This Week on Xbox: April 17, 2020



We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox!



Our Favorite Free-to-Play Games on Xbox One
With everything going on these days, there are plenty of reasons to take a look at the free-to-play library on Xbox One. Whether you’re gaming on a budget, want to get together online with friends, or just want to try out something new… Read more

Journey to the Savage Planet: Hot Garbage DLC Available Now on Xbox OneWant to spend a weekend in the tropics? Do you mind if it’s in a different part of the galaxy and the beaches are covered with industrial toxic waste? No? Then you won’t mind the murderous robots and bizarrely dangerous heights… Read more



Gears Tactics Launch Trailer Debuts; Pre-Load Today on PCWe’re two weeks away from Gears Tactics bringing the fast pace, visceral action and trademark executions of the Gears franchise to the turn-based strategy genre on PC., To ensure you and your squad are ready to get boots… Read more

New Event and Episode Available in DCUO: Birds of Prey
Greetings heroes and villains! Today, a new team of superheroes soars into DC Universe Online with our new event and episode: Birds of Prey. An unhinged Lex Luther is threatening Metropolis with an unruly cast of supervillains to reign supreme… Read more



Unleash Your Need to Create: Space Engineers is Available Now on Xbox OneHello, Engineers! Finally, after five years and more than four million copies sold on PC, the waiting is over. Starting today, you can play Space Engineers on Xbox One! Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered and gave us valuable feedback… Read more

Convoy: A Tactical Roguelike Available Now on Xbox One
After nearly five years on PC, the indie smash-hit Convoy: A Tactical Roguelike is rolling out on Xbox One! This is our first release on any platform other than PC, and we’ve taken a lot of care to optimize the experience for controllers… Read more



Announcing Little Hope, the Next Game in The Dark Pictures AnthologyI’m hugely excited to speak to you today about Little Hope, the next game in The Dark Pictures Anthology, which will be available this Summer for Xbox One. As you may know The Dark Pictures Anthology is a series of intense… Read more

Generation Zero Turns OneHello there! I’m here to welcome you to the 1st Anniversary of Generation Zero! To celebrate, we’ve updated the game with a bunch of new features that we hope you’ll enjoy. Quickly, a little about the game for those of you who are… Read more



Free Play Days – F1 2019 and Warhammer: ChaosbaneDefeat your rivals on the track in F1 2019 or rise up and battle the Chaos hordes in Warhammer: Chaosbane this weekend with Free Play Days. Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can play these two titles for free… Read more

Party Game Save Your Nuts Scampers to Xbox One Today
Our indie game studio Triple Scale Games is proud to announce today that our eight-player couch and online party game Save Your Nuts is out now on Xbox One. A free demo is already available for you to play through the tutorial and… Read more



Gears Tactics, The Long Dark, Machinarium, and More Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been getting some extra game time in recently and could use something new to spice up my gaming queue (because you can’t just play in order that you saw the games, that’d be silly). Luckily, that’s literally our jobs here… Read more

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York Now Available on Xbox OneHi, my name is Kris, and I’m the lead designer on Coteries of New York. It is with great pleasure that we can finally announce the game is now available on Xbox One – in fact, it’s the first Vampire: The Masquerade game to be… Read more



Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass for Console: The Long Dark, Deliver Us The Moon, Gato Roboto, and MoreI know it feels like we were just here, sharing the new games, new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks – that’s not déjà vu (or that none of us understand the passage of time anymore). We’re back because we have even more games… Read more

Fallout 76: Wastelanders Now Available on Xbox OneExplore Appalachia in Fallout 76 in a completely new way starting today with the worldwide launch of the Wastelanders expansion. All Xbox One players who own the base game can download Wastelanders for free right now… Read more



First Details on World of Tanks: ValorAre you ready for a challenge? The next major milestone in World of Tanks on console is coming, with bigger rewards than ever! We’re ready to learn about all this and more as we sit down for an interview with… Read more

Bus Simulator Expands Game World and Content with Official Map Extension DLCAs Bus Simulator is still driving on the winning street on Xbox One, we are thrilled to launch a major DLC today that will add a host of new content to the main game. We have extended the main game’s map of Seaside Valley by a huge… Read more



Fly Your Team to Victory as Overwatch’s Newest Hero, Echo, Now Available on Xbox OneBeginning today, Echo joins the Overwatch lineup as the 32nd playable hero. With the ability to fly and duplicate enemies’ skillsets, Echo brings innovative gameplay possibilities to the battlefield. During her time at Overwatch… Read more

World of Warships: Legends is One Year Strong on Xbox OneWorld of Warships: Legends is celebrating its first mini-anniversary by bringing players rows of content for any kind of captain. First there are the celebration activities where players are bound to get a whole lot of stuff for playing as many ships… Read more



Next Week on Xbox: April 21 to 24
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One and Windows 10 PC! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console… Read more

Founder Jens Begemann steps down as CEO of June’s Journey dev Wooga

Wooga CEO and founder Jens Begemann is departing the company at the end of June after 11 years at its head.

Begemann founded the studio back in 2009 alongside Patrick Paulisch and current CTO Philipp Moeser. The German developer has since made its name as a developer of free-to-play, and recently story-driven, mobile games.

The company was ultimately acquired by Playtika (reportedly for over $100 million) in late 2018, and Begemann notes in an interview with PocketGamer that the stability and success Wooga has seen since that acquisition is part of the reason he’s announced plans to exit.

“I’m an entrepreneur at heart. Wooga is strategically set in the right direction and I miss the early days. I had that realization. I wanted to be more involved with that. Secondly, I wanted to have more time for my family,” says Begemann. “As a founder, I think it’s best to leave when things are going better than ever.”

Nai Chang, Google’s previous global head of games on growth consulting, is set to take over as Wooga CEO following Begemann’s departure in June.

Don’t Miss: Behind the audio of Total War: Three Kingdoms

By Tom McCaren, Senior Audio Designer and Valentin Goellner, Audio Designer at Creative Assembly

One of the main challenges in creating the audio for strategy games, especially the Total War series, is in creating compelling soundscapes that not only set the mood, but also enhance the visual aesthetic and bring the world to life. All while remaining interesting and immersive to players, even after hundreds of hours of play.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is set in China, a country that is as vast as it is diverse. It is a country rich in history and full of breath-taking scenery, so we wanted to reflect this with the audio. To achieve this, we created many new audio systems for Total War: Three Kingdoms to help us ensure that the sound remains vibrant, feels responsive to player actions and has a level of authenticity that surpasses previous Total War games.


Three Kingdoms is the first Total War game to have a continuous day and night cycle, where players can experience an entire 24-hours within a single turn. This was a challenge as it meant creating an audio system that would allow for the ambiences used at the various times of day to blend with each other seamlessly across the entire map, while also sounding coherent and believable.

In a Campaign, players will hear not only the sounds of the wildlife across the map changing over the course of the day, but the sounds of the settlements as well.

Early in the morning, only a minimal amount of activity will be audible within settlements, with the chattering sounds of a few small groups of inhabitants starting their day. As the day progresses, the crowds start to gather and gradually increase in size right up until the early afternoon, when the streets and markets are at their busiest. Players will be able to hear traders trying to sell their wares and tools and weapons being made in workshops for workers and armies. As the day moves on into the evening, the crowds begin to dwindle and gradually become quieter as the inhabitants go home for the night.

The crowd audio varies depending on the size of the settlement, with larger cities having much larger crowds than small villages. This helps to provide a sense of contrast between settlement types and hopefully will enable players to identify these on some level by their sound alone.

We have around 3000 lines of Walla (background vocalizations) that we trigger from within settlements. These have been performed by native Mandarin speakers, something which we felt was important for authenticity. We created a modular system that triggers combinations of appropriate SFX and lines of Walla depending on certain in-game  conditions. Some of these include: the current season, settlement type, the time of day, the public order level and the district buildings that players have constructed within their settlements. This creates a huge amount of variety and enables the settlement audio to react to events and changes in gameplay conditions in real time.

Our main goal with the audio for the settlements was to make them feel alive, dynamic and responsive to certain in-game conditions for an added level of realism. For example, players will be able to hear inhabitants yawning and saying how tired they are in the evening while, during winter, players may hear inhabitants talking about how cold and hungry they are.

As players upgrade their settlements and construct more buildings within them, they’ll start to hear new sounds that are appropriate to that new building type. If players construct a school for example, they’ll hear children laughing and playing. Alternatively, if players construct an Inn, they will be able to hear a few inhabitants enjoying themselves after a few drinks once everybody else has gone to sleep for the night.


Wildlife is another element that adds a lot of flavor to a soundscape and it’s something that we leaned on heavily to create the right feel and characteristics for the sounds of the various regions and seasons. To ensure that the wildlife sounds were accurate both biologically and geographically, we undertook a vast amount of research. We gathered detailed information on many species of animals including their natural habitat, migration and hibernation behaviors, active times of day and mating seasons.

There are wildlife sounds unique to each climate region (Arid, Cold, Subtropical and Temperate) which helps to give each area its own character. Different wildlife sounds are also triggered depending on the current season and time of day. This helps to keep the soundscape interesting and responsive to changes in conditions, which makes the world feel more alive.

We aimed to make the Campaign map a calm, serene and pleasant place for the player to be. We wanted it to be a sharp contrast to the turbulent and often hectic sound of the battles. A large part of how we accomplished this was not only with the sounds that we used, but also with how they trigger in-game and how they blend and interact with one another.

We used a lot of relaxation ambience and ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos for reference while designing the soundscapes. This is particularly evident in some heavily forested areas during rainstorms, where you can hear the individual raindrops hitting the leaves all around you, creating an oddly satisfying sensation.

The user interface (UI) sounds in previous Total War games have generally comprised of lots of large cinematic sounds such as sword scrapes, anvil hits and so on. However, as much fun as it can be playing with big swords and other weapons in the recording studio, with Total War: Three Kingdoms we wanted the style of the audio to match the abstract visual aesthetic, keeping the UI sounds clean, minimal and refined.

To achieve this, we toned down the big weapon hits and instead opted to use original recordings of traditional Chinese instruments combined with some abstract, non-literal sounds to represent the ink effect used heavily in the UI visuals.

We also wanted the audio to tie in with the elemental theme of Wu Xing (the five-element theory of Chinese philosophy) that is present throughout the game. To do this, we created modular sound kits for each of the Wu Xing elements; Earth, Fire, Metal, Water and Wood.

We added sounds from these kits as sweetener layers to help communicate the link between some actions and the associated Wu Xing elements to the player. An example of this is when you spend character skill points. Upon clicking an elemental skill point button, players will hear a sound that corresponds to the element of the skill point that they have just purchased.

Recreating the sounds of China has been a joy. In the process we’ve managed to develop a lot of new tech, which has enabled us to deliver what we consider to be the most authentically detailed and polished sounding historical Total War game to date.

Kingdom Two Crowns is out now on iOS, rolling out on Android

April 28, 2020 Kingdom Two Crowns is out right now on iOS, and we’ve updated this article with new information to reflect that.

The wait is over, folks. Kingdom Two Crowns is out right now on iOS, and is rolling out on Android over the course of the day. For those not in the know, it’s the sequel to Kingdom: New Lands and it expands on the original in a variety of different ways, introducing a story campaign, cooperative multiplayer, and a brand new feudal Japan setting.

If you haven’t experienced this series before, you play as a monarch who lands on the shores of a new kingdom and has to make it habitable. You begin by recruiting the locals (you literally just toss coins at them) to build, guard, hunt, and do whatever other menial task need performing. You start with literally nothing but will eventually have your very own castle, which is fully-functioning.

Your overarching goal is to fix a ship that will allow you to travel to the next island, at which point the experience starts all over again; albeit more challenging this time. But where does the challenge come from? Well, each night a variety of monstrous creatures attack your kingdom, and you have to make sure it’s well-defended. It’s a bit like a survival simulator in that sense.

Managing your budget is no small feat either. You start the game with a few coins, which you’ll quickly spend to pay the locals to build you stuff. Each time you recruit a local, build or upgrade something, or order a crafted item, you’ll spend cash. To replenish it, you need to hire hunters, invest in travelling merchants, or explore the nearby area for treasure. That is its own reward though, as the game is visually stunning in a retro kind of way.

The sequel expands on all of this by introducing a new story campaign, which challenges you to build a kingdom that stands the test of time and perhaps finishes off the monsters that plague it for good. There’s also a new cooperative mode that you can play in split screen (we’d recommend a tablet for that) or online.

https://www.pockettactics.com/wp-content...player.jpg

There’s also a brand new setting: feudal Japan. It pretty much plays the same, but the visuals have seen a huge overhaul, with trees making way for bamboo and your buildings and characters taking on a Japanese flavour. Apparently this isn’t the only new setting we’ll get either, as Raw Fury has revealed that more are coming in future updates.

The first of these arrives today, too, in the form of Dead Lands. This expansion is a crossover with Metroidvania Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, featuring your favourite characters, which you can swap between on-the-fly, and a bunch of new mounts, which have all-new abilities. You can learn more about this expansion by reading our news article, which we’ve linked to beneath this post.

If you’re interested, you can grab Kingdom Two Crowns right now on iOS via the App Store, or keep an eye out on Google Play for when it launches in your territory. You might want to hit the pre-register button to receive a notification.

Fancy Splurging $300 On A SpongeBob Game? You’re In Luck





We’re just under two months away from the launch of Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, and if you consider yourself to be a superfan of the show – and perhaps, only if you consider yourself that – you might want to check out this particularly pricey limited edition.

The F.U.N. Edition, which was first revealed towards the end of last year alongside a (slightly) cheaper ‘Shiny Edition’, will release on the same day as the game itself, 23rd June. It costs an eye-watering $299.99 / €299.99 / £259.99, but does come with all of the following:

Quote:An 8″/20cm SpongeBob Figurine with Golden Spatula and flexible tongue
A 7″/18cm Figurine of Patrick
The Sandy 8″/20cm Figurine
Wallstickers
A set of Tiki Keyrings
6 Lithographs
SpongeBob SquarePants tennis socks
The Game itself

You can get a closer look at it in the video at the top of this article – that flexible tongue certainly is something, isn’t it?

If you want to add one of Switch’s most expensive limited edition games to your collection, pre-orders are available. You can grab it – or the Shiny Edition – below, assuming you’re not too fussed about your mortgage, hobbies, or food.

Please note that some links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.





Let us know if you end up treating yourself with a comment below.

Star Wars Episode 1: Racer Remaster Delayed On PS4

Star Wars Episode I: Racer, the arcade-like racing series based off of arguably the best part of The Phantom Menace, is getting a second chance on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The remaster was set to launch on May 12, but has now been delayed on PS4 until May 26. The Nintendo Switch release date has not been affected.

The delay was communicated by publisher Aspyr Media, which tweeted out the update. It gives no indication as to why the game has been delayed or why it only applies to one platform.

Quote:We have an update on the launch of Star Wars Episode l: Racer. Unfortunately, we’ve just learned that we will have to delay the game on PlayStation 4 until May 26. The game will still launch on May 12 for Nintendo Switch.

— Aspyr (@AspyrMedia) April 28, 2020

Racer originally launched on the same day as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 1999, releasing on PC and Nintendo's N64. A Sega Dreamcast port arrived a full year later in April 2000. This racer, which includes characters like Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba, shouldn't be confused with its sequel, Racer Revenge, which launched on PS2. That version featured a more grown-up Anakin akin to the one in The Clone Wars, and included updated visuals and different tracks.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

How to Convert List of Lists to a Pandas Dataframe



Problem: You’re given a list of lists. Your goal is to convert it into a PandasDataframe.

Example: Say, you want to compare salary data of different companies and job descriptions. You’ve obtained the following salary data set as a list of list:


How can you convert this into a PandasDataframe?

DataFrame()

Solution: The straight-forward solution is to use the constructor that creates a new Dataframe object from different input types such as NumPy arrays or lists.

Here’s how to do it for the given example:


This results in the following Dataframe:


Try It Yourself: Run this code in our interactive Python shell by clicking the “Run” button.

https://repl.it/@finxter/pandaslistoflis...?lite=true

DataFrame.from_records()

An alternative is the method that generates the same output:


Try It Yourself: Run this code in our interactive Python shell by clicking the “Run” button.

https://repl.it/@finxter/pandastorecord?lite=true

Column Names

If you want to add column names to make the output prettier, you can also pass those as a separate argument:


Try It Yourself: Run this code in our interactive Python shell by clicking the “Run” button.

https://repl.it/@finxter/pandasconvertli...?lite=true

If the first list of the list of lists contains the column name, use slicingto separate the first list from the other lists:


Slicing is a powerful Python feature and before you can master Pandas, you need to master slicing. To refresh your Python slicing skills, download my ebook “Coffee Break Python Slicing” for free.

Summary: To convert a list of lists into a Pandas DataFrame, use the constructor and pass the list of lists as an argument. An optional columns argument can help you structure the output.

Where to Go From Here?

Enough theory, let’s get some practice!

To become successful in coding, you need to get out there and solve real problems for real people. That’s how you can become a six-figure earner easily. And that’s how you polish the skills you really need in practice. After all, what’s the use of learning theory that nobody ever needs?

Practice projects is how you sharpen your saw in coding!

Do you want to become a code master by focusing on practical code projects that actually earn you money and solve problems for people?

Then become a Python freelance developer! It’s the best way of approaching the task of improving your Python skills—even if you are a complete beginner.

Join my free webinar “How to Build Your High-Income Skill Python” and watch how I grew my coding business online and how you can, too—from the comfort of your own home.

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Nintendo Goes Big With Latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons TV Ad Campaign



Have you seen this Animal Crossing TV ad?

With more people stuck inside these days, gaming companies have been seeing large boosts in TV ad impressions just lately. In the US, Nintendo has been top dog in terms of ad impressions for a while now, as these latest statistics continue to prove.

New data from VentureBeat and iSpot.tv, covering 16th March to 15th April, shows that Nintendo took 55.4% of the gaming industry’s TV ad impressions in the country, comfortably topping second-place PlayStation which earned 13.3%. A large chunk of this, as you might expect, comes from advertising for Nintendo’s latest major release, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Nintendo saw 713 million TV ad impressions between those two dates, all generated by 20 spots that were aired 3,400 times. The most-seen ad was the one you’ll find below, which received 120 million impressions alone. Most of the impressions came from channels like Disney Channel, Nick, and Cartoon Network.



Following Nintendo and PlayStation – the latter of which earned 171.2 million impressions from ads focused solely on Final Fantasy VII Remake, Bethesda was third with 147.5 million impressions, Xbox was fourth with 120.8 million, and GameFly was fifth with 58.9 million.

Have you noticed many ads from Nintendo or other gaming companies recently? Do you find yourself instinctively looking up at the screen as soon as you hear that familiar Switch ‘click’? Let us know in the comments.

SNES-Inspired Puzzle-Platformer Mushroom Heroes Leaps Onto Switch This Week





Launching later this week on Nintendo Switch is Mushroom Heroes, a puzzle-platformer inspired by the 16-bit classics of the genre.

The game stars three of these titular mushroom heroes in total and players can switch between each of them to make use of their different abilities. The unique techniques each one can pull off will get you through various obstacles within the game, and judging by the trailer above, you’ll be able to combine their skills to defeat tricky enemies:

Quote:Jumpi can jump higher and float in the air.
Yuppi can kill enemies with his bow. The bow can also be used to detonate some walls and bombs.
Dombi can block enemies projectiles with his shield, and he can push or pull some objects.

Intrigued? Here’s a feature list and a selection of screenshots:

Quote:Features:
• 38 Challenging Levels
• Dozens of Unique Puzzles to Solve
• EXTREMELY addicting
• The Ultimate Casual Brain Teaser

It’s launching on Switch this Thursday, 30th April and will be priced at £5.50. You can actually go ahead and pre-purchase it as we speak, however, and doing so will grant you a 20% discount.

Like the look of this one? We can’t stop humming that music from the trailer now…