From time to time, I scour the depths of the community looking for pieces of art to inspire different builds in Destiny. Some pieces inspire my Gunslinger to embrace a darker vibe, or my Warlock to adorn the bones of a slain Ahamkara to enhance their Void abilities. Not only does this push me to some role-playing, it also improves my fashion game as I search for the perfect look for an Arc-charged Titan.

Our designers also frequently reference concept pieces to guide their hand on the feel of a season or activity. It’s pretty magical what a piece of art can do, and the subject of this week’s Community Focus has created some great content that, as a Destiny player, you can feel in your heart.

Please give a warm welcome to our friend, Aviixe.

Good morning! Hope you’re doing well. Let’s get you introduced to our wonderful community. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Aviixe: My name is Stephen, most people on the internet know me as Aviixe. I spend much of my time as a “self-taught” artist, always pushing to improve my skills, and I do commissions alongside that as well.

I played videogames pretty early into my childhood, my earliest memories being dominated by Halo and the LEGO games. My other siblings and I enjoyed playing four-person split-screen multiplayer on Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3. I was always a pretty avid artist, drawing on anything and everything I could, but it wasn’t until shortly after the original Destiny came out that I decided to take art seriously. The game itself and its concept art looked beautiful, to put it simply.

You’ve got strong beginnings, Guardian. Let’s talk more about your art. When creating new pieces of Destiny art, how do you usually get started? What’s the spark of inspiration that gets you going?

A: I find just about every visual aspect of Destiny equally inspirational, whether it be a set of armor, a fun, new exotic, or a grand, gorgeous vista. But I think what I like most about Destiny are those moments of camaraderie between fellow players, strangers or friends.

Whether it’s a moment like having a dance party with some random players in the Tower, successfully completing a Seraph Towers public event without failing a charge cycle and everyone in the local chat is excited over getting the Triumph, or making a nerve-wracking comeback in the Trials of Osiris and your fireteam is recalling the highs and lows of the match. Those kinds of feelings are what I want to instill in my art.

Let’s talk gear. What Exotic have you been using lately?

A: Guardian Games has made me rediscover my love for the Sunbracers Exotic. It was actually the first Exotic armor I got back in Destiny 1, and the ornament that was introduced for it in the Black Armory season made me love it even more. The normal appearance and the ornament both look beautiful and I think it’s difficult to find an armor combination where they don’t look good. It’s also obviously very fun to be able to spam a ton of grenades with the right armor perks equipped, which made it super handy to quickly farm laurels in the Guardian Games. I don’t use Sunbracers as often as I’d like to, simply because different activities demand different loadouts, but they definitely stand out as my favorite Exotic.

Good on you for helping Warlocks secure the Silver bond from Guardian Games. Where do you find yourself most often when playing Destiny?

A: Honestly, my favorite mode is patrol. I really enjoy walking through the different beautifully crafted environments, looking through all the nooks and crannies, taking in all the little details, watching the clouds roll over or the sun setting.

I could spend hours with the HUD turned off, sitting against rocks, and taking screenshots from various vantage points. It’s kind of more fun than having an actual photo mode, though it’d be super awesome if that could be introduced to Destiny!

A true Wayfarer. You have my respect. If people wanted to follow you or your artistic endeavors, where would they find you?

Anything you’d want to say to the community while you’re in the spotlight?

A: The Destiny artists community is insanely supportive and I’m grateful for all the friends I’ve made over the life of the game. Their art is incredibly inspirational and they help me strive to be a better artist every day. Shout-outs to IanPesty, PlainBen, Lucero, Matt Oishi, COSMICraven, Lazesummerstone, Lilly, Lintu, Faysal Mekki, Dulcamarra, Marou and countless more wonderful community members. Lots of love and appreciation to my Destiny playmates as well, past and current, for providing a myriad of fun memories. Shout-outs to Gabe, Phil, Ethan, Nate, Tim, Matt, Dillon, Paul, and both Jons. Also, thanks to Bungie for all the work you do on Destiny. <3

Thank you for spending time with us, Aviixe. It’s always a pleasure to have artists in focus. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you starside! 

Are you an advancement hunter?  Have you completed all there was to Minecraft?  Never fear, Nether Advancements are here!  Happy hunting all!

• Added new Game Mode Switcher debug menu
• Added new Nether Advancements

GAME MODE SWITCHER

New F3 debug feature which allows you to switch game modes with traditional “tabbing” functionality.

• Hold F3 and tap F4 to open the menu
• Tapping F4 will cycle the game mode, or you can use the mouse
• Release F3 to apply
• Your last game mode is remembered and will be the first selected option, so you can quickly toggle between two game modes with a single press of F3 + F4!

F3 + N (TOGGLE SPECTATOR)

A small change has been made to this debug combination.

• By default, using this key would return to Creative after toggling from Spectator. It now will toggle back to the previous game mode you had
• As an example, if you were in Survival, then toggled to Spectator and back, you would be set back to Survival

NEW ADVANCEMENTS

• Hidden in the Depths unlocks when obtaining Ancient Debris
• Cover Me in Debris unlocks when obtaining full Netherite armor
• Country Lode, Take Me Home unlocks when using a Compass on a Lodestone
• Who Is Cutting Onions? unlocks when obtaining Crying Obsidian
• Not Quite “Nine” Lives unlocks when setting a Respawn Anchor to the maximum
• This Boat Has Legs unlocks when riding a Strider with a Fungus on a Stick
• Hot Tourist Destinations unlocks when visiting all Biomes in the Nether
• Those Were the Days unlocks when entering a Bastion Remnant
• War Pigs unlocks when looting a chest in a Bastion Remnant
• Oh Shiny unlocks when distracting an angry Piglin with gold

• The Bullseye advancement now unlocks when hitting the bullseye of a target block from at least 30 meters away
• The Serious Dedication advancement is now awarded for obtaining a Netherite Hoe
• Obtaining Blackstone now also counts for the Stone Age advancement
• Breeding Striders now counts for `The Parrots and the Bats` and is now required for Two by Two

• Shulkers with NoAI can now be summoned with rotation.
• Added thrown_item_picked_up_by_entity advancement trigger
• Added player_generates_container_loot advancement trigger
• Added item_used_on_block advancement trigger
• Removed safely_harvest_honey advancement trigger

ADVANCEMENTS

ITEM_USED_ON_BLOCK TRIGGER TYPE

Properties:

• item matches the thrown item which was picked up
• entity matches the entity which picked up the item

PLAYER_GENERATES_CONTAINER_LOOT TRIGGER TYPE

Properties:

loot_table matches the resource location of the generated loot table

ITEM_USED_ON_BLOCK TRIGGER TYPE

Properties:

• location matches the location at the center of the block the item was used on
• item matches the item used on the block

MISCELLANEOUS TRIGGER CHANGES

• location got a new propertysmokey which checks if the location is closely above a campfire
• entity_properties got new properties vehicle and targetedEntity which match the vehicle or the entity targeted by a mob

• MC-118234 – Advancement ‘Not Today, Thank You’ can be triggered by non-arrow projectiles
• MC-173207 – Bullseye advancement can be made when using a non-arrow projectile, even though the description explicitly mentions arrows
• MC-173756 – Ice Bucket Challenge advancement can be obtained by collecting obsidian from bartering
• MC-175992 – Striders are not part of the “Two by Two” advancement challenge
• MC-179481 – Structure block offset can’t be bigger than 32
• MC-182967 – Throwing ender pearl whilst mounted doesn’t teleport you

J Allard, one of the key figures behind the early days of Xbox, has joined up with Intellivision Entertainment ahead of the company’s big Intellivision Amico launch later this year.

The new position sees Allard as Intellivision’s global managing director, a role Intellivision tells VentureBeat will task him with supporting the upcoming retro console debut by managing a number of operations critical to that launch, including UX, developer support, and more.

“This week has me back on the field and not just cheering from the stands — it’s a great feeling,” Allard tells VentureBeat. “There’s a need, an opportunity, and a terrific, scrappy team committed to take it on.”

Humble is doing a bit of a makeover on its publishing branch, and unveiled Humble Games today as a dedicated, cross platform game publishing division focused on working alongside indie teams.

If Humble as a indie publisher sounds a bit familiar, its because the company previously took aim at supporting independent game development through its Humble Original endeavors. That first stab started funding games to be featured Humble Monthly game bundles, a subscription service that has since been rebooted as Humble Choice.

Humble Games takes a wider approach than Original. As Humble Games, the company is looking to once again work with indie developers and leverage its platform and expertise to help them to launch and beyond, on PC as well as consoles. At the onset, Humble is offering up marketing help, financing, and assistance with milestones while promising partner devs will retain both creative control and IP ownership throughout the process.

“With a dedication to gamers and developers alike, Humble Games is a publisher willing to challenge the norm that has been expected of its predecessors. More Games. Better Games. Fairer Deals. All while prioritizing social impact and social good,” explains the Humble team.

Game developers curious about the company’s latest publishing push can find more info over on the new Humble Games site.

[Announcement]
The musicians behind the main theme of #AnimalCrossing: New Horizons have come together virtually for this special performance! We hope you enjoy it! #ACNH pic.twitter.com/QP8nLbyD1U

— Tom Nook (@animalcrossing) May 15, 2020

Nintendo’s ‘Quality of Life’ initiative has been in the works for years now – the first time we heard about it was way back in 2014 – but it’s been a little while since we last received any new info. Today, however, it has been revealed that the Big N has applied for a new patent that’s concerned with measuring health information, including a user’s sleep patterns.

The patent includes a base device which would sit in a user’s home and connect to a mobile device. It has plenty of potential tricks up its sleeves, as documented in the description below courtesy of Japanese Nintendo:

The base device is installed in the user’s home where-as the mobile terminal is fully portable. The base device can also charge the mobile terminal when connected with communication between both mobile and base devices also able to be performed by a communication method via a network such as a LAN or the Internet.

A Doppler sensor is included in the base device which detects biological information such as respiration and pulse, in addition to the user’s body movement.

The base device also includes a projector that projects an image on a wall surface (including a ceiling) or a screen. Such images could be to prompt the user to fall asleep or wake up, or to display an image that shows the sleep evaluation result when the user wakes up in the morning.

Further, the base device also includes a camera, speaker, and control unit. The control unit has a CPU and a memory, and can also transmit the information detected by the Doppler sensor to the mobile terminal.

You can read up on all of Japanese Nintendo’s findings here if you’re interested in learning more.

The last time we heard about Nintendo’s Quality of Life plans was in June last year, when the company confirmed that the initiative was still very much alive but wasn’t linked to Pokémon Sleep, a mobile app announced by The Pokémon Company.

Have you been keeping tabs on Nintendo’s QoL plans? We can’t say we’re not intrigued about what Nintendo’s working on, but for all we know, any eventual product could still be years away from release.

Play against real-life @PGATOUR Pros on real deal courses. Swing with swag, and get your victory dance ready... #PGATOUR2K21 is coming August 21! Golf Got Game ? pic.twitter.com/TOhrdyaYOb

— PGA TOUR 2K (@PGATOUR2K) May 14, 2020