Believe it or not, Nintendo gave us our very first look at its Switch console four years ago today. Blimey.

The video above was shared on 20th October 2016, finally unveiling the Switch for the whole world to see. Up until its official reveal, it had been heavily rumoured that Nintendo’s NX console – as it was codenamed back then – would feature detachable controllers and would boast an advanced form of rumble feedback. What a load of rubbish, huh?

We vividly remember pre-orders for the console going live just a few months after in January 2017, ahead of the console’s proper launch in March. Launch day games included the likes of 1-2-Switch, Just Dance 2017 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which – as you’ll know – went on to be regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.

It’s actually quite strange to think back to a time when the Switch wasn’t around – with Nintendo’s portable and home console efforts being smushed into this one device over the past few years, and especially with how successful the console’s been, it almost feels like the Switch is the ultimate Nintendo machine, perfectly encompassing the best bits of consoles gone by.

We’re sure that’ll change when Nintendo decides to drop a new system later down the line, but what a journey we’ve had so far, eh? Feel free to share your favourite Switch memories in the comments below.

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: Burbank, California

Insomniac Games is currently looking for a Technical Artist.  What does that mean?  We are looking for an excited team member to be responsible for the front lines of cutting-edge real-time graphics and technology development. This role helps develop Insomniac’s future technology by continually looking for areas to enhance the team’s current methods of content creation with innovative and optimized workflows and pipelines.  This developer helps deliver the creative and innovative artistic possibilities for the studio.  Please read on for more details:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

• Designs and develops improved content creation pipelines, processes, and workflows
• Provides documentation and mentors the content creation teams to fully take advantage of our tools and technology
• Creates sample content to prove out new workflows and demonstrate visual improvements
• Collaborates with the content creation teams and support them with new tools and shaders to elevate visual quality
• Keeps current with the technological developments and advancements throughout the game industry
• Understands memory and frame-rate budgets for console platforms
• Other duties may be assigned 

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university; or two to four years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Strong knowledge of physically based shading and lighting
• Strong knowledge of cutting-edge content creation pipelines
• Strong grasp of mathematical concepts and analysis techniques as they apply to technical art
• Experience in node-based shader networks such as those found in Unreal Engine
• Experience in Substance Designer/Painter, Houdini, or Maya
• Working knowledge of HLSL and Python

Other Skills: Ability to meet deadlines under tight schedules.  Willingness to receive direction and work closely with a team. Develops and presents new and emerging techniques to team. Be open and generous in sharing advancements with the game development community.

If this sounds like the opportunity that you have been looking for- we want to hear from you.  Please use the link to apply directly to this role. Thanks!

Interested? Apply now.

Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.

Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.

China-owned social and mobile games company Playtika is looking to go public in the United States.

Reuters is reporting that the company has confidentially submitted paperwork to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.

Although Playtika hasn’t revealed the size and price range of its proposed offering, Reuters has previously indicated the company is working with Morgan Stanley to put together an IPO that would see it valued at around $10 billion.

The news comes just over a year after Playtika forked out $275 million to purchase Finnish mobile developer-publisher Seriously, which is best known for creating puzzle franchise Best Fiends.

Books are amazing things: little worlds of knowledge or fantasy you can pick up and take with you. Libraries have always acted as custodians of that wisdom and wonder – but here in the 21st century, there’s a lot more to what they can offer.

And the role of the public library has evolved over time. “We continue to do all the things that we traditionally did, but we’ve expanded our role as the world has shifted and become more digital,” says Michelle Jeske, the Denver City Librarian and president of the Public Library Association.

As we move online at an even faster rate, knowledge, entertainment and opportunities for education and employment are found on the internet. Those living in well-connected, affluent places may have come to take internet access for granted. But there is a digital divide in the U.S. that has left people at a disadvantage – particularly since the arrival of COVID-19.

Digital divide

Finding ways to overcome that divide in a sustainable, community-led way could help bring the benefits of the internet to those who need it most. One solution is to use technologies such as TV white space to facilitate wireless broadband – as Microsoft’s Airband Initiative is doing. With this program, broadband is brought directly to individuals and, more economically, to a community hub such as a library, which can then act as a wireless hot spot.

[READ MORE: Microsoft Airband: An annual update on connecting rural America]

In 2019, Microsoft Philanthropies donated $400,000 to the Public Library Association to support more widespread connectivity alongside $20,000 each from Microsoft’s Airband and TechSpark initiatives. The money is helping the association deliver much-needed tech equipment – typically laptops and portable Wi-Fi hot spots – to a network of public libraries in communities in rural parts of the country.

The rollout of hot spots has become even more important now, and the PLA has become a key partner to Microsoft in its global aim to give 25 million people access to digital skills training.

“Suddenly, the lifeline for so many people across this country has been cut off,” says Jeske, who, as Denver City Librarian, oversees a system that serves over 4.4 million people a year. “Public libraries had to shut their doors for public health reasons, so it was great that we had this platform to jump off from.”

Some of the support from Microsoft is being used to extend Wi-Fi outside of buildings in libraries that previously didn’t have that ability – so people with their own devices can plug into those access points.

In Denver, Jeske says, “We are now offering laptop use outside of 12 of our 26 locations, because it’s safe.”

[READ MORE: The path to prosperity through access to high-speed internet]

Benefits in kind

Deploying fast broadband infrastructure in places with low population density is expensive for network operators.

Vaughn Public Library in Ashland, Wisconsin, is one of the libraries taking part in the Microsoft program. Nestled on the southern shores of Lake Superior, this town looks much different than it did decades ago, when its business was paper mills. Ashland’s population is now 8,000, down from about 12,000.

The director of library services at the Vaughn Public Library Foundation, Sarah Adams, has recently introduced a program to get people started on the path to digital literacy. She says she is driven by a real passion to improve access to learning and technology for all.

“If you don’t understand how to navigate a form, or maybe just know which website is the actual website you need, you can find yourself locked out of things that might improve your life,” she says.

Update: Developer Phase Two Games has announced that its squad-based fantasy adventure RPG Battle Hunters will now be launching on Switch on 5th November, slightly later than the original October plan.

Toby Charlton, Co-Founder of Phase Two Games, has shared the following:

“The old adage that time waits for no man is certainly true in our case, we wanted to synchronize the final submission phase and release efforts and felt we needed a little more time to coordinate that.”

Original Article (Tue 25th Aug, 2020 10:30 BST): Independent developer Phase Two has announced that it will be bringing its fantasy RPG Battle Hunters to Nintendo Switch. The game will launch on both Switch and Steam this October. [Now incorrect, see above].

Originally released on mobile, Battle Hunters features a turn-based, real-time combat system which has a focus on strategic command of your heroes. There are all manner of melee and ranged options to choose from, with swords, spells, blades, and blasters all being available on the battlefield.

You form a party of three heroes in total, hoping to find a good balance between each character’s own fighting skills. Your heroes can be upgraded or swapped around if you like, and each is said to bring a different range of strengths and weaknesses to battle. Here’s an official description:

The Kingdom is in Danger and the oldest and wisest wizard stands alone, the last bastion of hope, struggling to keep a nameless villain at bay. Players will command a team of 3 plucky adventurers, plunging headlong into dungeons, caves, forests and swamps as they heed the call for help from the old one.

A huge variety of beastly adversaries and monstrous villains will impede your quest, hellbent on your party’s destruction as you make your way across different regions of the kingdom. Yet mighty heroes also stand ready to join the fight as your valiant band takes on the forces of darkness. From the Great Forest, inhabited by devious goblins and lumbering trolls, to the high Cliffs of Desolation, where vicious gargoyles and unstoppable stone golems await you.

Let us know if you’re intrigued by Battle Hunters in the comments below, and feel free to check out our guide to the best RPGs on Switch if you’re looking for something to play before it arrives.

Soedesco has revealed that Truck Driver will be launching on Nintendo Switch on 17th November. A new trailer has been released to mark the occasion, which you can see for yourself above.

Truck Driver arrives both digitally and physically on the same day and has been fully optimised for Nintendo’s platform. The game will support Switch’s HD Rumble, touch screen, and gyro controls, and can also be played using a single Joy-Con if you prefer.

With the Nintendo Switch version of Truck Driver, players can take on the profession of a trucker wherever they go. They get to build their career and work with all kinds of people. Players will always know who they’re driving for and what cargo they’re hauling. With loads of different trailers, the quests stay versatile and challenging.

Each character in the game has their own reason for needing the help of a trucker. Along the way, players will get to know how their work will change the lives of these characters. Companies will grow and trusted relationships develop between the character and the player. Truck Driver offers players a unique view into their own trucking journey.

In case you’re planning on picking this one up next month, we’ll leave you with this quick feature list. Make sure to share your thoughts on the game in the comments below.

Features:
– Enjoy a trucking experience focused on your career as a truck driver
– Build stronger relationships with the local community with each job
– Customize your truck with tons of parts and tune it to your liking
– Navigate through beautiful landscapes and interesting locations

There is a new e-book bundle of interest to game developers, the STEM Productivity Library by Mercury. This is a collection of books around the theme of STEM, or Science/Technology/Engineering/Math. Of particular interest to game developers are the following titles:

• 3D Character Development Workshop
• Python An Introduction to Programming
• Quantum Mechanics
• Artificial Intelligence Basics
• Mathematics For Computer Graphics and Game Programming
• Solid State Physics
• Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems
• Data Structures and Program Design Using Python
• Newtonian Mechanics

There are a dozen other books in the collection with topics ranging from AutoCAD to Radar Systems and Tensor analytics. Several of the books in this bundle have been featured in previous bundles, so be sure to check your library before purchasing. As with all Humble Bundles, you can decide how your money is allocated between Humble, Charity, the publisher and if you so choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS using this link. You can learn more about the bundle in the video below.