5 years suggesting that workers are happy and secure in their jobs. The average annual salary figure, which has been rounded to a near estimate, equates to approximately £61,000 (using today’s standard currency conversion rate and ignoring any tax and living cost differences).
Perhaps working at Nintendo really is living the dream, after all? Would you happily drop everything and move to Japan for a job there? Let us know in the usual place.
Dawn of Man is Now Available on Steam and is 15% off!*
Command a settlement of ancient humans, guide them through the ages in their struggle for survival. Hunt, gather, craft tools, fight, research new techs and face the challenges the environment will throw at you.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-02-2019, 05:37 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Narrative Preview – The Reckoning
Drifter scowled at a notch on his glaive as he buffed the blade with a heavy cloth. A large attaché case rested heavily at his feet.
He and Joxer were back aboard the Derelict. The Titan held his head in his hands. His glowing armor suffused the room with a blood-red warmth.
“Cheer up, brother,” Drifter said. “That didn’t go too bad.”
“Three Guardians are dead,” Joxer replied, looking up to stare straight at the rogue Lightbearer.
“That’s right,” Drifter quipped, continuing to clean his weapon. “In the dirt. Never comin’ back. Their Ghosts got sloppy. You give Taken the chance and they’ll snuff out your Light. The fact that you’re alive means your Ghost knows what he’s doin’.”
“You said this was a test run.”
“Where do you think you are? The Crucible? Gambit Prime is for keeps, test or no.”
“You son of a—”
“Leave the name-calling to me, hotshot. Let’s wrap up this debrief and get you paid.”
“You could’ve helped them.”
Drifter stood, slamming the butt of his freshly polished glaive on the attaché case at his feet.
“You got yourself out,” he said, leaning on the weapon. “You didn’t need help.”
“You could’ve stopped those Taken. You could’ve saved them all.”
“I paid you to try on that armor. How’s it treating you?”
Joxer was silent. “It worked exactly like you said it would,” he finally responded. “I invaded the other side. The armor locked the Bank down, and I took their Motes right out of it, like they were mine.” He looked down at the deck. “We wiped them out.”
“Yes. Yes, you did,” Drifter said, nodding along fiercely with each detail.
“You’re giving everyone a set of these?”
“If they can build it themselves. I’ll gladly provide the engram prints.” He half-smiled. “Your fireteam—may they rest in peace—they help you out?”
Joxer took his helmet off, rubbed his eyes. “We didn’t use names, just like you told us. The… the Warlock watched our Bank.”
“Like a one-man private security company,” Drifter nodded.
“He always seemed to know where the other Invader was.”
“A Sentry worth their salt always does.”
“And the Hunter. She was a beast. Tore those Cabal up like they were made of paper.”
“Your team’s Reaper,” Drifter clarified. “She’s like you, a born killer. But specializing in the enemies of humanity. Your Collector’s best friend.”
“Yeah, the Collector, one squirrely Titan. Hid a lot, grabbed a bunch of Motes.”
Drifter snickered. “You thought he was useless, didn’t ya?”
Joxer sighed. “‘Til he dropped the meanest Taken I’ve ever seen on the enemy side.”
“Brother, if you manage to summon a giant blocker?” Drifter shook his head, grinning. “That thing’s gotta eat.”
“We had them. We gutted the opposing team. It’s just…” The Titan stopped speaking. He didn’t lift his head, still staring at the deck.
“The Primeval,” Drifter said, with a touch of… pride?
“That Primeval took us apart.”
Drifter shrugged. “You found one that matched your strength. Lesson learned. Make sure your Ghost stays on his toes.”
“They’re all dead,” Joxer said again.
“Yeah, in a town full of immortals,” Drifter said. “Who’da thought? Their cut goes to you. And a little extra to keep, you know, the details outta sight from the Vanguard.”
The rogue Lightbearer kicked the attaché case across the deck. Joxer picked it up without opening it.
“More where that came from, if you want the work,” Drifter said, leaning on his glaive again.
“You’re on your own.” Joxer stood and walked past the Drifter. He left the chamber, massive case in tow.
“You can keep the armor,” Drifter called after him, not bothering to turn around.
As the Titan’s footsteps echoed down the hall towards the Derelict’s hangar, a Ghost emerged from a dark alcove.
“How much data did you pick up?” Drifter asked.
The Ghost’s eye glowed a dark red as it projected patterns across the metal deck: scrolling streams of statistics and figures for each candidate in their roles. Three Ghost-feeds hung in the air, playing on loop. Each one restarted as the same massive Taken came into focus.
Drifter took it all in, his eyes reflecting the blood-red of his Ghost’s Light. His smile was all teeth.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-02-2019, 05:37 AM - Forum: Windows
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Author of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ series offers ideas for educators
Hello Dragon Trainers & Wizards of Young Minds!
My name is Cressida Cowell and I’m the author and illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon and Wizards of Once book series.
I have spent 20 years writing middle grade fiction, and over those 20 years I have lost count of the times people have asked me, “Have you ever thought of writing for adults?” as if writing for children was some sort of second-best activity, something you do before moving on to the higher level of writing for adults.
For me, writing for children is the greatest privilege on earth.
What a gift it is, to be lucky enough to write for children, and therefore to be constantly reminded to look at the world through the cool clear eyes of a child. For children are interested in the truly important things in life. Heroism, wilderness, our relationship with the natural world, death, love, spirituality, adventure.
I ask a lot of serious questions in these fantasy books – what are your responsibilities to your friends, your family, your Tribe? To nature, to the environment? All subjects that the kid emerging from childhood into adulthood is beginning to think about.
But I deliberately try and provide emotional support and wisdom for the kid reader, without being preach-y. I’m not a believer in taking children to a scary place and leaving them there. So although I tackle serious issues, and never dumb them down, my books have a strong moral framework and they seek to help children with the challenges they will face in the growing up process.
I am always very happy if someone says to me that they have been through a difficult time, of being bullied, or having a death in the family, and my books have helped them through that.
Idea for educators: Free Writing Friday to inspire student creativity
Having a safe space to explore ideas is so important for children to develop their writing – which is why I’ve started a campaign to encourage children to have a notebook they can write in which there are NO rules, NO grading or marking, just FUN! It’s called Free Writing Friday and I’m asking teachers to set aside time every Friday for their class to take part. It gives children the freedom to write, draw and doodle without worrying about their work being corrected. I hope that you will join me in this weekly experience with your own students! You can also find some of my Flipgrid writing challenges for your students here to help spark their imagination and get started with their own writing notebooks.
On the importance and impact of reading aloud to children
I write books to be read aloud, by adults, to their kids.
Reading aloud to children is a wonderful way of getting them to enjoy books, and associate books with pleasure.
So with reading-aloud in mind, I think about my books as a performance, and the mouth-feel of the words, the loudness or softness, or bellow-yness of the characters. It’s why I gave Toothless a stammer, and Squeezjoos and the sprites in Wizards of Once a bit of a his-s-sy lis-s-sp, and Sychorax a voice as mild as the point of an icicle … so that they make a joyous acting performance, particularly if you are lucky enough to have David Tennant narrate them, as he does with both the How to Train Your Dragon and Wizards of Once series.
I always say to parents, read with your kids, just ten minutes a day, way beyond the age the kid can read for themselves. Books read to you in your parents’ voice live with you all your life.
Reading a book aloud is a shared joy, and sends an important message to the children being read to: books are important, books are powerful, magical things, that can make your dad cry, or your mum laugh, and have the sort of wisdom in them that can change your life.
I am so delighted for the opportunity to work with Skype in the Classroom to bring an exciting broadcast and live chat experience to your students on March 6. An author speaking directly to you in your classroom brings reading and writing alive for a student, just as a parent or teacher reading aloud to children can open up a lifetime’s enjoyment of books.
Classrooms around the world will be able to tune in to this Skype in the Classroom broadcast event as we explore together how to open imaginations and create new worlds. I’ll be answering as many questions as I can live after each event. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I hope you’ll join us with your students on March 6!
I can’t wait!
Ok, I’m in! How can I join the event and prepare my classroom?
Feels like its been a decent week, overall – we reviewed Gem Rush, Knights of the Card Table and Wars Across the World next week, also excellent additions to their respective genres. Content wise we’re a bit a of a crossroads as, apart from just making sure we review things and certain things like our Guides stuff, we’re unsure what else would be of use to the mobile audience.
Mobile gaming in general is changing, and it’s important we try and adapt with it – what form that takes though, is something we’re looking to experiment with – if you have any thoughts or suggestions, do let us know.
Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…
Out Now
Castles of Burgundy (iOS & Android) – Full Review Coming Soon
Ideally, we’d already have a review of this live by now, but unfortunately, we got our code a bit last in the day. No matter – Matt’s on the case, and we’ll bring out our full thoughts as soon as we can. Castles of Burgundy is an iconic Euro-style boardgame where players must compete to develop the best holdings in 15th Century Europe. It uses a basic dice mechanic, and there are many routes to victory – the winner is the player who gets the most victory points.
The app sports plenty of features we like to see in digital ports: varying AI difficulty for solo, cross-platform multiplayer, asynchronous and hot-seat options a tutorial and plenty of language options. At $8.99 its at the higher end of the price spectrum, up there with Terra Mystica, but DIGIDICED are a known quantity in digital boardgames, so you can be sure it’ll be worth the price.
Card Crusade (iOS & Android) – Full Review Coming soon
After a two-month stint in early access, this rogue-like deck building game is now out in the wild. It lists Slay the Spire and Pixel Dungeon as inspiration and features retro graphics. We didn’t get a chance to test this one out before today’s write-up, but the game features eight different classes, & ten floors to explore. Changes from the early access version include 20 new cards, balancing to the final three floors, a better scoring system and changes to how Altars work. We’ll bring you our full review as soon as we can.
Our review for this is still incoming, but while we wait the game’s already been updated to fix some high priority bugs. Namely, stability & performance issues a number of 2GB and 3GB devices have been settled. Along with our review, we’ll be doing a code giveaway sometime next week, so stay tuned!
Everyone’s favourite controversial Tower-Defense RTS received a free content update the other day. The Subaquatic Menace takes you three new stages, where you must help Vez’nan defeat King Polxy and his subaquatic army. Plenty of new content, including new enemies, a new hero and a new tower.
——
Also, some of you may have noticed that the PC version of Armello received a big ‘2.0’ updated this week. I reached out to the developers regarding whether or not the update would be coming to the mobile version, and here is what they had to say:
“We would like to, though we are genuinely unsure at this time. The mobile version of Armello is an interesting beast and is very different to develop for. Crunching Armello down into those little devices is a feat that we don’t know that we can undertake for v2.0, and some of the core features, such as many of the menu overhauls, wouldn’t translate seamlessly.
We’re going to evaluate our options and let you know when we can.”
The undisputed best version of Reigns is on sales again, so if you’ve yet to pick it up now might be a good time. Fair warning though – it was cheaper over Christmas, so might be worth waiting for a bigger sales event.
One of our favourite games of yesteryear – 2014’s Out There, is now selling its ‘Omega’ edition for just a dollar. This is an excellent strategy/rpg game from Mi-Clos, and one every mobile gamer should experience.
Seen anything else you like? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!
Epic Games has released the next big update for Fortnite, which launches Season 8. The new season adds several gameplay tweaks, new map areas and weapons, and updates the battle royale game with a brand-new Battle Pass. But while we could have predicted many of those general features (if not the exact specifics), the update also had some surprises. In addition to copying Apex Legends' ping system, Epic has introduced a new way to complete challenges--by teaming up with your friends.
For both daily and weekly challenges, you can now enable something called Party Assist prior to jumping into a Fortnite match. Once you do, every party member in your group, including you, will be able able to contribute to the overall progress for the selected challenge. There are some restrictions on how this works; you can't do this in larger team modes, such as Team Rumble. Additionally, you can't share progress with strangers who fill your squad. Still, this is a nice development at a time when challenges have become less interesting. For further details on Party Assist, check out Season 8's patch notes.
This update also kicks off the newest batch of challenges, Week 1 of which are now live. Snowfall challenges from last season have been replaced with Discovery challenges that task you with completing all of the objectives from a single week--a task that should be easier now that you can lean on friends to get things done.
As stated before, Season 8 adds numerous other adjustments to Fortnite. Perhaps the most notable are the changes to Fortnite island, which sees the introduction of a new locations, such as a volcano, Sunny Steps, and Lazy Lagoon. The volcano is especially dangerous, as it brings lava to Fortnite. Lava is bouncy but harmful to touch, and it will cause hot air to billow from certain vents which can launch players into the sky.
There's been some weapon chances as well. A new Pirate Cannon has been added that allows you to destroy structures from a distance or launch yourself across the map. The Chiller Grenade, on the other hand, has been vaulted as is no longer accessible for the time being. The grenade isn't the only one either. The Sneaky Snowman, X-4 Stormwing, Shopping Cart, and All Terrain Kart have all been vaulted too. Assault rifles are still available, but Epic has adjusted their drop rates so the high-tiered ones won't appear as often.
Fortnite is available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Switch, and mobile devices.
Each release, the Fedora Design team works with the community on a set of 16 additional wallpapers. Users can install and use these to supplement the standard wallpaper. The Fedora Design team encourages submissions from the whole community. Contributors then use the Nuancier app to vote on the top 16 to include.
Voting has closed on the extra wallpapers for Fedora 30. Voters chose from among 56 submissions. A total of 128 Fedora contributors voted, choosing the following 16 backgrounds to include in Fedora 30:
Blue Mystic by Clyde He
Pink House by Everaldo Coelho
Canadian Rockies by Helena Bartosova
Mushroom Family by ahalman
Mountains of North Iran by ahalman
Wheat by psav
Sunset on Skye by noe38330
Zen Lover by hhlp
Snow on Balanced Rock by n8inup
Wasser im Winter by Alexander Hanauer
Dortmund Sunset by Hendrik Borghorst
Fabric by Matthew Andersen
Great Oak in Claremont by n8inup
Lonely tree in kenya by lhirlimann
Enjoying the Sun by lhirlimann
I see stars by haven1
(Editors’ note: Thank you to Sirko Kemter, who authored this article and conducted the voting process.)
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-01-2019, 06:17 PM - Forum: Windows
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Imagine Cup: From students to technology’s next superheroes
Imagine this: A problem impacts you, or maybe your family, your friends, your community, your country, or even the whole world. You and your student peers form a smart and passionate team that not only thinks up a great solution – it also accesses amazing new technologies to make that fix a reality.
You work hard, collaboratively, and creatively for months. Along the way, you get high-powered technical and practical advice on how to refine your solution, start a business, win over investors, and bring in customers. Having learned and achieved much along the way, you come together and compete with other great teams from around the world and face expert judges who are eager to hear about the next big thing.
Welcome to Imagine Cup: an annual global student competition akin to a youth Olympics of technology. It’s prestigious, innovative, entrepreneurial, and impactful as a first step toward changing the world.
More than 2 million students from around 190 countries have competed in Imagine Cup since it started in 2003, including hundreds of thousands from across Asia Pacific. Using the latest technologies – which nowadays include artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the internet of things (IoT), and cloud computing – they have taken on some of society’s toughest challenges.
Team RailinNova’s Nan Wang presenting his team’s Rail Component Inspection Robot
With the contest now in its 17th year, 12 teams of impressive young women and men from 10 countries converged on Sydney for its Asia regional finals. To qualify, they had to move through a series of online competitions and national playoffs that ran from late last year.
Annie Parker, Global Head of Microsoft for Startups
“You are all superheroes. You have done amazing work to get here,” Annie Parker, the Global Head of Microsoft for Startups, said in a welcome address made just before each team pitched their solutions to a panel of five judges.
“These are young people wanting to solve the world’s problems, wanting to take on the big issues, and they are not afraid of that at all,” says Jennifer Ritzinger, Senior Director of Microsoft’s Academic Ecosystems and Reactors, whose team manages the competition. “They understand it is about having the right idea, and the dream, and the passion.”
Underscoring the importance of Imagine Cup’s mission, the Asia finals in Sydney were held just before Ignite the Tour – a premier Microsoft event for tech professionals and developers.
What surfaced through a day of presentations and demonstrations by the students was a sophisticated, inspirational, and eclectic mix of solutions for all sorts of sectors from the environment to disabilities, business, transport, security and more.
Team SUFECS explaining their Smart Urban Farming with Automated Environmental Controlled System to Judge Mark Pesce, Author, Inventor & Futurist
Among the entries were: an augmented reality solution for wheelchair users to navigate city streets (Singapore’s Team InclusiveAR); a social media sales tool to empower small businesses (Indonesia’s Team CodeSell); and a better way for people with dyslexia to use the internet (New Zealand’s Team LookUP).
Sri Lanka’s Team Straw Hats had a solution that reads the brain waves of people with debilitating neural disorders to help them communicate. Team Alpha-India created an augmented reality solution that discerns ingredients in packages foods while compatriots RVSAFE developed a one-stop communications and management solution to cope with natural disasters. Thailand’s Team Maker Playground came up with a software package to create IoT products.
“They all sat in a sweet spot where the technology, the application, and the thoughtfulness came together,” said futurist and entrepreneur Mark Pesce, who was on the jury.
Team Fisherman presenting their application, FishingPhishing
Some teams had personal reasons for deciding to tackle specific problems. For instance, the distress of friends and relatives losing money to phone scammers prompted South Korea’s Team Fisherman to create an app that has machine-learned voice analysis capabilities to detect suspicious cold calls.
Team SUFECS from Malaysia won the “People’s Choice Award” for developing a smart urban farming system that monitors and controls artificial environments best suited for growing crops in crowded cities.
Third-placed Team AidUSC from the Philippines wanted to help poor rural communities when they created an app that uses Azure Custom Vision to check the safety levels of water samples via a smartphone camera. Second-placed Team RalinNova of China came up with a robotic solution to automatically inspect train lines for defects with multi-sensor fusion capabilities.
The eventual winners, India’s Team Caeli, pulled their idea out of thin, or rather, polluted, air. Tired of choking on traffic fumes and industrial smog on their daily commute to their college in Delhi, they asked a simple question: If they were finding it hard to breathe, how were people with asthma and other chronic conditions coping?
At first, they launched a research project on air pollution, but soon decided “to develop a product to help all those patients who are suffering from respiratory issues and need it the most,” said team member Aakash Bhadana. They came up with #breathefreely – an AI and data-driven personal anti-pollution system that dispenses medications with the use of a smart face mask. They hope to launch their product to market by the end of this year.
Members of Team Caeli celebrate after they are named winners of the Asia Finals.
Team Caeli will represent Asia at the World Final at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, near Seattle, in May. They will compete against the winners of two other soon-to-be-held regional finals for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and the Americas.
Ritzinger regards the global nature of Imagine Cup as one of its most valuable attributes. As well as bringing forward new ideas in the application of technology, the experience of competing internationally at such a high-level also changes the lives of participants who come from incredibly diverse backgrounds. Everyone is exposed to new ideas, viewpoints, and experiences that open new lines of communication and collaboration. “Some students have never been on a plane before. They have never had a passport before. They never thought that they could be so empowered.”
Jennifer Ritzinger, Senior Director of Microsoft’s Academic Ecosystems and Reactors
She and colleague, Keith Loeber, Director in Academic Ecosystems, work at the forefront of Microsoft’s investment in emerging talent through a series of student programs and initiatives. “We are really all about preparing students for the future,” Loeber says. “Imagine Cup gives them an opportunity to innovate on their own and to showcase that innovation. It is about empowering students to make that next great technology.
“We understand that today’s students are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. They will also become technology decision makers. Whatever we can do to help make them better for tomorrow, we want to invest in that.”
Parker, who is also a former Imagine Cup judge, regards the competition as a wise long-term bet for the not-too-distant future. “If you invest in smart people – and give them the skills and the knowledge they need to build and innovate for themselves – they will become the startups of tomorrow,” she explains.
