Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 05:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Nintendo staff working from home after employee tests positive for coronavirus
Nintendo of America is the latest game company to urge employees to work from home, this time after an employee working in its Redmond offices tested positive for the coronavirus.
Notably, Nintendo is allowing staff in Washington and California (two U.S. states that have been hit especially hard by the outbreak) to work from home as a “precautionary step” following the test.
“We have determined that the individual had contact with other employees and we have notified those employees to the situation,” a Nintendo rep told The Hollywood Reporter. “All impacted employees are now self-quarantining, whether they are experiencing symptoms or not.”
This comes more than a week after fellow Washington-based game companies Bungie and Microsoft made a show of rolling out remote work infrastructures and allowing their staff to work from home for an extended period. Around the same time, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that while he wasn’t a big believer in staff working from home, “one unexpected consequence [of the coronavirus outbreak] is a lot of us who are skeptical about remote work are gonna be less skeptical about it.”
Update: An earlier version of this story mistakenly implied that Nintendo of America had instituted this work from home policy in response to the positive coronavirus test, when in fact the company announced it last week.
First of all, thanks to all backers’ love right from the beginning. A few days ago we got a little problem with Nintendo copyright. Our company highly respects intellectual property protection, and we were unintentional to infringe on Nintendo’s copyright by using the Nintendo game scene in the introduction of product function. But it just showed in the product’s use cases, we never intended to use the games character’s image to promote our products. We apologize to the copyright party and will resolve it properly. Our team will be more careful with the copyright-protected content and provide better services for you in the future. And we have submitted our own product’s patent. We highly valued intellectual property protection and product innovation and want to build a good community with all of you.
As we all know, Kickstarter always advocates and encourages innovation. It is a fair platform and helps tons of outstanding products to get support and moving the development of technology forward. I believe this is also how all backers think about Kickstarter. We highly value each of your precise options. Our production is still ongoing to deliver the prime output for all of our backers after the campaign end. We really appreciate the early backers’ support and trust and we have prepared an exquisite gift for every backer who still supports us until now. Your support and trust is our motivation.
Thanks,
CEO of Better DiGi Team
Update #2 [Mon 9th Mar, 2020 11:40 GMT]: Bigger Digi has told us why the Kickstarter was pulled – it was due to the use of a Nintendo copyright-protected game in the materials used for the campaign. The Kickstarter is coming back ‘soon’, along with a more detailed statement from the company’s CEO.
Update #1 [Fri 6th Mar, 2020 14:00 GMT]: Since the feature was written, the Kickstarter campaign has been taken down due to an “intellectual property dispute”. When the campaign launched, a second campaign – branded as ‘fake’ by Better Digi – also went live. Whether or not this is related, we’ll no doubt find out soon. We’ve reached out to Better Digi and will update this piece with its response when we have it.
Yesterday, we announced the news that Better Digi’s Dongii – a Switch dock that’s small enough to fit in your pocket – had hit crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. We’ve actually had one of these units at the Nintendo Life office for a few weeks now, and have been putting it through its paces to see what all the fuss is about. The good news? This tiny little device is something of a game-changer, not only giving Switch owners a cheap alternative to the expensive and hard-to-find official dock, but also a wonderfully portable option which can easily be transported with the console if you’re visiting a friend and fancy some docked action.
The Dongii joins Human Things’ Genki Convert Dock in the category of teeny, tiny Switch docks and has a single male USB-C on one side, which plugs into the power supply (more on that in a second). On the other, it offers three ports: HDMI, USB-C and USB-A. The first two are pretty self-explanatory; they connect the Dongii to your TV and Switch respectively. The latter is for connecting physical devices, such as wired controllers. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 capability so you can connect the unit to wireless audio devices like headphones, with pairing handled by a physical button on the Dongii itself (it’s worth noting that the cheapest version of the Dongii lacks Bluetooth support).
However, the Dongii itself is only part of the picture – it needs to be connected to a USB-C charger to work properly, and even then, it has to be a charger that will supply the required juice. When fully assembled, the unit is significantly smaller than the original Switch dock, which, lest we forget, also needs a bulky power supply to operate. The final unit will ship with its own 65W GaN charger, but this wasn’t ready when our review unit was sent to us, so we’ve used a standard 45W USB-C power block.
While this powers the Dongii just fine, it doesn’t provide the fast-charging capability of the more potent 65W dock. It’s also not as nice to look at as it obviously hasn’t been designed with the Dongii in mind, but the final product will look a lot more appealing. Another plus to the Dongii’s charger being detachable is that you can plug it directly into any portable power bank that supports USB-C PD and supplied the correct amount of power – combine this setup with a portable screen, like the C-Force CF016XT, and you’re taking your ‘on-the-road’ setup to a whole new level.
Of course, when it comes to third-party docks, the question of safety is always present. We’ve had reports of docks bricking Switch consoles in the past, with some suggesting that, in the early days of USB-C, the protocol wasn’t standard across all products. However, according to Better Digi, the Dongii benefits from “years of optimisation” and “countless rounds of testing”, which means it “delivers the proper voltage and amperage to the Switch based on its battery level and ensures the best and safest performance”.
While we can’t categorically say this is totally true, we didn’t experience any issues using the Dongii over the past few weeks, even when running it through the aforementioned third-party charger. Better Digi also claims that because the Switch isn’t actually ‘docked’ during use, heat build-up is less of an issue. We’ve all heard the anecdotal reports of consoles ‘warping’ as they get hot inside the dock, but we’re not sure it’s as widespread a problem as Better Digi might have you believe.
Dongii is a great accessory for your Switch, then, but that’s not the end of its usefulness; because it supports the USB-C standard, it can also be used with devices other than your Switch, such as laptops. The USB-A port allows you to plug in flash drives and other accessories, and you can even use the device to connect your smartphone to a monitor, turning it into a computer you can carry in your pocket (assuming it has the functionality that is, like Samsung’s phones). It’s capable of outputting up to 4K resolution for this purpose.
Starting at just $29 via its crowdfunding campaign (it then rises to $65), the Dongii is likely to become a must-have device for Switch owners. It has already doubled its initial Kickstarter target of $10,000, and if you’re currently on the fence about supporting this crowdfunding campaign, we’d recommend you give it a shot – especially if you’re a keen traveller or are simply in the market for a second dock in your home.
Ring Fit Adventure Is So Popular It Keeps Selling Out
Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch is in-demand big time. In an update earlier this week, a Nintendo spokesperson told Polygon the company’s latest fitness video game was “selling out” across North America.
the Ring Fit Adventure game is selling out at various retail locations in the Americas. We are working to provide more units as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.
This small update for this region follows on from the news last month that sales for the exercise game had rapidly increased in China due to the coronavirus outbreak. At the time, Chinese resellers were buying out any stock they could get their hands on in huge quantities and then selling it well above the retail price. It probably didn’t help that it wasn’t officially available in the country at the time, either.
Ring Fit Adventure stock shortages have also been reported elsewhere since COVID-19 has swept the globe. At the company’s most recent financial results briefing in January, president Shuntaro Furukawa formally apologised for the worldwide shortages and inconvenience. As of 31st January 2020, Ring Fit Adventure’s cumulative sellthrough has exceeded 1.7 million units.
Have you had any luck purchasing this game in recent times? Tell us below.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 02:29 AM - Forum: Lounge
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How To Clean Your Phone, Controllers, Keyboards, And Other Tech
The recent events around the world have caused a lot of people to be more diligent in washing their hands, but it's also paramount that you keep all of your most-used devices clean as well. That means our phones, keyboards, and controllers among other things. Of course, one of the scariest things can be not knowing what is safe to use and how exactly to clean each gadget. There are a lot of different cleaning and sanitizing products out there, each of which is good at a specific thing--and some products aren't safe for cleaning fragile devices at all.
To demystify the process, we've put together this quick-and-easy guide to how to sanitize your phone, keyboard, and other common tech, including the best cleaning products we've tried and recommend.
How to clean your cell phone
In the age of smartphones basically just being big screens, it's easier than ever to keep your iPhone or Android device clean. However, it's also very easy to damage your phone if you don't choose the right products or methods to clean it with. And since it's likely the device that comes with you everywhere you go, it's important to sanitize your phone regularly.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-16-2020, 07:59 PM - Forum: Windows
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Educators: Our team is here to help you and your students
As we continue to see educators around the world transition to distance learning our team is here to help, listen, and support you and your students.
To make it easier to connect with each other, and to answer your questions, we’ve created a new remote learning community. It’s a great resource for best practices, tips & tricks, and sharing personal experiences about how to enable distance learning for schools. We are inspired by the way this community has come together to support each other and share ideas, during this challenging time.
To join this team, get help and share ideas with other educators and our experts, please fill out this form. We’ll add you to the Remote Learning Team after we’ve received your submission.
Building community
In addition, we are in awe of all the incredible resources and ideas our community is sharing, like the tweet and ideas for remote learning from the eTwinz here.
#RemoteLearning | We just want to use this last tweet to tell everyone who is transitioning to this new model due the #coronavirus that you are not alone. This community got your back!
We’ve also set up a new support site to help you get started launching remote learning that includes training resources, practical guides on how to get up and running on Teams, and tools and programs to keep your students engaged.
And, listed below, are additional Microsoft Education resources we have compiled so far to support remote learning.
Guidance on remote learning with Office 365 can be found here. This is a great source of information for using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Teams – all rich resources for successfully navigating remote learning.
Get ideas for using Flipgrid, a powerful video-based discussion tool, here. You’ll find webinars, resources for getting started with Flipgrid, and be able to connect with our team through Flipgrid here.
We’re making Minecraft: Education Edition available for free to teachers and students with O365 Education accounts to support remote learning during school closures. Please fill out this form to request access. And download a remote learning toolkit for Minecraft: Education Edition here. Minecraft: Education Edition is a great tool to explore coding, social emotional learning skills development, and more, so if you haven’t tried it yet, now might be the time.
The Microsoft Educator Center is home to a wealth of educator-created professional development resources, and we’ve made new remote learning materials available right on the MEC site, so be sure to check those out.
And we’ve put together a Wakelet that curates all of the current Microsoft Education resources and stories on Remote Learning here. We’ll have more resources there in the coming days too, so please keep an eye on that site.
We’re here to support you
Teaching is among the most challenging professions in ordinary times, and these are anything but ordinary times. Thank you for the work you do on behalf of students each day, and especially now.
You’re not alone in this. Our team is here to help. We’ll continue to share updates, resources and information as those become available here on the Microsoft Education blog. So, stay tuned and keep in touch. One way to send feedback is through Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU.
Welcome back to Box Art Brawl, the weekly vote where you decide which retro regional box art variant wins in the beauty stakes according to sophisticated modern tastes. Oh yes.
Last week Castlevania for the N64 entered the ring in a third appearance for the series and one of the closest fought brawls to date. In the end Europe just edged a victory over Japan by a mere 3% while North America trailed far behind with just a tenth of the overall vote. We guess you weren’t fans of Reinhardt’s bushy eyebrows. Congratulations to Europe, but we’re certain we haven’t seen the last of Castlevania round these parts.
This week is a real gimme; possibly the biggest foregone conclusion in the history of democracy, but we’ve delayed it long enough. Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 was given a different cover in each region, an interesting story in itself which we delved into last year by talking to former Rare Art Director Kev Bayliss. However, today ours is not to reason why. Today, we’re just voting for our favourite.
C’mon then. Let’s get on with it.
North America
North America got a close-up of Joanna Dark’s CG face with Elvis, her alien chum, reflected in her right eye. Strands of hair flick down over her brow and we like the lighting that suggests she’s hidden in the shadows, waiting to strike. The gun barrel looks particularly clean as it breaks into the frame and who doesn’t love a sexy red laser beam? It makes us think of Arnie’s gun in the first Terminator movie. That’s a good in our books.
The game was compatible with most every ‘Pak’ made for the N64, as you can see from the red strip down the right side. The slick logo sits prominently against the darkness at the top and that little gold Rareware logo gives us the feels, too. It’s dark but still colourful. Not bad, not bad.
Europe
Looking absolutely nothing like the in-game model for the character, here we get the more sultry CG version of Joanna Dark (essentially Lara Croft moonlighting as a secret agent) and the bottom half of the gun we saw on the North American cover. It’s still dark, but the face fades as several images are layered behind ol’ Jo showing various structures and what looks like level geometry. None of it is particularly easy to make out, although you can see Elvis and one of his Maian mates.
The usual black border common to Nintendo’s N64 output in Europe is gone here with the info displayed over the main image. Same logo as the North American variant. Again, it sets the scene nicely. Not bad, but it’s all a bit immaterial, isn’t it…
Japan
Game over, man. Where’s a gif of Homer Simpson dribbling when you need one?
If you really wanted to nitpick you could argue that the game cover inside the big box which contains the game and Expansion Pak is rubbish, but in our experience gamers don’t like to be pedantic like that. Here it is all the same, though:
Ah, there you are Agent Dark! Just in time to click ‘Japan’ below and hit the vote button:
There will be people who don’t like the Japanese one – that’s absolutely fine! Everyone is entitled to their opinion and we welcome all to Box Art Brawl! There’s only one right answer, though…We joke! Ha!
So, tell us why you voted for Japan below and we’ll see you next time. Stay safe, lovely people!
Nintendo Places Third In Metacritic’s 2019 Game Publisher Rankings
Earlier this week, we heard about a Reddit user who had been busy compiling a lot of data from the review aggregate site Metacritic to illustrate the best and worst reviewed Nintendo Switch games since the system was launched.
Now, Metacritic has put together a list to determine “the best and worst game publishers” of 2019, according to 12 months of data. Nintendo placed third (boosting its average score by nearly four points compared to the previous year), and was one below Activision-Blizzard. Some of its highest-rated games last year included Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Mario Maker 2. In top spot was 505 Games, best known within the Nintendo community as the team that worked on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Which game publishers released the best games last year? For the 10th consecutive year, we sifted through 12 months of data to determine the best and worst game publishers of the year, based solely on the quality of their 2019 releases. Sales and user reviews do not factor into these rankings; only critic reviews (as captured by each game’s Metascore) are used to evaluate performance.
Publishers with 4 or fewer distinct titles* released last year are excluded.
We have ranked these publishers in order from best overall game quality to worst, using a points-based system based on four factors: 1. Average Metascore for all games released in 2019 150 possible points (awarded at 1.5 x the average Metascore) 2. % of scored products with good reviews (Metascore of at least 75) 100 possible points (ex: 80% good = 80 points) 3. % of scored products with bad reviews (49 or lower; in this case, a lower % is better) 100 possible points (ex: 20% bad = 80 points) 4. Number of “great” titles (Metascore of 90 or higher, min. 7 reviews) Awarded as 5 bonus points for each distinct title with a 90+ score
Note that the Metascore average (the first factor) counts slightly more than the other factors. In addition, note that iOS games are not included in the figures below.
As explained, this list is based “sorely on the quality” of publisher’s releases last year according to each game’s critic Metascore and does not factor in overall sales or user reviews. Below is the full list:
1. 505 Games 2. Activision Blizzard 3. Nintendo 4. Paradox Interactive 5. Capcom 6. Annapurna Interactive 7. Xbox Game Studios 8. Humble Bundle 9. Square Enix 10. Devolver Digital 11. Focus Home Interactive 12. Take-Two Interactive 13. Electronic Arts 14. Ubisoft 15. Team17 16. Spike Chunsoft 17. Koei Tecmo 18. SEGA 19. Bandai Namco 20. Konami 21. Idea Factory 22. Sony 23. PQube 24. XSEED/Marvelous 25. tinyBuild 26. Iceberg Interactive 27. Koch Media 28. Digerati 29. THQ Nordic 30. Bethesda 31. NIS America 32. Daedlic Entertainment 33. QubicGames 34. Curve Digital 35. Plug In Digital 36. Ratalakia Games 37. Bigben 38. 1C Company 39. Headup Games 40. Merge Games
Here’s what Metacritic had to say about Nintendo’s placement:
Nintendo boosted its average Metascore by nearly four points compared to last year’s mark despite 2019 being one of the company’s rare years without any releases scoring 90 or higher. However, a few Nintendo games narrowly missed that distinction, led by Switch titles Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Mario Maker 2. In all, 79% of Nintendo’s 2019 releases scored positive reviews, up from 65% the prior year.
And here’s what it said about the winner, 505 Games:
The Italian game company, which publishes third-party titles for every platform, had a strong 2019 thanks to a steady stream of positively reviewed games and few misfires. Though no 505 title scored higher than 85 last year, 87% (or all but two) of its products received positive reviews overall—tops among all publishers—led by the Remedy-developed award-winner Control and ArtPlay’s Castlevania homage Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Upcoming 505 releases include the PC port of Death Stranding (due in June).
What are your thoughts about the ordering of this list? Share your thoughts below.
Gears 5 Is Coming to Xbox Series X With Improvements, Possible 120 FPS Support
Gears 5 is a very impressive game on the Xbox One and Xbox One X as is, but the game is getting a makeover for Xbox Series X that comes with higher framerate and resolution.
Announced by Microsoft on March 16, Gears 5 on Xbox Series X will make use of the Smart Delivery system, meaning players who already own the Xbox One version will get it on the new console for free. The Xbox Series X will automatically know to download the improved version, while any Xbox One consoles will still download the old one.
Improvements on Xbox Series X include better textures and volumetric fog, higher particle count, and 60 frames per second during cutscenes for a smoother transition to gameplay. Shadows and lighting have also been improved, and the game is currently running at 100 frames per second with potential to hit 120 frames per second in multiplayer.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-16-2020, 11:28 AM - Forum: Python
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How to Check Your Python Version?
Simple Answer: To check your Python version, run python --version in your command line or shell.
This general method works across all major operating systems (Windows, Linux, and macOS).
Do you need to google important Python keywords again and again? Simply download this popular Python cheat sheet, print the high-resolution PDF, and pin it to your office wall:
In the following video, I’ll show you how to check your Python version for each operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux, Ubuntu) and programming framework (Jupyter). Or scroll down to read the step-by-step instructions on how to check your Python version.
The Python version output consists of three numbers major:minor:micro. For example, version 3.7.2 means that
the major version is 3,
the minor version is 7, and
the micro version is 2.
[ATTENTION] Different major versions are NOT fully compatible. Different minor versions are compatible.
For example, you can execute code written in Python 3.6.4 in Python 3.7.2 because they are the same major version — Python 3. But you cannot execute code written in Python 2.7.4 in Python 3.7.2 because they are different major versions.
Note that new minor versions can add changes to the language. For example, in Python 3.8 they introduced the reversed() function with dictionaries. You cannot use the reversed() function in older versions of Python. But the vast majority of the language is the same.
Check Python Version Windows 10 (Exact Steps)
Three steps to check the Python version on your Win 10 operating system:
Open the Powershell application: Press the Windows key to open the start screen. In the search box, type “powershell”. Press enter.
Execute command: type python --version and press enter.
The Python version appears in the next line below your command.
Check Python Version Windows 7 (Exact Steps)
Three steps to check the Python version on your Win 7 operating system.
Open the command prompt application: Press the Windows key to open the start screen. In the search box type “command”. Click on the command prompt application.
Execute command: type python --version and press enter.
The Python version appears in the next line right below your command.
Check Python Version Mac (Exact Steps)
Four steps to check the Python version on your Mac operating system.
Press CMD + Space to open Spotlight.
Type “terminal” and press enter.
Execute command: type python --version or python -V and press enter.
The Python version appears in the next line below your command.
Check Python Version Linux (Exact Steps)
Three steps to check the Python version on your Linux operating system.
Open the terminal application (for example, bash).
Execute command: type in python --version or python -V and press enter.
The Python version appears in the next line below your command.
Check Python Version Ubuntu (Exact Steps)
Four steps to check the Python version on your Ubuntu operating system.
Open Dash: click the upper left symbol.
Open terminal: type “terminal”, click on the terminal app.
Execute command: type python --version or python -V and press enter.
The Python version appears in the next line right below your command.
Check Python Version Jupyter (Exact Steps)
Three steps to check the Python version in a Jupyter notebook.
Open the Jupyter notebook: type jupyter notebook in your terminal/console.
Write the following Python code snippet in a code cell:
from platform import python_version
print(python_version())
3. Execute the script.
As an alternative, you can also use the following Python code snippet to check your Python version in a Jupyter notebook:
>>> import sys
>>> sys.version
Here is a screenshot on my computer:
How to Check Which Python Version Runs Your Script?
Sometimes, you want to check Python’s version in your Python program.
To achieve this, simply import the sys module and print the sys.version attribute to your Python shell:
>>> import sys
>>> print(sys.version)
3.7.2 (tags/v3.7.2:9a3ffc0492, Dec 23 2018, 23:09:28) [MSC v.1916 64 bit (AMD64)]
Import the built-in sys module and print sys.version for human-readable output.
What are the Different Python Versions?
Python has three main versions: version 1, version 2, and version 3. Version 4 is currently (2019) under development.
As there are some significant differences in syntax, you should always install the latest version in Python. Keep yourself updated on the official Python website here.
How to Upgrade to a Newer Version?
If you are not using a virtual environment, go to python.org/downloads to download and install whatever version you need. It’s the easiest way to upgrade Python.
But now you’ll run into the following problem: how do I run a specific Python version? Check out this StackOverflow answer to learn the exact steps.
Or you can make your life easier by using virtual environments. These let you have multiple versions of Python installed on your system. Plus, you can switch between them instantaneously. One option is to use the built-in module venv. If you’re a Data Scientist, the industry standard is Anaconda.
If you’ve installed multiple installations of Python, running python --version may give you only the version of Python 2. To check which version of Python 3 is installed on your computer, simply run the command python3 --version instead of python --version.
How to Check Python Version – Detailed
Not only does Python have major, minor and micro versions. Each of those versions has further versions, namely the release level and serial.
Most of the time, you will only care about the major, minor and micro releases. Release level and serial are usually for the core Python Dev team to work on changes to the language.
The possible release levels are ‘alpha’, ‘beta’, ‘candidate’, or ‘final’. Alpha contains the first updates made to the language. Beta means the language can be tested with some users but still won’t work perfectly. This is where the phrase ‘beta testers’ comes from. A ‘candidate’ has only a few small bugs left to fix. Final is the last version and the one released to the general public. If you want to try out new features before anyone else, you can download these release levels. However, if you just want a version of Python that works, you should choose ‘final’. When you download any version of Python, it will be a ‘final’ release unless stated otherwise.
Serial is for the smallest changes. The Python Dev team increments it as they make changes to the alpha, beta and candidate versions. All final versions have serial=0. They add future changes to the next major/minor/micro releases.
How to Make Sure My Script Runs a Specific Python Version?
Let’s say you’ve just installed Python 3.8. Your script, my_file.py, uses a brand new feature: reversed() when iterating over a dictionary. For other people to run this script, they must also run Python 3.8. So you should put a check at the start to let other users know this.
We do this by adding an assert statement at the top of my_file.py
# my_file.py
import sys
assert sys.version_info >= (3, 8) my_dict = dict(a=1, b=2, c=3)
for key in reversed(my_dict): print(key)
The assert statement raises an AssertionError if the statement is False. If the statement is True, the script continues to run.
For example, if I am running Python 3.7 and execute my_file.py from the terminal, this happens
But if I am running Python 3.8, the assert statement does not raise an error, and it executes the rest of the script.
# Running Python 3.8
$ python my_file.py
c
b
a
Note: I have used the Anaconda virtual environment to install and quickly switch between multiple Python versions.
Where to Go From Here?
In summary, you can check the Python version by typing python --version in your operating system shell or command line.
Do you struggle with Python? And Python source code sometimes feels like a closed book to you?
If this applies to you, check out my free email course! The course guides you step-by-step to a deeper and deeper Python level of code understanding. Here is what my readers say:
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