Despite appearing in a number of other titles over the years like Super Smash Bros., Popo and Nana have only ever had the one game under the ‘Ice Climber‘ name (well, two if you count the Vs version). So when should this IP be revisited? And why hasn’t that happened already?

Sadly, as with other series like F-Zero, Ice Climber doesn’t seem to be all that high on Nintendo’s list of priorities at present. Still, the gaming giant hasn’t been as controlling over its characters in recent years – Ubisoft has been given access to Mario and Star Fox for Mario + Rabbids and Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Next Level Games has Luigi’s Mansion covered – so what about giving the Ice Climber property to another trusted studio?

Well, developer of the much-loved SteamWorld series of games, Image & Form, has pondered the possibility on social media today. Before anyone gets too excited, we’re sure this is simply an innocent tweet to spark conversation, but the replies are overwhelmingly in favour of the idea. A SteamWorld Dig-type game, but travelling up rather than down and with the Ice Climber brand in full force, sounds pretty perfect to us.

The SteamWorld series has almost always been a multiplatform affair, but Image & Form is a studio that would rank highly on any Nintendo fan’s list of ‘Nindie’ favourites. We can’t really think of anyone better to take on a name like Ice Climber, so here’s hoping this wonderful theory becomes reality one day.

Let us know if you’d like to see this happen with a comment below; perhaps it could even take the shape of a Paper Ice Climbers game like the idea we saw a while ago.

This Python One-Liner is part of my Python One-Liners book with NoStarch Press.

Here’s the code from the video:

letters_amazon = '''

We spent several years building our own database engine,

Amazon Aurora, a fully-managed MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible

service with the same or better durability and availability as

the commercial engines, but at one-tenth of the cost. We were

not surprised when this worked. ''' find = lambda x, q: x[x.find(q)-18:x.find(q)+18] if q in x else -1 print(find(letters_amazon, 'SQL'))

Try It Yourself:

Related Articles:

• Python Slicing
• Ternary Operator in Python
• Lambda Function
• Find Function

Today we are taking a look at PixaFlux, an interesting free Windows based image creation and manipulation tool capable of creating PBR textures.  The entire process is node based and PixaFlux ships with an absolute ton of nodes to work with.  PixaFlux isn’t really easily described and is better seen or experienced, as you can in the video below.

PixaFlux is free to download for Windows, the download link is available here.

There is plenty of documentation to get you started.  There is a complete Wiki with step by step text tutorials available here.  There are additionally dozens of video tutorials available here.

The best way to get started with PixaFlux though is to see it in action in this video.

Art GameDev News Applications

Riot Games has announced that Legends of Runeterra, the upcoming League of Legends card game, will officially launch on mobile on April 30. That’s a simultaneous launch with the PC version, which is just rather lovely. If you’re not sure what this is, it’s a brand new card game by League of Legends creator Riot, who is clearly on a mission to beat Blizzard at its own game. Literally. It draws a lot of inspiration from Hearthstone, you see.

It’s free-to-play and you can earn cards by simply playing or purchasing them from the store. You’ll be able to directly purchase the cards you want, as well rather than rely on whatever you can get out of card packs. The ability to have that much more control over your decks will likely appeal to fans who are tired of bad luck.

Aside from that, though, it’s all very business as usual. You’ll craft a deck out of a wide variety of cards, each of which comes from one of six different regions. Regions behave similarly to classes in Hearthstone, providing a variety of different play styles. You can combine cards from different regions to create your own strategy.

You can also pick a champion, which is a powerful card that you’ll likely build your deck around. There are six champions in total, with each one hailing from one of the different regions available in the game.

Legends of Runeterra is currently available in open beta on PC, and you can still earn a limited-time Moonstruck Poro at launch if you check it out ahead of the full launch. That’s on April 30, when it will launch across PC, iOS, and Android simultaneously. You can pre-register right now on Android via Google Play, but will have to wait until the official launch to grab it on iOS.

By Malcolm Owen
Monday, April 06, 2020, 03:40 am PT (06:40 am ET)

Apple could still be preparing to refresh the 13-inch MacBook Pro in May, a leaker claims, which could get a 14-inch display without dramatically altering the overall physical size.

Apple is thought to be working on its usual refresh of the MacBook Pro lineup, one which could occur in the near future. Following the update to the iPad Pro range, it seems likely that Apple will launch updated MacBook-family products next, but it is suggested there may be a bit more of a wait before the company makes its announcement.

According to leaker Jon Prosser on Twitter, Apple will be bringing out a refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro “next month,” meaning sometime in May. In a follow-up tweet, Prosser goes on to clarify it would be a refresh of the current 13-inch model, but a move to a bigger 14-inch display “is a big possibility.”

While the tweets could be considered educated guesses based on Apple’s usual product cadence, along with incorporating details from other rumor reports, Prosser also makes the claim the new model will have the codename “J223.” Prosser has also been making more Twitter-based pronouncements about Apple’s product line in recent times, with some level of accuracy, which frames the tweet’s details as being genuine.

On March 3, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo proposed there would be a replacement of the 13-inch MacBook Pro by one sporting a 14.1-inch Mini LED display. In Kuo’s note, the analyst doesn’t specify when the model would launch, except it would be sometime in 2020, and that product development of Mini LED will “remain unaffected” by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Kuo has also suggested in earlier notes a refreshed MacBook Pro model with the new scissor-switch keyboard mechanism would arrive in the second quarter of 2020, though stopped short of saying what models would be affected. Earlier Kuo predictions for 2020 MacBook Pro upgrades include notes dating back to 2019.

Our focus this week is a streamer and a Destiny completionist who specializes in helping people – both IRL and in-game. In addition to raiding with her fellow Guardians and somehow managing to finish every challenge, Triumph, and Seal in Destiny, she works a demanding job as an emergency room nurse.

During this time of international concern, we thought it was important to introduce you to an inspiring member of the Destiny community who’s not only helping Destiny players make the most of their experience, she’s also helping people in the real world. Please meet iLulu.

Thanks for joining us. Please take a virtual seat and tell us a little bit about yourself and what your role is in the Destiny community.

iLulu: My online name is iLulu (formally known as: Lulusoccer) and I go by Melissa outside of gaming. I’ve been a part-time streamer for almost five years now with a main focus on Destiny. My passion for the game started with the Beta on the PS4 and has been ongoing since. I’d like to think my role within the Destiny community focuses more on teaching raids and completing end game content within my community. We just hit our 100th+ Garden of Salvation clear with 63 Sherpa completions!

We play with any type of gamer, [including those who are] new to the series or raid masters. We’ve got some great “helpers” in this community that are willing to help anyone. I’m also very much a completionist in the game with a max Triumph score and all Seals acquired. Rivensbane is still one of my all-time favorite Seals.

I’ve only done one Seal and can only marvel at how you were able to get them all. We appreciate you being brave and continuing to help others, especially now with so many people sheltering in place. Can you tell us a bit about what it’s like being nurse right now and what you’re doing to keep your spirits up?

iLulu: I’ve been a pediatric registered nurse for 10 years this May and a year ago I decided to pursue Trauma Nursing and am currently working in a Level 1 Pediatric Emergency Department. Nursing has always been an evolving field with changing practices and advances, but currently processes are changing every day to try and keep nursing staff, patients, and families safe.

I feel like all nurses right now are dealing with the stress of constant change and some fear of what the next month will look like. None of us knew a few months ago that COVID-19 was going to drastically change healthcare/daily life as we knew it. We have to adapt not just as nurses, but as a society. I work with an incredible group of people and we are committed to continuing to provide the best care we can, given the circumstances. I absolutely love working in a busy ER – you could call Destiny and nursing my passions in life. I couldn’t imagine not doing either of them!

In order to stay positive with everything happening, I make sure to take time for myself outside of work. Streaming is a part of that and Destiny has always been a great way to de-stress. I’m also looking forward to other various games coming out soon. One thing I’ll encourage all of you to do, though – please, stay home. Go online to see your friends, meet up in the Tower, but let’s keep as many people safe and healthy as we can.

Well said. We’re glad Destiny provides a way for you to get away from everything and we appreciate the great work you’re doing. You obviously play a lot, what has been your favorite Subclass and weapon?

iLulu: Nightstalker Hunter has always been my favorite since it was introduced back in D1. She gets the majority of my playtime … Even with the nerfs! ?

One of my favorite weapons in D2 for PvE has always been One Thousand Voices. I don’t use it as often anymore but always loved how unique it was and [the fact that] it came from one of the best raids in Destiny 2. I’d be lying also if I didn’t mention Recluse … considering it’s almost always equipped for PvE stuff. However, I’m still a Hand Cannon girl at heart! For PvP when I use a controller, I have a god-roll Service Revolver and Mindbender’s Ambition that I enjoy running. Learning MnK for PvP I’ve been using Rose a lot, I feel like it has a pretty easy learning curve!

Fully agree on One Thousand Voices; it feels like you are calling in an air strike. Tell us about your channel, what kind of content can we find there?

Glad to see you’re already prepping for Grandmaster. It’s going to be tough. Where can we go to find you on the internet?

iLulu: Here are links to all my channels:

What’s been your favorite Destiny moment over the last few years?

iLulu: I can’t pick just one specific moment. Some parts of Destiny that I love though are the blind raid races, the hidden puzzles, and teaming up with friends I’ve met over the years. I also love the personal satisfaction feeling of completing a challenge I was working on in the game. These include the Triumphs, Seals, or low-man raid challenges.

This game has also given me so many opportunities – from meeting friends/people outside of the game, to traveling out to the studio. I had no idea when I started D1 it would change my life so significantly. I have so many specific moments that I’ll treasure throughout the rest of my life. These moments may mean nothing to others, but I know when I’m 80 I’ll look back and say, “Yeah, you lived a great life!” My advice to everyone out there: It doesn’t matter if people find what you do to be “silly,” “dumb,” or “stupid” – the real question is, are [you] living life how you want?

That’s a great way to see the world and live your life. Hope we’re all still gaming when we’re 80. Anything else you would like to add before we let you get back?

iLulu: Adding to that last statement, we are all just Guardians in this world, all trying our best to navigate the thing we call life. Can we all just be a little less judgmental to one another? We categorize people before we even know them. From the disconnect between “streamers” and “casuals” and “PvE players” and “PvP players,” life is not this black and white. Most people are somewhere in between. I really want to encourage people to talk to each other. Not everyone is going to like everyone along the way and we are for sure going to have different opinions but respect goes such a long way in the world.

Very true. Be excellent to each other. Even when we disagree, we can still respect others.