As North American Launch Partner for the Overwatch League, the automaker looks forward to collaborating on behind-the-scenes content for league fans

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Following a thrilling opening week for the Overwatch League that drew more than 10 million viewers worldwide, a major new brand-marketing partner has signed on to support the league during its inaugural season: multinational automotive manufacturer Toyota.

Toyota will be a North American Launch Partner for the Overwatch League, and is looking forward to future collaborations around bringing behind-the-scenes content to fans. The automaker plans to have additional broadcast integrations, as well as a vehicle presence at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles.

“Toyota is excited to be a launch partner of the Overwatch League,” said Steven Curtis, vice president, media & engagement marketing for Toyota Motor North America. “We love the passion of esports fans, and the goal of our partnership is to help take the Overwatch League and the fan experience to the next level.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Toyota to the Overwatch League,” said Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment’s MLG division. “When we were building the league, our desire was to create a premium experience for players and fans, and partners like Toyota are helping us do just that.”

The Overwatch League is further supported by sponsors HP® and Intel®, with players competing on cutting-edge gaming hardware including HP’s OMEN gaming PCs, powered by the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processors.

About the Overwatch League^™

The Overwatch League^™ is the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams across Asia, Europe, and North America. Overwatch® was created by globally acclaimed publisher Blizzard Entertainment (a division of Activision Blizzard—Nasdaq: ATVI), whose iconic franchises have helped lay the foundations and push the boundaries of professional esports over the last 15 years. The latest addition to Blizzard’s stable of twenty-one #1 games,^[1] Overwatch was built from the ground up for online competition, with memorable characters and fast-paced action designed for the most engaging gameplay and spectator experiences. To learn more about the Overwatch League, visit www.overwatchleague.com.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost 2.7 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016—and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years are still on the road today.

© 2018 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. OVERWATCH, OVERWATCH LEAGUE, BLIZZARD and BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING is a trademark of Major League Gaming Corp.

[1] Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the sponsorship arrangements for Overwatch esports, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180118005540/en/

Overwatch League
Mark Van Lommel, 949-955-1380 x61147
MVanLommel@overwatchleague.com
or
Toyota Motor North America
Zachary Reed, 214-316-1128
zachary.reed@toyota.com

Source: Overwatch League

News Provided by Acquire Media

– Diretide has ended. Diretide Point rewards will no longer be available.
– There will be opportunities to obtain The Hallowed Chest of the Diretide through playtime starting sometime in January.
– Fixed Orb of Venom slow stacking with Orb of Corrosion
– Fixed Cloak of Flames not doing less damage when carried by Illusions (now does 30)

Nintendo games are usually all-ages affairs, but every once in a while a game breaks the family-friendly mold the company’s consoles are known for. One example, Natsume’s Harvest Moon 64 (Bokujō Monogatari 2 in Japan,) is set to be released on Japan’s Nintendo Switch Online service sometime this year, and we’re feverously awaiting announcement of a Western release (seriously— it’s the best one of these kinds of games that isn’t called Stardew Valley.) However, even though it was re-released on Wii U’s Virtual Console, its absence from Nintendo’s Switch subscription service in the West may be due to one of the game’s central mechanics.

Nintendo has a history of censorship in the West, especially in the ’90s. Around the creation of the ESRB, when there was more outrage about how video games were affecting our youths, Nintendo had a strict policy calling for certain alterations to licensed games on its platforms during the localization process. The company would routinely require the removal or replacement of any instances of suggestive content, gore, and religious iconography in order to make its library more family-friendly and palatable in the West. One of the most common practices to appease this policy was stripping out any reference to alcohol and replacing it with something more ‘wholesome.’

In the original Japanese release of Pokémon Red / Blue / Green / Yellow, a drunk old man in Viridian City briefly blocks your path before sobering up. In the American release, however, he’s simply grumpy and in need of his morning coffee first. The changes don’t stop there. Buildings clearly labeled ‘BAR’ in Japan’s Mother 2 are all renamed to read ‘CAFE’ in America’s EarthBound. In Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, Vodka Drunkenski becomes Soda Popinski. Wario becoming dizzy and belching after being hit with a ball in Wario Land II suddenly makes much more sense when you realize he was originally being hit with a mug of frothy beer. This censorship was also required of third-party games, with Tecmo’s Secret of the Stars replacing an entire alcohol-related town named ‘Drunkards’ with the coffee-dependent ‘Sleepers.’

You’re able to challenge every person to a drink-off, winning handily if you’ve spent the year honing your alcohol consumption. Some are impressed. Others are dejected. All are drunk.

It’s surprising then, that not only did Harvest Moon 64 survive this localization change, but alcohol actually plays a uniquely deep role in the game. Its influence can truly be seen all over, in everything from its story to its mechanics. Take, for instance, the only building in town open during the second half of your day: the bar. At this local tavern you’re able to spend your hard-earned money on a glass of wine, liquor, or beer while surrounded by a fluctuating number of townsfolk. Sometimes lively and boisterous, with numerous residents crowded around wooden tables, other times lonely and barren, with only the bartender there for comfort.

It is here where, already a few drinks in, you uncover the deepest worries and desires of these residents. Harris, the lonely postman, wonders if he’s good enough for Marie, the librarian and mayor’s daughter. The baker, Jeff, ponders if he’s too young to already be waxing nostalgic. Zack, the town shipper, prays he’s capable of raising his young daughter after his wife’s death. All of these people are only able to come out of their shell with the help of this ‘magic liquid.’

The connection between Harvest Moon 64 and alcohol permeates through to the game’s mechanics. A hidden ‘tolerance’ stat determines your ability to outdrink the village residents at the New Year’s Eve celebration. You’re able to challenge every person there to a drink-off, winning handily if you’ve spent the year honing your alcohol consumption. Some are impressed. Others are dejected. All are drunk. Regardless of their reaction, each townsperson you’ve bested stumbles out of the festival with a higher affection stat for you. Drink is a central component of this community, and you’ve proven yourself capable of being a part of it.

Nowhere is this relationship with alcohol more prevalent than in the player’s attempt to restore the vineyard—the game’s longest, most opaque side quest. In the far back corner of Flowerbud Village’s vineyard rests a large, dead tree. It’s been years since the vineyard has produced quality grapes, and the family who runs it has suffered, unable to see the twisted, sickly, barren branches of this tree as anything other than a sign of their own failure.

Karen, the moody and abrasive daughter who works part-time at the bar, dreams of saving up enough money to run away to the city (and away from her family) for good. Gotz, the grumpy father who inherited the vineyard, drinks alone each night, turning down your every attempt to socialize. Sasha, the meek, withdrawn mother, worries heavily about her daughter’s unhappiness. None of them can understand why the quality of their wine isn’t what it used to be, and why that barren tree no longer blooms. Legend has it, however, that in this tree sleeps a spirit. A Goddess of Wine capable of restoring the vineyard—and its family—to former glory. Harvest Moon 64’s very own Dionysus.

It’s by completing this side quest that you’re able to awaken the long-dormant spirit. Through a series of events that include befriending the local bartender, a harvest sprite, and a specific prayer, you’re able to restore the vineyard back to its former glory, its wine becoming sweet and profitable once again. Karen and the rest of her family are overjoyed. One of the workers, Kai, brings by a bottle of the new batch to your farm and drinks with you to celebrate. What were the most standoffish NPCs in the game are suddenly reborn, and, if just for a moment, full of ebullient hope.

It is worth noting that the game tends to celebrate alcohol consumption in a way you wouldn’t likely see today. It’s not blind glorification — the bartender cautions you not to drink too much, and a scene of Karen stumbling drunk on the job is certainly not portrayed as a good thing — but overall Harvest Moon 64 tends to fall short of showcasing more nuanced, negative aspects of drinking. However, for an almost 25-year-old game on a Nintendo console, it’s impressive that it was present at all.

Who knows why Harvest Moon 64 was spared Nintendo of America’s strict censorship policy back in 1999. It’s not as if the game came over from Japan completely unchanged, as a fourth television station and farm completion screen are among the features not brought over from the Japanese version. Probably it was simply too integral to lose or adapt in this case. After all, what would this small country town be without the joys and sorrows of alcohol? How would they celebrate their success? How would they mourn their loss? It’s drinking that brings out these residents’ rich, complicated interior lives, turning would-be stock characters into blooming three-dimensional ones you can truly empathize with.

So next time you’re in Flowerbud Village, take a moment to have a glass of wine and appreciate just how undiluted the English language version of this game was. Cheers!

We love tactics games, and luckily for us, there are plenty of fantastic examples of the genre on both the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. It’s always a thrill to plot your moves ahead of time, unleash your different units, and try your best to overpower your opponent with brain power and weapons. Plus, you can pretend to be an army general without any of the guilt. Sorry little virtual troops, some of you aren’t ever seeing your virtual wives and children again.

Anyway, before we send some fictional soldiers to meet their makers, be sure to check out our huge army of amazing content. Let us command some information into your eyeballs with our guides covering the best Switch RPGs, the best Switch party games, the best Switch strategy games, and of course the best Switch adventure games.

Alright, troops, let’s march on down into our guide to the best tactics games on Switch and mobile.

Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp – Switch 

Nintendo and developer Wayforward recently took two of the best tactics games ever made, jammed them together into one delicious package, and gave them a gorgeous update in this HD remaster. In fact, remaster is cutting it short, as Wayforward gives the games a spiffy new toybox art style, as well as the addition of extra modes and smart enhancements that make these perfect for the modern tactics fans.

Read our Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp review to see why we call it the “blueprint to the perfect remake.”

Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Switch 

The Fire Emblem franchise rarely steps a foot wrong, but co-developers Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo’s school-focused entry is a particularly stellar step forward for the tactical IP. You play as a young professor called Byleth who must choose which school house to steward, and ultimately lead into war. Full of great characters, amazing fights, and a fantastic story, this is the best Fire Emblem game since Awakening.

Get to know the cast with our Fire Emblem: Three Houses characters guide.

Triangle Strategy – Switch 

Ignore the silly name, as Square Enix and Team Asano’s HD-2D tactics game is much more complex than its mundane moniker might suggest. A political thriller with more depth than its bright visual style suggests, there’s a reason we argue that it’s the closest thing to a good Game of Thrones game on the market. Read our full Triangle Strategy review to learn why we call it a “sublime tactical game with a gut-wrenching story of political and personal strife.”

Mario & Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Switch 

Gamers were in for a big surprise in 2017, as Nintendo and Ubisoft’s Mario & Rabbids collaboration is a fantastic tactics title that somehow blends the Mushroom Kingdom with those loony Lepus. Fast forward to 2022, and Mario & Rabbids Sparks of Hope is an interstellar sequel that improves the franchise in almost every single way. You can read our Mario and Rabbids Sparks of Hope review for more information, and make sure you don’t miss the Mario and Rabbids Sparks of Hope Rayman DLC.

Wargroove – Switch 

Developer Chucklefish is behind Wargroove, an Advance Wars-like that definitely toes the line between inspiration and imitation. However, this is a really smart tactics game with a lot of great characters, and some really interesting online features. You can even take part in matches with friends, and play whenever you want like a game of chess. It also looks gorgeous, so tactics fans will have a blast with this one.

Into The Breach – Switch and mobile 

I will talk about Into The Breach any chance I get. The futuristic roguelike is a tactics masterclass, using just a few units and locations to their fullest potential. Developer Subset Games has crafted an endlessly replayable tactical game that features high-stakes matches to save the human race from a ruthless army of insect-like aliens. The isometric look is also absolutely gorgeous with an incredible synth soundtrack, slightly taking the sting out of watching the end of humanity.

Bad North – Switch and mobile 

If you want something a bit less complicated, this minimalist masterpiece is a great starting point. From Plausible Concept, Bad North is a game that balances wordless war with simple visuals to offer a tactical game with a difference. Everything is easy to understand, and fantastic visual design means you always know what to do. It gets tricky, but this is a great pick for younger gamers as well.

Meet more about the violent delights of Vikings in our Bad North review.

Clash of Clans – mobile 

Everyone and their moms know about Clash of Clans, but much like other megahits such as Angry Birds or Candy Crush, Clash of Clans is successful because it’s a great game at its core. Command your own army, build your base, and defend your forces from millions of other players around the world. It’s addictive, it’s easy to understand, and there are potentially years of gameplay. Give it a try, and then use our Clash of Clans bases guide to get started.

Stand down, troops, our guide to the best tactics games on Switch and mobile is over for now. However, if you still have the itch for more gaming – like Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker – then strap on your bomb suit and wander down into our explosive guide on the best Switch survival games.

The most recent releases of Unreal Engine now include new beta Unreal Modeling Tools Editor Mode enabling you to create, sculpt and even texture entirely in Unreal Engine. If you want to check out the new features, you need to enable the plugin. Don’t worry, there are step by step instructions available below

In Unreal Engine, select Edit->Plugins.

In the Plugins dialog, filter by Model and locate and select Modeling Tools Editor Mode and click the Enabled checkbox.

This will first prompt you if you want to continue due to it being an experimental feature. Allow this, then it will prompt you to restart Unreal Engine, click Restart Now.

Once your project has restarted, you can access the new modeling tools in the Modes menu by selecting Modeling.

Once enabled a new toolbar will be available with options for creating new geometry from primitives or other creation modes, tools for modifying and deforming as well as sculpting geometry and much more.

Go hands-on with the Unreal Modeling Tools Editor Mode plugin in the video below.

If you need Roblox Mushroom Race codes you’re in the right place, as our fun guide covers everything from stalk to cap to help you in this fungus-focused frolic. Grab a mushroom and bounce your way through this brilliant Roblox title, racing around on fungi and never getting spored. We’ve saved you the truffle of searching the internet and sifted through all the shiitake to give you the best of the bunch.

Before we pick a fresh batch of codes for this guide, be sure to check out our healthy crop of content covering all the latest and greatest Roblox games. We have guides covering IQ Simulator codes, Push Simulator codes, Yeet a Friend codes, Strong Leg Simulator codes, and if you love a certain show with mushroom-based zombies, then you’ll love our The Resistance Tycoon codes guide.

Mushroom Race codes

Active codes:

• RELEASE – free pet (new!)

Expired codes:

Currently, there are no expired Mushroom Race codes.

What are Mushroom Race codes?

Mushroom Race codes are specific sets of letters and numbers you can input into the game to unlock exclusive rewards, boosts, and bonuses. Developer xFrozen Obbys releases codes to coincide with events, updates, and holidays. To stay up to date, bookmark this page and check back regularly as we update this guide whenever new codes appear.

How do I redeem Mushroom Race codes?

It’s easy to redeem Mushroom Race codes, just follow these simple steps:

• Open up Roblox
• Fire up Mushroom Race
• Click the Twitter icon on the left labeled codes
• Enter one of the codes
• Hit verify to redeem
• Enjoy your rewards!

Alright fungi folks, that’s all the Mushroom Race codes we have for today. If you’re a huge Roblox fan, then be sure to check out our other guides covering Get Heavy codes and RetroStudio codes next.

Eilon

I’m excited to announce we are releasing the Mobile Blazor Bindings July update! This release adds support for building Hybrid Blazor apps, which contain both native and web UI.

Hybrid apps are a composition of native and web UI in a single app. With Mobile Blazor Bindings this means you can write the native UI of your app using Blazor, and also create web UI in your app using Blazor. A major advantage of hybrid apps is that the HTML part of the app can reuse content, layout, and styles that are used in a regular web app, while enabling rich native UI to be composed alongside it. You can reuse code, designs, and knowledge, while still taking full advantage of each platform’s unique features. This feature supports Android, iOS, Windows (WPF), and macOS. And it’s all Blazor, C#, .NET, and Visual Studio. Woohoo!

You can mix and match native and web UI in whatever structure makes sense for your app. Here’s a simple example:

These are the major new features in the 0.4 Preview 4 release:

• New Hybrid Apps feature enables mixing Blazor native UI components with Blazor web UI components in the same page. This one is HUGE!
• Hybrid Apps are hosted in a new BlazorWebView component that uses a browser component to contain the web part of the app. No remote or local web server; all your code runs in the app’s process.
• New blazorhybrid project template that supports Android, iOS, Windows (WPF), and macOS for creating hybrid apps
• Updated dependencies: Xamarin.Forms 4.7, Xamarin.Essentials 1.5, and other libraries.
• .NET Core 3.1 SDK is required to use the new preview

How does it work?

In hybrid apps all the code (both for the native UI parts and the web UI parts) runs as .NET code on the device. There is no local or remote web server and no WebAssembly (WASM). The .NET code for the entire app runs in a single process. The native UI components run as the device’s standard UI components (button, label, etc.) and the web UI components are hosted in a browser view (such as WebKit, Chromium, and Edge WebView2). The components can share state using standard .NET patterns, such as event handlers, dependency injection, or anything else you are already using in your apps today.

Get started

To get started building a Blazor Hybrid app with Experimental Mobile Blazor Bindings preview 4, install the .NET Core 3.1 SDK and then run the following command:

dotnet new -i Microsoft.MobileBlazorBindings.Templates::0.4.74-preview

And then create your first project by running this command:

dotnet new blazorhybrid -o MyHybridApp

Now open it in Visual Studio and run it on Android, iOS, Windows, or macOS. That’s it! You can find additional docs and tutorials on https://docs.microsoft.com/mobile-blazor-bindings/.

Blazor Hybrid code sample

Here’s the code for an app similar to what was seen at the top of this post. It has native UI and web UI sharing the same app state, running together in the same app process (no web server or HTTP). The native UI uses the new <BlazorWebView> component to specify which web component to load and where to locate static web assets. Blazor does all the work.

This is the main native UI page /Main.razor:

@inject CounterState CounterState <ContentView> <StackLayout> <StackLayout Margin="new Thickness(20)"> <Label Text="@($"You pressed {CounterState.CurrentCount} times")" FontSize="30" /> <Button Text="Increment from native" On‌Click="@CounterState.IncrementCount" Padding="10" /> </StackLayout> <BlazorWebView ContentRoot="WebUI/wwwroot" VerticalOptions="LayoutOptions.FillAndExpand"> <FirstBlazorHybridApp.WebUI.App /> </BlazorWebView> </StackLayout>

</ContentView> @code { // initialization code

}

And this is the embedded HTML UI page /WebUI/App.razor:

@inject CounterState CounterState <div style="text-align: center; background-color: lightblue;"> <div> <span style="font-size: 30px; font-weight: bold;"> You pressed @CounterState.CurrentCount times </span> </div> <div> <button style="margin: 20px;" @onclick="ClickMe">Increment from HTML</button> </div>

</div> @code

{ private void ClickMe() { CounterState.IncrementCount(); } // initialization code

}

Upgrade an existing project

To update an existing Mobile Blazor Bindings project please refer to the Migrate Mobile Blazor Bindings From Preview 3 to Preview 4 topic for full details.

More information

Check out last month’s ASP.NET Community Standup where I talked a bit about these new features and did a demo of Blazor hybrid apps (starts at 30:35):

For more information please check out:

Thank you to contributors

This release had several major contributions from Jan-Willem Spuij. Jan-Willem had already built his own BlazorWebView component and kindly helped us get this functionality into the Mobile Blazor Bindings project with many great improvements. Thank you Jan-Willem!

What’s next? Let us know what you want!

This project relies on your feedback to help shape the future of Blazor for native and hybrid scenarios. Please share your thoughts on this blog post or at the GitHub repo so we can keep the discussion going.