Code, assets, and other files for a number of famous Nintendo games like Mario Kart, Star Fox, and The Legend of Zelda has leaked online in what’s being called the ‘Gigaleak.’

The sizable hoard of assets was first made available over the weekend and has since picked up traction on social media as more and more interesting development tidbits are uncovered from within fan-favorite classics.

From the game dev side of things, it’s a bit of a mixed discovery. On one hand, the data made available in the leak offers an excellent chance to learn what made those early Nintendo classics tick and gives preservationists a meaty few additions for their libraries.

On the other, many elements of the leak were very obviously never meant to be seen by the public, not to mention that the legality of how these files made it to the web is questionable at best.

The leak itself includes source code for several Nintendo games like Star Fox, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Super Mario All-Stars, Yoshi’s Island, F-Zero and tons of others. There’s also a bevy of unused assets like sprites for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and a handful of prototypes for games both familiar and entirely unheard of.

Some elements of those leaks point to features that were once planned to be included in a game, but were scrapped along the way for one reason or another, like textures for Luigi discovered within the Super Mario 64 dev materials that point to the game’s canceled multiplayer feature, or entire unused minigames for Yoshi’s Island. Others, like high quality audio files for Starfox 64 or a prototype for Pilotwings, offer a look at (or listen to) assets that we’ve seen before when they were compressed to fit on Nintendo 64-era game cartridges or used in promotional materials.

There’s likely more that will come up relating to this leak in the near future, both because folks online are still working on picking through the leaked code and because Nintendo itself has yet to publicly comment on the materials now making the rounds online.

Stride, the game engine previously known as Xenko (and Paradox before that), just released version 4.0.  Details of the release from the Stride 4 release notes (no link possible currently).

Thanks to a substantial contribution from Sean Boettger and sponsored by David Jeske, Stride now supports Voxel Cone Tracing GI!

.NET Core

As a first step toward .NET 5, Stride editor and toolchain is now running with .NET Core! Runtime has been working with .NET Core for a few versions already.  This allows to have scripts and custom assets in a project targetting .NET Standard 2.1 or .NET Core.  If you have scripts or custom assets in a .NET Framework project rather than a .NET Standard project, you can still choose between .NET Core and .NET Framework within the launcher. Framework will also be displayed in Game Studio toolbar for easier identification while both coexist.

.NET Framework version can be considered deprecated and will likely be removed in future release (likely 4.1) to allow us to take full advantage of C# 8.0 and soon-to-come C# 9.0.  We also expect dropping .NET Framework and supporting only .NET Core will greatly simplify our installation process since we won’t depend on specific workloads or packages of Visual Studio being installed anymore. This was a recurring issue with our users.  Later down the road, we plan to switch to .NET 5 once it’s in good enough shape.

GPU Instancing

TODO

Graphics API

Different selection mechanism + Vulkan improvements. There’s been a big overhaul on Stride build system to make Graphics API selection work in a more future-proof way.  It was previously relying on custom RuntimeIdentifier being set in the solution. This didn’t work very well because it was completely orthogonal to existing RuntimeIdentifier, and sometimes not having good fallbacks.  From now on, user project will use StrideGraphicsApi in the .csproj project file to specify the graphics API. We hope to expose this in the editor later.

We also took the opportunity to improve state of Vulkan renderer (thanks to a switch to Vortice.Vulkan bindings from Amer Koleci) and automatize graphics unit tests, currently running for D3D11 and Vulkan. It’s still a work in progress so expect more in future releases.

Documentation & Tutorials

The first 10 C# beginner tutorials are recorded and uploaded to the official Stride Youtube channel. These videos are the video equivalent of the existing online documentation for the C# beginner template tutorials and the ‘new project’ template when creating a new project from the Stride launcher. The C# beginner series should be fully recorded by the end of July 2020. After those videos are done, Jorn will put his focus on the C# Intermediate project template.

You can learn more about the Stride 4 release in the video below.

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GameDev News C# Paradox

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Ahead of a grand opening later this week, Apple on Tuesday offered an early look at Apple Central World, the company’s second and largest retail outlet in Thailand.

Last June, when I shared the 5 principles driving a customer-obsessed identity strategy at Microsoft, many of you had embraced the idea of a boundaryless environment, but relatively few had implemented it in practice. A global pandemic made remote access essential and forced many of you to accelerate your digital transformation plans.

The new reality requires not only supporting secure remote productivity and collaboration, but also other remote operations, such as onboarding, offboarding, and training employees. And this reality will continue for the near future. According to our most recent Work Life Index, 71 percent of employees and managers (Information Workers) reported a desire to continue working from home at least part-time post-pandemic.

Your experiences and insights have helped shape the investments we’re making in our identity services for the coming year and beyond. Today, I’m sharing with you the updated set of guiding principles we’re following to deliver a secure and scalable identity solution that’s seamless for your end-users.

Secure adaptive access

An identity system that is secure from the ground up continues to drive our product investments. In a recent survey of over 500 security executives, achieving a high level of protection without impeding user productivity was rated the number one challenge. Using risk-based Conditional Access policies in Azure AD, you can protect sensitive data with minimal friction to your end-users. This combines the power of Identity Protection with Conditional Access to only prompt users when the sign-in is considered risky. 

To enhance identity security, we’re investing in compromise prevention technologies such as security defaults, attack blocking, and password protection, as well as reputation and anti-abuse systems. Security mechanisms like end-user notifications and in-line interrupts can help everyone defend themselves from malicious actors. Every day, our data scientists and investigators evaluate the threat and log data to gather real-world insights, so they can adjust our machine learning algorithms to recognize and protect our customers from the latest threats.   

Our product and ecosystem investments are guided by embracing Zero Trust security strategy as our worldview. We build Azure AD on the principles of Zero Trust to make implementing this model across your entire digital estate achievable at scale. 

Seamless user experiences

When your employees need to get things done, delivering a great user experience is essential. Employees who interact directly with customers, patients, and citizens need tools that are simple to learn and use. Because an easy, fast sign-in experience can make all the difference for your users—and your Help Desk—we’re continuing our investments in Firstline Worker scenarios to address the challenges they face, for example, by providing seamless handoffs of shared mobile devices and enhancing tools and workflows for managers. 

We’ve seen more interest than ever in minimizing the use of passwords and eliminating them completely. We continue our commitment to identity standards that help scale the technology and make it more useful and accessible for everyone. We’re also developing easy-to-use self-service options for end-users, such as managing security information, requesting access to apps and groups, and getting automatic recommendations for approved applications based on what peers are using most.  

Your customers, business partners, and suppliers also deserve a great, consumer-grade sign-in and collaboration experience. With the External Identities feature in Azure AD, we are investing in making it easier for organizations and developers to secure, manage, and build apps that connect with different users outside your organization.  

We’re also looking ahead to technologies that respect everyone’s privacy, such as decentralized identity systems and verifiable credentials, that can verify information about an individual without requiring another username and password. Verifiable credentials are based on open standards from W3C and leverage the OIDC protocol, so you will be able to incorporate them into your existing systems. 

Unified identity management

It’s hard to scale and manage security when you have overlapping products from multiple vendors that need to work together. You have a portfolio of on-premises and cloud-based applications that you need to manage and provide secure access to your users. We are simplifying these experiences in Azure AD, making it easier to manage all your applications for all your users in a single place. We’re also consolidating our APIs into Microsoft Graph to unify programmatic access to and management of data across workloads in Microsoft 365, including Azure AD. 

By embracing open standards, we can help you more easily manage and secure your hybrid environment. We’re working with partners like Box and Workday to further deepen our product integrations and streamline identity processes. Azure AD is pre-integrated with thousands of SaaS applications, and more to come, so you can provide users one set of credentials for secure access to any application. We are continuing to extend capabilities in Azure AD so that you can migrate access for all your applications to be managed in the cloud. 

Simplified identity governance

While having the ability to control access requests, approvals, and privileges in a timely and efficient manner is key, traditional identity governance and privileged access management solutions can be cumbersome and inflexible. This is true particularly now that these workflows are more often done remotely than in person. Providing every user access to the apps and files they need should be as simple as defining access packages and group assignments upfront. Onboarding and offboarding employees then become easy with an automated solution connected to your HR system. 

We want to help more companies adopt these scenarios and incorporate our machine learning technology in Azure AD to provide better recommendations and alerts in response to unusual behavior or too many unnecessary privileges. Our goal is for these capabilities to span both employee and external identity scenarios, built in the cloud for maximum benefit. This will help strengthen your overall security, efficiency, and compliance.  

The last several months have been a whirlwind for all of us. We’re in it with you, committed to helping you on your digital transformation journey. Whatever happens, you can be sure that we’ll continue to listen to your feedback and input, so we can evolve our engineering priorities and principles to help you stay ahead and prepare for what comes next. Thank you for your continued trust!   

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions visit our website.  Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

Upcoming arcade racer Speed 3: Grand Prix will be zooming onto Nintendo Switch later this year, it’s been announced.

Set to be released both on the Switch eShop and at retail, Speed 3: Grand Prix has players jumping into Formula One-style cars for some explosive racing. We really mean ‘explosive’, too; you’ll notice from the trailer above that cars explode on contact, offering a more arcade-like experience than, say, the official F1 2020 game available on other platforms.

We don’t have a specific release date just yet, but we do know that the game is being developed and published by Lion Castle and will receive physical editions in all territories. We’ll leave you with this official description:

Speed 3: Grand Prix challenges players to get on the circuit and become the best driver of all time! Pick your favorite car and make your way towards the first spot in all seasons. Conquer the tracks and take down the competition, as you race through American wastelands, tear up asphalt on the German circuit and drift through the neon-filled streets of Tokyo.

Speed 3: Grand Prix delivers an irresistible mix of high-speed track racing with explosive arcade action for Nintendo Switch! It will feature both singleplayer and split-screen multiplayer.

The Taiwanese ratings board has listed a rating for Crimzon Clover World Explosion, a bullet-hell shmup which appears to be headed to Switch thanks to publisher Degica.

Originally released on PC back in 2014, Crimzon Clover World Explosion is a vertically-scrolling shmup which features an eye-meltingly large of bullets.

Here’s some PR:

Your first step in Crimzon Clover: World Ignition is as simple as choosing how you want to play, and which powerful ship will be yours to command. Choose your difficulty from ARCADE (true to the original arcade game) or NOVICE (better if these are your first step in the world of hardcode SHMUP) then choose your mode from Boost, Original, Unlimited, and Time Attack.

Original is THE main mode, where you blast your way through stage in search of the last boss. Boost Mode will adjust the difficulty based on how proficient you are at devastating your enemies. Unlimited turns each stage into an intense battlefield of bullets that only the most hardcore players will be able to survive. Time Attack pits you against the clock as you race to make the best score possible in about 3 minutes.

Take the role of a skilled pilot in the fight to destroy massive waves of enemies while dodging their unending rain of bullets. Each of the three ships has their own style of standard firing and a unique appearance. The firing style is translated beautifully as you amp your way into Break Mode and Double Break Mode! As you blast through your foes in each stage you can collect stars that will raise your score. Each enemy destroyed helps fill your Break Meter, which allows you to wipe the screen with powerful bombs or, if you have the patience, blast off into Break Mode to add a huge boost to your firepower and let you rip through enemies with ease. That’s not the extent of your strength though, as having a full Break Meter while in Break Mode will allow you to enter the ultimately destructive Double Break Mode. Watch your enemies crumble in fear as you turn the tide and fill the screen with your own hellacious rain of firepower!

Having a tough time to clear the game using no continue? No worries. Hit up the Training screen to set up your own scenario using your choice of mode, ship, stage, and freely customize other variables to practice the fight for survival. Training doesn’t seem like a bad idea after you see what the enemies are capable of. Can you pilot your craft through the bullet massacre the enemies have prepared for you? Find out as you play Crimzon Clover: World Ignition!

Nintendo has announced a new themed event for its addictive battle royale game Tetris 99. As you might have guessed, it’s for the latest Switch release, Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Starting on 31st July, you’ll be able to compete in a special Maximus Cup. Take a look below:

You have until 3rd August to collect at least 100 points. Once you’ve done this, you’ll unlock a one-of-a-kind in-game theme featuring art, music, and Tetrimino designs inspired by Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Will you be participating in this upcoming Maximus Cup? Have you tried out the new Paper Mario game yet? Tell us below.