The Chinese internet tech company NetEase has made a $50 million investment in SpatialOS dev Improbable, picking up what a press release describes as a “small stake” in the company in the process.

For Improbable, however, the partnership represents a way for the company to bring its cloud-based platform to both China and developers in the Asia Pacific region, something that is typically difficult to do for a Western company.

SpatialOS itself is a cloud-based technology geared toward developers making online games. The platform divides the computational work of managing online worlds and divides it up between a battalion of cloud-based servers, allowing developers to create more vast and persistent online worlds. So far, the tech has been used in the recently released MMO game Worlds Adrift and is used by the upcoming AI-driven MMO title Seed as well.

As part of the partnership, NetEase itself has announced that it will be releasing at least one SpatialOS-powered game in the future, though it won’t officially reveal the title itself until later this year.

Ken Sugimori, best known as the character designer and art director of Pokémon, has been around since the inception of the franchise. In a translation provided by Siliconera recently, the talented artist discussed how Pokémon designs had to be memorable – with cool designs often failing to achieve this.  

I often tell members in charge of design to “take away from designs that are too cool,” but that is probably a sentiment that is difficult to grasp. What’s cool and what’s not is all subjective in the end. To put it extremely, my job is to get something that would look cooler if it didn’t have this or that on it, then put it in on purpose. [laughs] Basically, if it looks too cool then it takes away from what makes it memorable for the players.

It simply ends at “that’s cool.” After all, as Pokémon that are being sent out to the world, we want them to always remain memorable; however, I feel that in order to do so you have to add a touch to it.

Sugimori believes it’s about finding the right balance – again making reference to designs that might look too cool. He’ll often find this balance by adding “something uncool” to a Pokémon that is too cool or might add a cheerful feature to a Pokémon with a more serious tone.

Look at Oshawott’s cheeks. It has three freckles, and if you take them away Oshawott becomes cuter. However, taking them away makes its face less memorable. Actually, a lot of people told me “I want you to get rid of the freckles,” but I strongly insisted “It is better to have them.” Going by my standards, this is the correct way to design Pokémon.

Are you a fan of Ken’s work? Would you prefer extremely cool or cute Pokémon? Tell us below.

Another weekend, another chance for us all to share our Nintendo gaming plans! Whether you’re slowly melting into nothingness like us poor souls in the far-too-sunny UK, or happily enjoying your summer days in a much more friendly and stable climate elsewhere, we hope you’ll get a bit of time to enjoy your favourite games. This week we’ve got a lot of hero-based shooter action, RPG happiness, and even a special event to attend. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Ryan Craddock, staff writer

This weekend is a little different for me, as rather than spending every single moment locked away inside, I’ll be joining some other members of the team for a lovely night out at the Nintendo Life Gaming Night in Cambridge. Taking place later this evening, we’ve got an ARMS tournament being hosted by our very own Alex Olney, and lots of retro Nintendo consoles are also being set up – many of which I’ve never had the chance to play.

I’m particularly excited to give the Virtual Boy a spin; I was only one year old at the time of release, so it might have been a little bit much for me back then, and its failure meant that it never came over to Europe anyway. Maybe I’ll finally learn first-hand why it never made it out of Japan and North America.

Liam Doolan, news reporter

I played Paladins on PC prior to its official release and admittedly didn’t think much of it. Considering that was quite a while ago, I’m willing to give the game a second chance now that it’s available on the Switch. That’s why this weekend I’ll be dedicating my time to Hi-Rez Studios’ free-to-play FPS, familiarising myself with as many of the champions as possible. Based on the short amount of time I have had with the game so far on Nintendo’s latest system, I’ve got to say I’m impressed. Digital Foundry’s analysis was spot on, in terms of it being a remarkable port with only a few minor technical setbacks.

Glen Fox, guides editor

I’ve had a bit of a weird week, and have struggled to find a game that really grabs me. I checked out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the first time and struggled with the low res visuals and performance issues, which only became worse while in handheld mode. I’m probably being a bit picky, but I found it too off-putting, and spent more time tweaking my TV settings in an attempt to offset the muddy visuals than actually playing the game. So I decided to save it for a time when I’m in a more forgiving mood and tried Octopath Traveler as a replacement, which I’m enjoying in small bursts so far. It’s a bit of a basic and by the numbers JRPG, but the battle system is a ton of fun and I love the blocky 2D/3D visuals. It’s also got some decent writing and voice acting, which kind of surprised me.

What’s really captured my attention though, is Paladins. I was quite intrigued at this coming to Switch but didn’t want to pay £25 for the Founder’s Pack to see if I liked it. Now that it’s free, I booted it up and was hooked instantly! It feels like I’ve been waiting to play a game like this for ages. A shooter that rewards team play and gives you more to do than just shooting enemies – who’d have thought! I’ve ended up playing as almost exclusively Jenos, because I quite enjoy healing and supporting my teammates. Having said that, he packs a pretty solid punch himself, and has some interesting skills that allow him to move around quickly and temporarily freeze enemies in place. I always like playing as characters that can do more than one thing well – jack of all trade types – and Jenos is pretty much that.

Paladins and Fortnite have really got me excited about the free to play and shooter scenes on Switch, and we’ve got more coming courtesy of the excellent Warframe. It’s nice to have games to play in between games, or when you don’t fancy booting up your main meal of a massive JRPG, and the Switch is starting to excel in that department. Now, if only Splatoon 2 can follow suit and provide more rewarding systems to help win me back…

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

The joys of HD 2D are real as I fashionably late crawl my way into Octopath Traveler. I still hope to keep exploring Ys VIII‘s mysterious island while I’m at it, but in my experience playing two JRPGs at the same time is a bad policy. Will be bringing the pain to the monthly ARMS Party Crash with Springtron because those badges don’t earn themselves. Elsewhere, Slaps and Beans is on the menu thanks to the stealth release of the long-awaited Switch version of the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill tribute game. Hopefully I won’t get too addicted to Paladins.

Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, reviewer

The Summer Holidays have kicked off, and if you’re a parent you’ll know that means its six weeks of chaos, children and more chaos. So while I try and work out ways to keep too excitable kids entertained, I’ll be putting the real-time strategy of Element and the 3D platforming of Tanzia through their paces on Nintendo Switch – look out for reviews of both next week on Nintendo Life. My eldest has also fallen down the Splatoon 2 well, so much so he’s probably vastly better at Turf War than I’ll ever be. Not that I’m bitter or anything…

Jon Cousins, Japan correspondent

This weekend, I’m trying to get ready for my inevitable purchases of two DLC packages, so I’m concentrating on finishing the solo campaigns of Splatoon 2 and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Splatoon’s multiplayer has had its hooks in me since the first game, but I’m actually really enjoying the variety in the single player missions and they are also encouraging me to use weapons I would ordinarily ignore. Despite the expansion‘s reported difficulty, I’m really interested to see the new ideas and levels. I’m also a big fan of Donkey Kong, so before I eventually get round to buying his turn-based strategy adventure add-on, I must finish Mario’s main game first.

Dave Letcavage, contributing writer

I know it took me ages, but I’ve finally downloaded Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice on 3DS. When I’m not reading (which I’ve been doing a lot of lately), I’ve mostly been playing that. In addition to the video game form of Ace Attorney, I’ve also been watching the anime thanks to a recommendation from Nintendo Life’s very own Morgan Sleeper. The English dub occasionally features some piercing voices and hammy performances, but I’m enjoying the series despite those factors. No major objections here!

When I need a break from the legal world, I’m hoping to start another playthrough of the superb Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition in anticipation of the – for now – PS4-exclusive sequel that’s scheduled to release next month. The original is quite possibly my favorite Metroidvania ever, so returning to it is always a treat.

Richard Atkinson, contributing writer

I’ll be making my merry way to the stunning city of Cambridge, UK this weekend to meet and greet some of our dedicated readers to enjoy hours of gaming fun at the Centre Of Computing History. There will be a plethora of consoles to jump on including the likes of the Famicom, Sharp Famicom Twin, NES, Super Famicom, Super Nintendo (both US and UK Models), SNES Mini and Super Famicom Jr to name a few. Apparently there’s something called the Wii U, too… Of course, my trusty Switch will be firmly in my grips with Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ready and waiting for anyone wanting to jump in for some Salmon Run goodness or for me to embarrass myself by falling off Rainbow Road more times than I care to imagine.

I can’t wait to meet some of the Nintendo Life staff and our awesome readers in a great venue that’s bulging at the seams with nostalgia. Make sure to come and say hello!

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a vote in the poll above and a comment below with your gaming choices over the next few days…

Those that develop on Linux are likely familiar with Git. With good reason. Git is one of the most widely used and recognized version control systems on the planet. And for most, Git use tends to lean heavily on the terminal. After all, much of your development probably occurs at the command line, so why not interact with Git in the same manner?

In some instances, however, having a GUI tool to work with can make your workflow slightly more efficient (at least for those that tend to depend upon a GUI). To that end, what options do you have for Git GUI tools? Fortunately, we found some that are worthy of your time and (in some cases) money. I want to highlight three such Git clients that run on the Linux operating system. Out of these three, you should be able to find one that meets all of your needs.
I am going to assume you understand how Git and repositories like GitHub function, which I covered previously, so I won’t be taking the time for any how-tos with these tools. Instead, this will be an introduction, so you (the developer) know these tools are available for your development tasks.

A word of warning: Not all of these tools are free, and some are released under proprietary licenses. However, they all work quite well on the Linux platform and make interacting with GitHub a breeze.

With that said, let’s look at some outstanding Git GUIs.

SmartGit

SmartGit is a proprietary tool that’s free for non-commercial usage. If you plan on employing SmartGit in a commercial environment, the license cost is $99 USD per year for one license or $5.99 per month. There are other upgrades (such as Distributed Reviews and SmartSynchronize), which are both $15 USD per licence. You can download either the source or a .deb package for installation. I tested SmartGit on Ubuntu 18.04 and it worked without issue.

But why would you want to use SmartGit? There are plenty of reasons. First and foremost, SmartGit makes it incredibly easy to integrate with the likes of GitHub and Subversion servers. Instead of spending your valuable time attempting to configure the GUI to work with your remote accounts, SmartGit takes the pain out of that task. The SmartGit GUI (Figure 1) is also very well designed to be uncluttered and intuitive.

After installing SmartGit, I had it connected with my personal GitHub account in seconds. The default toolbar makes working with a repository, incredibly simple. Push, pull, check out, merge, add branches, cherry pick, revert, rebase, reset — all of Git’s most popular features are there to use. Outside of supporting most of the standard Git and GitHub functions/features, SmartGit is very stable. At least when using the tool on the Ubuntu desktop, you feel like you’re working with an application that was specifically designed and built for Linux.

SmartGit is probably one of the best tools that makes working with even advanced Git features easy enough for any level of user. To learn more about SmartGit, take a look at the extensive documentation.

GitKraken

GitKraken is another proprietary GUI tool that makes working with both Git and GitHub an experience you won’t regret. Where SmartGit has a very simplified UI, GitKraken has a beautifully designed interface that offers a bit more feature-wise at the ready. There is a free version of GitKraken available (and you can test the full-blown paid version with a 15 day trial period). After the the trial period ends, you can continue using the free version, but for non-commercial use only.

For those who want to get the most out of their development workflow, GitKraken might be the tool to choose. This particular take on the Git GUI features the likes of visual interactions, resizable commit graphs, drag and drop, seamless integration (with GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket), easy in-app tasks, in-app merge tools, fuzzy finder, gitflow support, 1-click undo & redo, keyboard shortcuts, file history & blame, submodules, light & dark themes, git hooks support, git LFS, and much more. But the one feature that many users will appreciate the most is the incredibly well-designed interface (Figure 2).

Outside of the amazing interface, one of the things that sets GitKraken above the rest of the competition is how easy it makes working with multiple remote repositories and multiple profiles. The one caveat to using GitKraken (besides it being proprietary) is the cost. If you’re looking at using GitKraken for commercial use, the license costs are:

• $49 per user per year for individual

• $39 per user per year for 10+ users

• $29 per user per year for 100+ users

The Pro accounts allow you to use both the Git Client and the Glo Boards (which is the GitKraken project management tool) commercially. The Glo Boards are an especially interesting feature as they allow you to sync your Glo Board to GitHub Issues. Glo Boards are sharable and include search & filters, issue tracking, markdown support, file attachments, @mentions, card checklists, and more. All of this can be accessed from within the GitKraken GUI.
GitKraken is available for Linux as either an installable .deb file, or source.

Git Cola

Git Cola is our free, open source entry in the list. Unlike both GitKraken and Smart Git, Git Cola is a pretty bare bones, no-nonsense Git client. Git Cola is written in Python with a GTK interface, so no matter what distribution and desktop combination you use, it should integrate seamlessly. And because it’s open source, you should find it in your distribution’s package manager. So installation is nothing more than a matter of opening your distribution’s app store, searching for “Git Cola” and installing. You can also install from the command line like so:

sudo apt install git-cola

Or:

sudo dnf install git-cola

The Git Cola interface is pretty simple (Figure 3). In fact, you won’t find much in the way of too many bells and whistles, as Git Cola is all about the basics.

Because of Git Cola’s return to basics, there will be times when you must interface with the terminal. However, for many Linux users this won’t be a deal breaker (as most are developing within the terminal anyway). Git Cola does include features like:

Although Git Cola does support connecting to remote repositories, the integration to the likes of Github isn’t nearly as intuitive as it is on either GitKraken or SmartGit. But if you’re doing most of your work locally, Git Cola is an outstanding tool that won’t get in between you and Git.

Git Cola also comes with an advanced (Directed Acyclic Graph) DAG visualizer, called Git Dag. This tool allows you to get a visual representation of your branches. You start Git Dag either separately from Git Cola or within Git Cola from the View > DAG menu entry. Git DAG is a very powerful tool, which helps to make Git Cola one of the top open source Git GUIs on the market.

There’s more where that came from

There are plenty more Git GUI tools available. However, from these three tools you can do some serious work. Whether you’re looking for a tool with all the bells and whistles (regardless of license) or if you’re a strict GPL user, one of these should fit the bill.

Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.

Ethereum is a blockchain protocol that includes a programming language which allows for applications, called contracts, to run within the blockchain. Initially described in a white paper by it’s creator, Vitalik Buterin in late 2013, Ethereum was created as a platform for the development of decentralized applications that can do more than make simple coin transfers.

How does it work?

Ethereum is a blockchain. In general, a blockchain is a chain of data structures (blocks) that contains information such as account ids, balances, and transaction histories. Blockchains are distributed across a network of computers; the computers are often referred to as nodes.

Cryptography is a major part of blockchain technology. Mathematical encryption algorithms like RSA and ECDSA are used to generate public and private keys that are mathematically coupled. Public keys, or addresses, and private keys allow people to make transactions across the network without involving any personal information like name, address, date of birth, etc. These keys and addresses are often called hashes and are usually a long string on hexadecimal symbols.

Example of an RSA generated public key

Blockchains have a public ledger that keeps track of all transactions that have occurred since the first, “genesis”, block. A block will include, at least, a hash of the current and previous blocks, and some data. Nodes across the network work to verify transactions and add them to the public ledger. In order for a transaction to be considered legitimate, there must be consensus.

Consensus means that the transaction is considered valid by the majority of the nodes in the Network. There are four main algorithms used to achieve consensus among a distributed blockchain network: the byzantine fault tolerance, proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, and delegated proof-of-stake. Chris explains them well in his post.

Attempting to make even the slightest alteration to the data in a block will change the hash of the block and will therefore be noticed by the entire network. This makes blockchains immutable and append-only. A transaction can only be added at the end of the chain, and once a transaction is added to a block there can be no changes made to it.

Source: andrefortuna.org

Accounts

Users of Ethereum control an account that has a cryptographic private key with a corresponding Ethereum address. If Alice, for example, wants to send Bob 1,000 ETH (ETH / Ether is Ethereum’s money). Alice needs Bob’s Ethereum address so she knows where to send it, and then Bob needs to use his private key that corresponds to that address in order to receive the 1,000 ETH.

Ethereum has two types of accounts: accounts that user’s control and contracts (or “smart contracts”). Accounts that user’s control, like Alice and Bob, primarily serve for ETH transfers. Just about every blockchain system has this type of account that can make money transfers. But what makes Ethereum special is the second type of account; a contract.

Contract accounts are controlled by a piece of code (an application) that is run inside the blockchain itself.

“What do you mean, inside the blockchain?”

EVM

Ethereum has a Virtual Machine, called EVM. This is where contracts get executed. EVM includes a stack (~processor), temporary memory (~RAM), storage space for permanent memory (~disk/database), environment variables (~system information, e.g: timestamp), logs, and sub-calls (you can call a contract within a contract).

An example contract might look like this:

if (something happens): send 1,000 ETH to Bob (addr: 22982be234)

else if (something else happens): send 1,000 ETH to Alice (addr: bbe4203fe)

else: don't send any ETH

If a user sends 1,000 ETH to this account (the contract), then the code in this account is the only thing that has power to transfer that ETH. It’s kind of like an escrow. The sender no longer has control over the 1,000 ETH. The digital assets are now under the control of a computer program and will be moved depending on the conditional logic of the contract.

Is it free?

No. The execution of contracts occurs within the blockchain, therefore within the Ethereum Network. Contracts take up storage space, and they require computational power. So Ethereum uses something called gas as a unit of measurement of how much something costs the Network. The price of gas is voted on by the nodes and the fees user’s pay in gas goes to the miners.

Miners

Miners are people using computers to do computations required validate transactions across the Network and add new blocks to the chain.

Mining works like this: when a block of transactions is ready to be added to the chain, miners use computer processing power to find hashes that match a specific target. When a miner finds the matching hash, she will be rewarded with ETH and will broadcast the new block across the network. The other nodes verify the matching hash, then if there is consensus, it is added to the chain.

What’s inside a block?

Within an Ethereum block is something called the state and history. The state is a mapping of addresses to account objects. The state of each account object includes:

• ETH balance
• nonce **
• the contract’s source code (if the account is a contract)
• contract storage (database)

** a nonce is a counter that prevents the account from repeating a transaction over and over resulting perhaps in taking more ETH from a sender than they are supposed to.

Blocks also store history: records of previous transactions and receipts.

State and History and stored in each node (each member of the Ethereum Network). Having each node contain the history of Ethereum transactions and contract code is great for security and immutability, but can be hard to scale. A blockchain cannot process more transactions than a single node can. Because of this, Ethereum limits the number of transactions to 7–15 per second. The protocol has adopted sharding — a technique that essentially breaks up the chain into smaller pieces but still aims to have the same level of security.

Transactions

Every transaction specifies a TO: address. If the TO: is a user-controlled account, and the transaction contains ETH, it is considered a transfer of ETH from account A to account B. If the TO: is a contract, then the code of the contract gets executed. The execution of a contract can result in further transactions, even calls to contracts within a contract, an event known as an inter-transaction.

But contracts don’t always have to be about transferring ETH. Anyone can create an application with any rules by defining it as a contract.

Who is using Ethereum?

Ethereum is currently being used mostly by crytocurrency traders and investors, but there is a growing community of developers that are building dapps (decentralized applications) on the Ethereum Network.

There are thousands of Ethereum-based projects being developed as we speak. Some more the most popular dapps are games (e.g CryptoKitties and CrptyoTulips).

How is Ethereum different than bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a blockchain technology where users are assigned a private key, linked with a wallet that generates bitcoin addresses where people can send bitcoins to. It’s all about the coins. It’s a way to exchange money in an encrypted, decentralized environment.

Ethereum not only lets users exchange money like bitcoin does, but it also has programming languages that let people build applications (contracts) that are executed within the blockchain.

Bitcoin functions on proof of work as a means of achieving consensus across the network. Whereas Ethereum uses proof of stake.

Ethereum’s creator is public (Vitalik Buterin). Bitcoin’s is unknown (goes by the alias, Satoshi Nakamoto)

Other blockchains that do contracts

There are other blockchain projects that allow the creation of contracts. Here is a brief description of what they are and how they are different than Ethereum:

Neo — faster transaction speeds, inability to fork, less energy use, has two tokens (NEO and GAS), will be quantum resistant.

Icon — uses loopchain to connect blockchain-based communities around the world.

Nem — contract code is stored outside of the blockchain resulting in a lighter and faster network.

Ethereum Classic — a continuation of the original Ethereum blockchain (before it was forked)

Conclusion

Ethereum is a rapidly growing blockchain protocol that allows people to not only transfer assests to each other, but to create decentralized applications that run securely on a distributed network of computers.