Nintendo Shares August Switch eShop Highlights Reel To Showcase Top Indie Hits
August has been a pretty stellar month for eShop releases, and Nintendo has shared another highlights video to plonk some of the best ones right before your very eyes.
As it so happens, we’ll be sharing our monthly Nintendo Life eShop Selects feature over the weekend, listing our top picks from all of August’s gems. You can check out our July picks right here, but make sure to keep an eye out over the next couple of days to see which games top the list this month (spoiler: one of the games mentioned above seems to have made it into our top three).
Have you played any of these games? Are there any that you’d like to recommend to other readers? Share your top picks in the comments below for others to discover!
[scrawled on a page torn out of The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey]
Ikora, Zavala:
If you’re reading this, shame on you. You didn’t notice me slip out the back door. Step up your game, my buddies.
Here’s the play. I’m going back to the Reef. Not just for a mission or two—I’ll be staying there for a few days to help out our old pal Petra Venj with a few things. Nothing too serious, just picking up some patrol slack.
As always, you know the conditions of my Dare, bla bla bla. If I need any backup, I’ll hit up my favorite Guardian. Enough said.
Zavala, have you figured out your tell yet? I’d let you know, but Sundance says you gotta figure it out on your own. You know what a tough little Ghost she is. How about this: play a few rounds with Banshee while I’m gone. I’ll betcha a gold engram he’ll figure out your tell in three hands. If you drop more than four Ks of Glimmer he might just take pity on you and tell you what it is.
Ikora, I left my Sparrow with Holliday, and I’m afraid she’s gonna replace my Tharsis thrusters with some of that fancy new crap the wingheads are into these days. Could you mosey on by, make sure she doesn’t get too enthusiastic? I’ll owe you one. Another one.
See you starside.
XOXOXOXO
C6
PUBLIC KEY 2-312545-6 EARTH VNGD
FROM: ACT RGNT PETRA VENJ
TO: HUNTER VANGUARD
SUBJECT: BIRDWATCHING
MESSAGE IS:
You miss me already, huh? If you’re looking for another excuse to shirk your Vanguard duties I’ll play along.
By the way, thought you’d be interested in this report from Paladin Oran:
Free irregular kelvin radiation underneath liminal atmosphere layers in Venusian entryway. Deep interstellar simulation traces reveal elongated sidereal screens. Caldera apertures leave long free radical omissions. Mitigate if lateral lacerations yield neutrons.
MESSAGE ENDS
GAMMA//TWO//TWO//YELLOW//RUBICON
High Priority Message—Outbound—5560 Amytis
PETRA VENJ EYES ONLY//AMETHYST PROTOCOL
This is a quality assurance follow-up about your recent experience with Cayde’s Six. How thoroughly did Cayde and his six compadres capture those Barons? Please select all that apply:
>Perfectly in every way
>Songs are already being composed about your triumphs
>So thoroughly that I’m finally ready to admit that I’m in love with you, you dashing metal man
I’ll await your answer by return ping.
But seriously, PV, you got more problems than eight Barons right now. And Mansanas’ latest says a Red Legion splinter group got into their heads that the Reef’d make a good summer home.
Here’s an idea—I could come back out to the Reef, do a few patrols. Free you up to focus on your birdwatching.
You know I’d love the excuse to leave the Tower again. Just hit me up.
September's Xbox One Games With Gold Now Available
It's not quite September yet, but Xbox Live Gold subscribers can already download the new Games with Gold for September 2018. The games are Prison Architect for Xbox One and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars for Xbox 360 (also playable on Xbox One). The former is free through the end of September, while the latter is free through September 15.
As you can probably tell from the title, Prison Architect puts you in charge of a prison. You get to design the layout of the building and manage how the occupants are treated. You can aim to make your prison a pleasant place designed to rehabilitate the criminals within, or you can give into your darker urges and inspire things like arson, murders, and riots.
Also available for free between now and September 15 is Ubisoft's medieval brawler For Honor. This fall it's getting a free major update with a new faction and a castle siege mode, so be sure to pick it up if you haven't yet.
After Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars goes back to full price, you'll be able to get the 360 game Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World September 16-30. The other mid-month addition is the Xbox One game Livelock, which will be available September 16 - October 15.
And if you hurry, you can pick up August's remaining freebies before they go back to full price September 1. Forza Horizon 2 is still available for free (it will be delisted from the Xbox Store on September 30), as is Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
Games With Gold: September 2018
Xbox One
Prison Architect (September 1-30)
For Honor (August 16-September 15)
Livelock (September 16-October 15)
Xbox 360
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (September 1-15)
Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World (September 16-30)
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 09-01-2018, 11:48 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
5 Huge Destiny 2 Changes Live After Newest Update: Xur, Guns, Infusion, More
While Destiny 2's biggest DLC expansion to date, Forsaken, is still a few days away, there's a ton of new stuff to check out in the game right now. Bungie has released a major update for all players to prepare the game for Forsaken. It's not only big in terms of file size--it weighs in at around 35 GB--but it has a meaningful impact on how the game is played right now.
Many new features and adjustments won't be enabled until Forsaken releases on September 4, but whether or not you plan on purchasing it, you can boot up the game and experience some major differences today. There are numerous tweaks to individual weapons, weapon types, perks, and classes, which you can read about in the full patch notes. For a primer on what to expect next time you boot up the game, here's a quick overview of some of the biggest and most important changes in update 2.0. And bear in mind you can potentially do so without already owing the game, as Destiny 2 is an early PS Plus freebie for September.
Update: To expand things even further, Xur has arrived, and he's working a bit differently than usual. As we knew from the patch notes, he no longer shows up on the map, nor does he simply go wherever the current Flashpoint is. More notably, the Exotic armor he's selling right now offers new perks over the existing versions, giving you a reason to buy them even if you already own those pieces.
Weapon Slot And Ammo Overhaul
As before, you have three weapons equipped at a time, but just which slot those weapons go in has changed completely. You no longer are restricted to having one weapon that uses Primary ammo in the Kinect slot and one that uses Energy ammo in the Energy slot. You can in theory have two weapons that both use Primary ammo, if that's your preference.
More meaningfully, Bungie has shuffled which slot many weapons go in. Shotguns, snipers, and fusion rifles can now be found in the Energy slot, meaning you'll be able to use them far more often than before, as they now use the much more common Energy ammo, rather than Heavy ammo. The Heavy slot remains home to certain weapons of those types, including Exotics like DARCI, Tractor Cannon, The Legend of Acrius, and Whisper of the Worm.
While there are some exceptions, Bungie has readjusted which ammo type each weapon uses. Here's how things now look:
Primary Ammo Weapons
Hand Cannons
Scout Rifles
Auto Rifles
Sidearms
Submachine Guns
Pulse Rifles
Special Ammo Weapons
Fusion Rifles
Shotguns
Sniper Rifles
Trace Rifles
Single Shot Grenade Launchers
Heavy Ammo Weapons
Drum-Loaded Grenade Launchers
Rocket launchers
Linear Fusion Rifles
Swords
Infusion Works Differently
The process of infusion--where you take the higher Power level of one item to boost another of the same type--has changed in multiple ways. You're no longer required to match item types; for instance, you can infuse a pulse rifle using a hand cannon. Before, you'd need a pulse rifle to infuse another pulse rifle.
The cost of infusion has been adjusted to now also require a specific planetary material alongside Glimmer and Legendary Shards. Exact costs depend on the rarity levels of the items involved; infusing an Exotic into another item will ditch the Legendary Shard aspect of the price and reduce the amount of Glimmer needed.
This change ties in with planetary materials becoming far common. You'll now get them in large batches from things like opening chests, and they now serve as a primary source of gaining reputation on each planet, taking the place of tokens.
In terms of how and why this matters to you, it seems that infusing everything possible will no longer be the way to go. You'll want to carefully consider what you infuse and when, which may prove to be a welcome tweak.
You Can Get Forsaken Weapons And Armor Right Now
Forsaken might not be out, but you can actually start getting new gear from it already. The current Flashpoint is on Mars, and completing it can reward you with either a piece of Legendary Forsaken armor or a weapon. You can see those that we've gotten our hands on in the gallery below. That these items are available is notable because you don't actually need the Forsaken DLC to receive these items currently. It seems as if this is only happening as a result of a bug, given that it's mentioned in Bungie's list of known issues. Whatever the case, these are still items you can nab right now.
Completing the Flashpoint is no different than in the past, although how you track it has changed. Many of the weekly milestones are no longer seen from a menu in the Director. Instead, these are now found by looking at specific activities in the Director, or--in the case of the Flashpoint--by hovering over the planet's vendor on the map.
Bungie has warned that some things may be broken in-game until Forsaken and its accompanying patch launch on September 4. Be aware: That appears to be the case with the Flashpoint progress meter, which doesn't accurately reflect how much you've done.
More Vault Space
It's not the most critical of changes, but Bungie has increased Vault space to 500 slots. That's welcome for those who like to collect everything, and it'll be particularly important once Forsaken releases, as Destiny 2 will be introducing items with random rolls (as in the first game), so it may be beneficial to keep multiples of the same weapon or armor piece.
Another thing to bear in mind: the Collection is inaccessible until the 2.0.0.1 patch launches on September 4. That means you can't retrieve emblems and Exotics that you don't already have stored on you or in your vault right now.
Activity Changes To Challenges, Strike Playlists, And More
The precise way in which you take part in activities has changed. Existing challenges are gone, replaced by bounties that will be obtainable from the relevant vendor; "challenges" now refer to daily or weekly bonuses that were previously viewed as milestones. The Nightfall is increasing in difficulty, while the Prestige version has been removed. The Heroic Strike playlist is gone, replaced by Legacy and Forsaken playlists (the latter with increasing difficulty levels, based on your Power level). Here's how Bungie outlines them:
Heroic Strike playlists have been retired for all players and replaced with a single content-appropriate playlist:
Legacy
Strikes playlist matches the legacy playlist that is currently available in Year 1
Recommended Power 200
Will have modifiers
Forsaken
Strike playlist has three difficulties to select from:
Recommended Power 300 (not available when your level is 40 Power higher)
Recommended Power 400 (not available when your level is 40 Power higher)
Recommended Power 500 (always available)
Will have modifiers
If you're looking for the Leviathan Raid and Raid Lairs, those are now located in the Nessus area of the Director. In preparation for his fate in Forsaken, Cayde has left the Tower, meaning you'll no longer be able to purchase scouting reports and treasure maps. And Xur, once he arrives, will no longer show up on the map, nor will he be found wherever the current Flashpoint is located.
This is just a sampling of the many changes that Bungie has implemented in Destiny 2. The game is very much in flux right now, as Forsaken is set to shake things up even further, with the annual pass set to continue expanding upon the game. Whether all of these adjustments are for the better remains to be seen, but whatever the case, it's an exciting time to be a Destiny 2 player.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 09-01-2018, 05:32 AM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
Paid parental leave matters
Building on our 2015 announcement Three years ago, we announced that we would require a wide variety of suppliers that do business with Microsoft in the United States to provide their employees with the important benefit of paid time off. Today we are announcing that over the next year we will take a further step, to ensure that these suppliers also provide their employees who handle our work with paid parental leave.
We have long recognized that the health, well-being and diversity of our employees helps Microsoft succeed. That’s why we provide industry-leading benefits for our employees, including comprehensive health and wellness programs for families, paid vacation, paid sick leave and paid time off for new parents.
We also know that we rely on a wide array of other companies to supply us with goods and services that reflect their core competencies, and that the people who work for our suppliers also are critical to our success. That is why we took the step three years ago to require our U.S. suppliers doing substantial business with Microsoft to provide paid time off for their employees. Paid time off is good both for employers and employees, and it was the right step for our business. By implementing that requirement, we were able to focus our resources on businesses that share with us a commitment providing employees with important benefits such as paid time off. We believe now is the time to work with our suppliers to take a next important step.
What we’re doing Over the next 12 months we will work with our U.S. suppliers to implement this new paid parental leave policy. It will require that suppliers offer their employees a minimum of 12 weeks paid parental leave, up to $1,000 per week. This change applies to all parents employed by our suppliers who take time off for the birth or adoption of a child. The new policy applies to suppliers with more than 50 employees and covers supplier employees who perform substantial work for Microsoft. This minimum threshold applies to all of our suppliers across the U.S. and is not intended to supplant a state law that is more generous. Many of our suppliers already offer strong benefits packages to their employees, and suppliers are of course welcome to offer more expansive leave benefits to their employees.
Our new supplier parental leave requirement is informed by important work on paid parental leave done in states, including Washington. In 2017, Washington state passed family leave legislation, including paid parental leave. This new law will take effect in 2020. As we looked at this legislation, however, we realized that while it will benefit the employees of our suppliers in Washington state, it will leave thousands of valued contributors outside of Washington behind. So, we made a decision to apply Washington’s parental leave requirement more broadly, and not to wait until 2020 to begin implementation.
Microsoft will work with our suppliers to understand the impacts of this change, and we will make these changes in a thoughtful way. We appreciate that this may ultimately result in increased costs for Microsoft, and we’ll put a process in place for addressing these issues with our suppliers. Our first step will be reaching out to our suppliers to discuss the impact of this policy change.
The case for paid parental leave We recognize today’s announcement comes during an ongoing national dialogue about the importance of paid parental leave. The case for paid parental leave is clear. Studies show that paid parental leave enriches the lives of families. Women who take paid maternity leave are more likely to be in the workforce a year later and earn more than mothers who do not receive paid time off. Employers who offer paid time off for new mothers experience improved productivity, higher morale and lower turnover rates. And, paid parental leave is not solely a benefit for women. Data from California’s paid family leave program shows that men take paternity leave at twice the rate and for longer periods of time when the leave is paid. This increased bonding and time spent caring for young children is correlated with positive outcomes such as higher test scores for these children. Further, when men and women have the opportunity to take paid leave, it can help counteract gender caregiving stereotypes, neutralize stigmas and promote equity in the home and office.
Despite these clear benefits, just 13 percent of private sector workers in the U.S. have access to paid parental leave. And the lack of access to parental leave cuts broadly across professions – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22 percent of professional positions and 7 to 8 percent of workers in service and maintenance jobs have access to paid parental leave.
Like many large employers, we welcome the opportunity to engage in the important national conversation about how all U.S. workers, regardless of where they work, can access paid parental leave. In the meantime, we will continue to focus our resources on doing business with companies that share our commitment to increase workforce inclusion and support employees and their families. As we gain experience with this new approach, we’ll share what we learn with others. And as always, we’ll look forward to learning more ourselves.
Welcome to the Weekender, your weekly look at the best new games, sales, and updates. To recap what you may have missed so far, we’ve refreshed a couple of our buying guides, so if you’re wondering what the best board games or best sport manager games are, we’ve got you covered.
We also reviewed Donut County (see below), and spotted a great deal for Android users. Finally, The Lord of the Rings digital card game released on Steam at the start of the week. It’s still due on mobile as far as we know, so go watch some gamaplay if you’re interested in how its coming along.
Back to the real reason you’re here: We’ve got an eclectic mix of sims, RPGs, and other games for you this week.
“A story-filled physics puzzle game where you play as a hole in the ground.” That’s a great tagline for what sure looks like a fun game. The basic idea is that you play as a hole. A small hole to start with, but you start swallowing things, pretty much anything, and get bigger. Then swallow more things. Michael had four-stars worth of love for it in yesterday’s review, and you can check it out to learn more about the game.
We’ve got another tabletop-to-digital conversion this week, this time it’s dice-rolling box-checking point-tallying Noch mal. In Noch mal you earn points through BINGO-esque gameplay where you roll dice and mark off squares based on your results. If you’re the first to mark off a column or all of the same-colored boxes you earn points. The trick is that you can only check off connected boxes. It takes a little bit to get used to the rules but plays pretty quick from there. Noch mal supports solo mode or pass-and-play for two players.
NFL training camps are in full swing and armchair-GMs are spending plenty of time second-guessing their team’s choices. Pro Strategy Football 2019 lets you do more than talk about how best to manage a pro-football team. You are able to lead the team of your choice through one or many seasons including the draft, training camp, the regular season, and of course the playoffs. The game hasn’t licensed the right to use real team and player names, though there is a way to customize them if you’re so inclined.
The simulation has several layers and you not only make personnel and depth chart decisions but can coach games in either casual or expert mode or simulate them and move quickly through seasons. Personally, I like the career view and seeing how many seasons play out. It’s very similar to the developer’s college-football simulation game, created as a college project, and mentioned by me almost two-years ago in one of my earliest News by Numbers posts. I do wish the game simulated free agency and player trades, but Pro Strategy Football 2019 still has plenty going on and should entertain most pro-football fans.
Football not your thing? How about golf? Golf Club Manager brings sports simulation to the links. You are hired by club owner James to turn around his struggling course. You’ve got to string out low daily profits as far as possible to make improvements and attract more players with the ultimate goal of hosting championship events. Golf Club Manager‘s graphics are pretty basic, but the simulation is strong. It’s worth a look for simulation fans and golfers alike.
)Egglia: Legend of the Redcap is an RPG where you play as a young elf named Chabo who must explore Egglia, gather resources to build a village, battle enemies in turn-based combat, and make friends with various spirit companions. It’s a premium game but is free for now.
Another free game this week is stock-market simulator Trader’s Way. The UI is pretty basic and there are some issues, but it is free and buy low sell high is the idea, right?
One of my most anticipated games of 2017, Warhammer Quest 2 was a bit disappointing at launch. They’ve since shored up one of the biggest issues, the lack of challenge, by bringing back the ambush mechanic. The sequel still isn’t as good as the original, but it’s still fun and certainly worth the current sale price of a dollar. Not only is this the lowest price yet for Warhammer Quest 2, but there was also a content update that added two new characters—the Witch Hunter and the Bretonian Knight—and 20 new weapons, armor, and equipment.
A tactical RPG in the same vein as the great Templar Battleforce, Heroes of Steel is also by the Terese Brothers and well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre. Remember most Terese bros. games have a free version as well supported by ads.
Suburbia puts you in the shoes of a city planner competing to build the best city. You mix residential, commercial, and industrial areas and must include expected amenities like airports, museums and more. The multiplayer is only local pass-and-play, sadly, but there is a single-player campaign that moves through real cities.
One of the best games of 2017, Halcyon 6 is a space-based strategy, RPG, and simulation game and features fun and tactical turn-based combat. If any of that sounds like your kind of thing the game is worth every bit of its $6.99 regular price—$3.99 constitutes a no-brainer!
Seen anything else you like? Played any of the above? let us know in the comments!
True Detective Season 3's First Trailer Is A Serious Return-To-Form
The first trailer for True Detective Season 3 is here. HBO's detective anthology series returns to the network in January 2019, and this first promo certainly looks like the makers are trying to recapture the intensity of the first season after a disappointing Season 2.
The trailer doesn't really give much away, but it shows that, like Season 1, the show will be set across multiple time periods. Oscar-winning star Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Luke Cage, House of Cards) plays a cop named Wayne Hays who must uncover a mystery that spans several decades in the sprawling landscape of the Ozarks. It looks dark, weird, and gripping--check the trailer out above.
True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto has written the entire season, with Deadwood creator David Milch lending a hand. The cast also includes Ray Fisher (Justice League), Carmen Ejogo (Alien: Covenant), Scoot McNairy (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), and Stephen Dorff (Blade).
While Season 1 of True Detective was one of 2014's most talked-about TV shows, Season 2 was a disappointment in terms of both viewing figures and critical reaction. It was unclear if there would be a third season for some time, and three years will have past since Season 2 by the time the new one premieres.
In a recent interview with Indiewire, Pizzolatto spoke about the striking setting for Season 3 and explained that the surroundings were vital to the season's story. "The mystery of the deep woods," he said. "The fog over the mountains. The rivers. The water. The sense of scale when you get out to some of this nature. Also, what the buildings say about the lives behind them. I feel like people will see it as an extension of character, something that embodies characters' emotional journeys while influencing those journeys."
"Sometimes we found things that seem to come straight out of the imagination, like this particular house that I don't want to go into it too much because of spoilers, but once we found it we couldn't believe it existed. It was almost exactly what I had written, and it needed to be very specific."
Microsoft Library Manager (LibMan) is now available in the general release of Visual Studio 2017 as of v15.8. LibMan first previewed earlier this year, and now, after a much-anticipated wait, LibMan is available in the stable release of Visual Studio 2017 bundled as a default component in the ASP.NET and web development workload.
In the announcement about the preview, we showed off the LibMan manifest (libman.json), providers for filesystem and CDNJS, and the menu options for Restore, Clean and Enable Restore-on-Build. Included as part of the release in v15.8 we’ve also added: – a new dialog for adding library files – a new library provider (UnPkg) – the LibMan CLI (cross-platform DotNet global tool)
What is LibMan?
LibMan is a tool that helps to find common client-side library files and add them to your web project. If you need to pull JavaScript or CSS files into your project from libraries like jQuery or bootstrap, you can use LibMan to search various global providers to find and download the files you need.
We’ve added tooling inside Visual Studio to add library files to a web project. Inside a web project, you can right-click any folder (or the project root) and select Add–>Client-Side Library… This will launch the Add Client-Side Library dialog, which provides a convenient interface for browsing the libraries and files available in various providers, as well as setting the target location for files in your project.
New Provider: UnPkg
Along with CDNJS and FileSystem, we’ve built an UnPkg provider. Based on the UnPkg.com website, which sits on top of the npm repo, the UnPkg provider opens access to many more libraries than just those referenced by the CDNJS catalogue.
LibMan CLI available on NuGet
Timed with the release of Visual Studio 2017 v15.8, the LibMan command line interface (CLI) has been developed as a global tool for the DotNet CLI and is now available on NuGet. Look for Microsoft.Web.LibraryManager.Cli
You can install the LibMan CLI with the following command:
The CLI is cross-platform, so you’ll be able to use it anywhere that .NET Core is supported (Windows, Mac, Linux). You can perform a variety of LibMan operations including install, update, and restore, plus local cache management.
Justin Clareburt, Senior Program Manager, Visual Studio
Justin Clareburt is the Web Tools PM on the Visual Studio team. He has over 20 years of Software Engineering experience and brings to the team his expert knowledge of IDEs and a passion for creating the ultimate development experience.
The Zachtronics devs discuss the essence of cyberpunk in Exapunks
If you’re a fan of Zachtronics’ playable machine systems, you probably already know they’ve released a new coding simulator called Exapunks in the last month. After the fantastical logic of Opus Magnum, it’s a return to the programmatic roots of Shenzen I/O and TIS-100, which means when talking to developers Zach Barth & Matthew Burns about making the game (as we did earlier on the Gamasutra Twitch channel), we wound up talking to them about making coding languages too.
For those curious about how Exapunks was constructed, and why its creators did a lot of research into ’90s hacking culture and the original essence of cyberpunk, you can now watch our full conversation with Barth & Burns in the video linked up above.
Justin Clareburt is the Web Tools PM on the Visual Studio team. He has over 20 years of Software Engineering experience and brings to the team his expert knowledge of IDEs and a passion for creating the ultimate development experience.
