Bienvenido a Box Art Brawl, our weekly look back at the same game’s retro box art from around the world with a cheeky vote attached.

To coincide with the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons we took a look at the first game in the series last week. Despite the North American and European variants being very similar, the minor differences elevated the North American version way above the rest with a comfortable 59% of the vote. Japan mopped up just 7% leaving Europe in the middle with the remainder.

After the lovely and contemplative relaxation of Animal Crossing, we’re taking to the streets (digital ones, we hasten to add) with Streets of Rage 3 this week. Yes, we broke the mould with a non-Nintendo system game back in Box Art Brawl #32 with Sonic the Hedgehog, with the proviso that the game has appeared on a Nintendo platform. This week’s game is available on Switch as part of the rather excellent Sega Mega Drive Classics collection (which, crucially, includes the Japanese version, AKA the one you should play).

To be honest we’re just whetting our appetites for the upcoming Streets of Rage 4 with this selection, and with many people across the globe currently under a lockdown of some sort thanks to COVID-19, what better way to release some of that pent up tension with an underappreciated beat ’em up, eh?

Let’s get down to it, then. Round 1…

North America

We begin in North America with Axel, Blaze, Dr. Zan and unlockable character Roo practising their moves on a dock as the sun sets (or rises?) behind the city in the background. Skate, or Sammy if you prefer, is entirely absent for some reason and the positioning of the four characters is a little odd. Your eye is drawn to Zan’s electrified cyborg arm, and while he and Blaze are rendered pretty well, poor Axel has seen much better days.

Midway through his patented Grand Upper punch, the veteran brawler’s mug is enough to distract you from the odd proportions of his body. His hands and feet are enormous and the poor chap has taken some heavy blows to the face. This is the third game, we suppose.

We like how Zan’s hand breaks over the red Genesis strip down the left side, although we’re less enthused with Roo’s foot doing the same. There are some strange perspective issues here that become more evident the longer you look, but it’s got plenty of energy.

Japan

All the characters look more or less as you’d imagine them from the in-game sprites on the Japanese cover, with Axel looking suitably ripped and Blaze reminding us of her, er, formative influence on us as a young gamer. Ahem.

Sammy is present and correct and Zan’s massive cyborg body presents the cast as they all stand in front of a blazing… something. We see robotic hands reaching out behind the kick-ass Japanese title. It’s evocative, dynamic, colourful and beautifully painted. In fact, the only fault we can find with it is Axel’s shirt. What’s going on with that? Is it cling film? Is his white t-shirt just soaking wet with sweat after giving dozens of goons a sound beating? It almost looks like he has smeared lard over his chest in the form of a vest.

Europe

Taking a leaf from the North American book when it comes to omitting characters, Dr. Gilbert Zan takes centre stage on the European blue box, although with less obviously cyborg appendages. Killer ‘stache, though. We assume Blaze has just had her head crushed and twisted by an unseen enemy thanks to its unnatural angle and curiously small size compared to the rest of her body.

The city with the ominous lightning storm looks nice, the water looks nice, the logo is cool and we don’t mind the big blue strip with prominent placement of the Mega Drive and SEGA logos, either. It is still lacking something, though, and despite any good points it may have, we can’t stop scrutinising Blaze’s head.

Them’s your picks this week. Click your favourite below and hit the ‘Vote’ button to register your choice:

We hope you’re all keeping safe and sound wherever you are. Happy gaming and we’ll see you next week for another round.

I stumbled across this question when browsing through StackOverflow and it got me thinking: what’s the best way to count the number of elements in a list that match a certain condition? Can you generalize this way to both general conditions (e.g. x>3) and regular expressions (e.g. 'a.*')?

Short answer: you can count the number of elements x that match a certain condition(x) by using the one-liner expression sum(condition(x) for x in lst). This creates a generator expression that returns True for each element that satisfies the condition and False otherwise. Since the True and False values are represented by integer 1 and 0 values, you get the number of matching elements by summing over the iterable.

Try it yourself with the interactive code shell:

In case, the browser interpreter doesn’t show up in your browser, here’s the raw Python code:

## FRAMEWORK FOR CONDITIONAL COUNT ## # Define any condition here

def condition(x): return x > 10 # Create the list

lst = [10, 11, 42, 1, 2, 3] # Count the number of matching elements

print(sum(condition(x) for x in lst))

# What's the output?

Related articles:

• Python List Methods
• Python List Count()

Python List Count With Condition

How can you count elements under a certain condition in Python? For example, what if you want to count all even values in a list? Or all prime numbers? Or all strings that start with a certain character? There are multiple ways to accomplish this, let’s discuss them one by one.

Say, you have a condition for each element x. Let’s make it a function with the name condition(x). You can define any condition you want—just put it in your function. For example this condition returns True for all elements that are greater than the integer 10:

def condition(x): return x > 10 print(condition(10))

# False print(condition(2))

# False print(condition(11))

# True

But you can also define more complicated conditions such as checking if they are prime numbers.

Python List Count If

How can you count the elements of the list IF the condition is met?

The answer is to use a simple generator expression sum(condition(x) for x in lst):

>>> def condition(x): return x>10 >>> lst = [10, 11, 42, 1, 2, 3]

>>> sum(condition(x) for x in lst)

2

The result indicates that there are two elements that are larger than 10. You used a generator expression that returns an iterator of Booleans. Note that the Boolean True is represented by the integer value 1 and the Boolean False is represented by the integer value 0. That’s why you can simply calculate the sum over all Booleans to obtain the number of elements for which the condition holds.

Python List Count Greater / Smaller Than

If you want to determine the number of elements that are greater than or smaller than a specified value, just modify the condition in this example:

>>> def condition(x): return x>10 >>> lst = [10, 11, 42, 1, 2, 3]

>>> sum(condition(x) for x in lst)

2

For example, to find the number of elements smaller than 5, use the condition x<5 in the generator expression:

>>> lst = [10, 11, 42, 1, 2, 3]

>>> sum(x<5 for x in lst)

3

Python List Count Zero / Non-Zero

To count the number of zeros in a given list, use the list.count(0) method call.

To count the number of non-zeros in a given list, you should use conditional counting as discussed before:

def condition(x): return x!=0 lst = [10, 11, 42, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0]

print(sum(condition(x) for x in lst))

# 5

Python List Count Lambda + Map

An alternative is to use a combination of the map and the lambda function.

Related articles:

• [Full Tutorial] Map Function: manipulates each element in an iterable.
• [Full Tutorial] Lambda Function: creates an anonymous function.

Here’s the code:

>>> sum(map(lambda x: x%2==0, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]))

2

You count the number of even integers in the list.

• The lambda function returns a truth value for a given element x.
• The map function transforms each list element into a Boolean value (1 or 0).
• The sum function sums up the “1”s.

The result is the number of elements for which the condition evaluates to True.

Python List Count Regex / Count Matches

Given a list of strings. How can you check how many list elements match a certain regex pattern? (If you need a refresher on Python regular expressions, check out my ultimate guide on this blog – it’s really ultimate!)

• List lst of string elements
• Pattern p to be matched against the strings in the list.

Solution: Use the concept of generator expressions with the ternary operator.

Related articles:

• Master ternary operator.
• Master list comprehension.

Here’s the code:

>>> import re

>>> p = 'a...e'

>>> lst = ['annie', 'alice', 'apex']

>>> sum(1 if re.match(p, x) else 0 for x in lst)

2

Python List Count Wildcard

Do you want to count all string occurrences of a given prefix (e.g. prefix "Sus" for strings "Susie", "Susy", "Susi")?

Solution: Again you can use the concept of generator expressions with the ternary operator.

Related articles:

• Master ternary operator.
• Master list comprehension.

Here’s the code for this one using the wildcard operator in a pattern to count all occurrences of this pattern in the list.

>>> import re

>>> lst = ['Susi', 'Ann', 'Susanne', 'Susy']

>>> pattern = 'Sus.*'

>>> frequency = sum(1 if re.match(pattern, x) else 0 for x in lst)

>>> print(frequency)

3

The generator expression produces a bunch of 1s and 0s—the former if the list element starts with prefix 'Sus' and the latter if it doesn’t. By summing over all elements, you get the number of matches of the wildcard operator.

Where to Go From Here?

You’ve learned how you can get the number of elements that match a certain condition. It can be a Boolean condition or even a regular expression—the framework stays the same.

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Newsbrief: Sony will begin limiting PlayStation Network download speeds in the United States.

The decision comes days after it did the same in Europe, with the company explaining it must “take appropriate action” to ensure internet stability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the decision may result in some PSN users experiencing slower or delayed game loads, the company reiterated that gameplay will remain unaffected.

Chinese tech companies Tencent and Huawei have partnered to develop a mobile cloud gaming platform.

The collaboration was announced at the Huawei Developer Conference 2020 (via South China Morning Post), and will see the pair establish a game development lab to explore various technologies including cloud streaming, artificial intelligence, and VR/AR.

In the area of cloud streaming specifically, a WeChat post from Tencent explained the lab will be working on turning its ‘GameMatrix’ cloud gaming platform into an “industry-leading, high-quality and low-cost mobile cloud gaming solution.” It has also been tasked with developing new chip features, debugging tools, and optimization solutions.

Tencent is one of the biggest names in the games industry, and is best known as the owner of League of Legends developer Riot Games and for publishing popular titles like Rocket League, PUBG Online, and Call of Duty: Online in China.

Huawei, meanwhile, is one of the world’s most prominent consumer electronics and telecommunications companies, and as of 2018 was the second-largest smartphone manufactuer in the world behind Samsung.

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The new 2020 iPad Pros are powerful, stunning, and better than ever. We take a closer look at both sizes of the 2020 iPad Pro to see what the differences are in specs as well as what it is really like to use the larger or smaller versions.

The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros

Specs and features

One of the most common questions we receive ask if there is any difference in specs or performance between, say, the entry-level 11-inch iPad Pro and the maxed-out 12.9-inch iPad Pro. We are happy to say that no, there is absolutely no difference and you won’t be losing out on any performance by going for the smaller 11-inch iPad Pro over the 12.9.

[embedded content]

Between the two, the processors, internals, and other specifications are exactly the same, with the only difference being the larger display. The 11-inch has a 2388-by-1668 display at 264 pixels per inch while the 12.9-inch comes in at 2732-by-2048 at the same pixel density.

That means you don’t get a better display either, just a larger one, by going with the 12.9-inch.

Both devices run the same software and have the same accessories. They both work with the second-generation Apple Pencil and can be connected to the Smart Keyboard Folio or upcoming Magic Keyboard.

Keyboards

Speaking of keyboards, if you do a significant amount of typing on your iPad Pro, the 12.9-inch is a far better option for two distinct reasons.

On-screen keyboard displayed on the 11-inch (left) and 12.9-inch (right) iPad Pros

The first is the on-screen keyboard. Going from the 11-inch to the 12.9, the keyboard covers up far less of the display. Depending on the app, you can get far less usable space on the 11-inch model. The 12.9-inch takes up less than half the screen while the 11-inch is more than half the screen.

Then there’s the physical Smart Keyboard Folio.

Comparing the Mac’s Magic Keyboard to the iPad Pro’s 12.9-inch Smart Keyboard Folio

With this, the 12.9-inch has a full-sized keyboard. Comparing it to our Mac’s keyboard, they are the same size. This makes a world of difference when you move between a desktop or laptop and your iPad Pro. Your fingers gain a sense of muscle memory and when the keyboard keeps changing sizes, your fingers trip up and you make more mistakes.

The 11-inch iPad Pro has a compressed keyboard and doesn’t align with how your fingers were trained. It is still a solid keyboard, but requires your fingers to “relearn” the key placement each time.

Multitasking

An 11-inch (left) and 12.9-inch (right) iPad Pro with two apps in split view, one app in slider over, and a movie playing in PiP

Another significant differentiator is multitasking, as a lot of users don’t take full advantage of the multitasking abilities iPad Pro has. At the same time, you can open two apps side-by-side in split view, bring in another via slide over, and watch a movie in picture-in-picture.

If you do that on both displays, there is a stark contrast regarding what you can see. The 11-inch iPad Pro has very little usable space —even less if you tried to open up the keyboard to type.

The 12.9-inch, on the other hand, has plenty of space and is easy to write on while looking at a source, while monitoring your Twitter feed, while the news is playing in the background, or whatever your second task happens to be. It is a lot going on, but is manageable on the larger display.

Portability

A larger screen may inherently lend itself to more productivity, but it is hard to beat the compact size of the 11-inch. The 11-inch is a true workhorse in a small body and if you tote it around frequently, the 11-inch size may be the way to go.

We’ve been steadfast users of the 12.9-inch due to multitasking capabilities and the necessary space for video editing, but spending a few days again using the 11-inch has made us love that more compact size. Icons are a bit smaller —which is good if you like fitting more onto a smaller display but bad if you have problems with your eyes.

The 11-inch iPad Pro is not only the most powerful iPad, but it is the physically smallest other than the iPad mini. That is a great tradeoff if you want both power and portability.

We also prefer the 11-inch when it comes to media consumption. It is lighter and more comfortable to hold for long bouts of time while reading, playing games, or kicking back to watch a video.

Reading on the iPad Pro

In the end, it is hard for us to with any degree of certainty recommend one over the other. We are fond of the 12.9-inch for its display and production values but love how easy the 11-inch is to carry around.

If you fall into one camp over another, hopefully the decision is easy for you when picking up your new tablet.

Lowest prices on Apple’s 2020 iPad Pro

Instant discounts on Apple’s new 2020 iPad Pro are already in effect, with the latest deals at your fingertips in the AppleInsider 2020 11-inch iPad Pro Price Guide and 2020 12.9-inch iPad Pro Price Guide.

2020 11″ iPad Pro deals

2020 12.9″ iPad Pro savings