Borderlands 3 News

• New Borderlands 3 Update Releases Today; Full Patch Notes Listed
• Borderlands 3 Bloody Harvest Challenges Revealed
• Borderlands 3 Bloody Harvest Trailer Shows Off Halloween Loot
• Borderlands 3 Starter Guide: 17 Spoiler-Free Tips You Should Know Before Jumping In

Nightstalker Way of the Trapper (Top)

Shadowshot: Fires an arrow that damages enemies and debuffs enemies nearby

Nightstalker Way of the Wraith (Middle)

Flawless Execution: Headshot kills while crouched grant invisibility and truesight

Instant Reloading

Goal: In the beginning, Lunafactions and Rally Barricade did exist, but they were clunky to use. They still had dramatic impact on gameplay even in that state, but eventually we decided to make their effects easier to handle. The problems they introduced always existed in the game, but over time these have become magnified due to new abilities, perks, and weapons introduced into the Destiny 2 sandbox. The impact of something that takes all reloading out of the equation means that other perks or effects like the Hunter’s Marksman Dodge or the Sealed Ahamkara’s Grasps can simply fall to the wayside – Even swords take a hit in comparison, being one of the few weapons that naturally never needs to reload.

Reloading is one of those mechanics that are simple, but have wide ranging consequences. Because the effect on gameplay of removing reloading is inversely proportional to the size of your weapon’s magazine and how slow your general reload animations are, weapons like Rocket Launchers and Shotguns can benefit greatly compared to other weapons. This, alongside the increase in general access to damage bonus effects like Well of Radiance left us with the decision to remove this effect from these two sources, as they were causing things to quickly snowball out of control.                             

Titan Rally Barricade

Warlock Rift/Well of Radiance

Super Energy Regeneration

Goal: These changes will reduce the speed with which players are able to earn their super which supports difficulty and reduces the current ability to trivialize certain content through excessively chaining supers. Systemically, we want to reduce base sources of supers on a large macro scale without diminishing the feeling that your actions are gaining you a worthwhile energy boost. By reducing the speed at which you gain super we can make mods and perks feel more worthwhile. We still want it to feel like you can make meaningful progress not only through normal play but by augmenting super energy through teamwork, class choices, gear, and skillful play.

New Energy Granted by Super Orbs:

Damage Multipliers

Goal: At Destiny 2 launch, damage buffs were fairly sparse – There was Empowering Rift for a small increase, and you could combine it with a weakening effect such as Hammer Strike, but very little else. As time has gone on, we introduced Well of Radiance, Weapons of Light, Guiding Flame, Frontal Assault, etc, and combining these effects has resulted in player damage output far beyond what was previously available. Even with just a small amount of them, a player can go from 1x damage to 3x and beyond, causing there to be an extremely large gap between standard player output and theoretical output.

By preventing the larger effects from stacking, we are able to keep each of them around without having to do something in response like raise boss health to compensate for these tactics, as well as create more of them. As an example, Lumina would not have been created in world where the damage bonus effect of Noble Rounds stacked with other damage effects, and these changes are simply an extension along those same lines.

While the weakening effects never stacked, we also took a look at them and adjusted their values as many of our more powerful units would simply evaporate when touched by one of them, but we compensated for that in other ways, such as either extending the duration of the effect or in the case of Shadowshot, making it affect power weapons.

Player Damage Buffs

Enemy Debuffs (Weakened)

Reduced Super Damage Resistance

Goal: Since the launch of Destiny 2 we have slowly introduced buffs to supers, especially roaming supers. While we believe supers should be powerful they should not be mindless. We want supers to be more risky in both PvE and PvP. We want players to think about positioning and timing more. Not so long ago we experimented with Spectral Blades by lowering the damage resistance substantially. These changes were generally well received and improved the experience of the super for both the person running it and the person who was running from it. In PvE players shouldn’t feel like their super makes them invulnerable and casting one should call for situational strategic thinking. In PvP players need to feel like they can challenge a super and that with skillful play there’s a chance they can beat it.

Mojang has pushed out 2 pre-release builds for 1.14.4. Below is the changelog. I would share more with you, but my eardrums are still ringing from the fireworks.

You can find the full announcement on minecraft.net.

• Fixed a few bugs
• Villagers now stock more items
• Villagers will now remember their gossip after becoming a Zombie Villager
• Improved performance of Villager pathfinding
• Villagers can now work without also restocking at the same time
• Gossip about players who converted a zombie villager will now last longer
• The Player Activity button on the Realm screen has been removed

• MC-136318 – Floatable mobs are unable to walk when in waterlogged blocks
• MC-151150 – Entities (Villagers) cause massive lag when attempting to pathfind
• MC-151376 – Villagers are not pathfinding towards their POI; POI detection range is too small
• MC-151810 – Mobs don’t try to avoid fall damage anymore
• MC-154214 – Chunks refusing to unload due to incorrect player ticket additions
• MC-155147 – Mouse acceleration with the new 1.14.3 update
• MC-155906 – Failed to save debug dump if the destination location contains a space

• Fixed bugs
• Suspicious stew made from poppies now gives you night vision instead of speed
• Some performance optimisations
• Added /debug report for getting more detailed information. Please include this while making bug reports about performance!

• MC-100946 – Bow with mending undraws when receiving XP while drawed
• MC-113968 – Zombies of village siege spawn despite gamerule doMobSpawning being false
• MC-113970 – Zombies of village siege do not spawn centered on a block
• MC-134964 – Unexpected error: java.util.NoSuchElementException
• MC-142037 – java.lang.NullPointerException: Initializing game
• MC-143755 – Arbitrary score/selector/NBT resolution using lectern without operator rights
• MC-143886 – Acacia leaves render improprly from a distance
• MC-146289 – Farmer villagers don’t stop to pick up their crops
• MC-147844 – Pillagers don’t pathfind around obstacles & out of water
• MC-152094 – End city/end ship generation gets cut at chunk borders sometimes
• MC-152636 – Killing a zombie right as it converts into a Drowned will drop the loot from zombie while still converting into a Drowned
• MC-153498 – Cyrillic letter Є is not included in the Minecraft font
• MC-153665 – Full villager inventory creates invisible items
• MC-153712 – Java using 100-200% CPU (MacOS)
• MC-153766 – Rabbits no longer need sand/grass in order to spawn in deserts/tundras
• MC-153892 – Mending slows down breaking blocks
• MC-154019 – Beacon deactivate sound not sounds when you break the base
• MC-154031 – villagers give away all food if they want to share it
• MC-154068 – parrots occasionally disappearing when you take them from a boat
• MC-154201 – Trying to trade with villager immediately closes trading menu for some villagers
• MC-154362 – Crossbow has to re-load when mending takes place
• MC-154509 – Bashkir letters Ҙ, ҙ, Ҡ, ҡ, Ҫ, and ҫ are not included in the Minecraft font
• MC-154668 – Invalid characters crash the game in jigsaw block input upon pressing enter
• MC-154830 – All wall signs use oak color on maps
• MC-155092 – Zombie sieges can happen on mushroom islands
• MC-155104 – when closing a menu while moving the mouse, the screen will move in that direction
• MC-155172 – Hostile Wolf AI has been broken. Wolves can no longer attack enemies efficiently.
• MC-155238 – Villagers picking up workstation through wall
• MC-155345 – ConcurrentModificationException when a player leaves an active raid
• MC-155571 – Silverfish & Endermite spawners no longer functioning

Of all the birthdays, the 4^th birthday may be the best. You’re old enough to know what you want but young enough to get away with being bratty. It’s awesome. When we reflect on Rock Band 4’s first four years, RB4 feels like a 4-year-old. Rock Band has grown a lot over the last 4 years – the game has gotten bigger: with added songs, features, and other content. We’ve also seen growth in the Rock Band audience – we’ve watched Rivals become the premier competitive mode of the game, with crews competing to get promoted each week.

Happy Birthday to You, from Us

To celebrate the occasion, we have put together an update to the game, with some bug fixes and new content available to all Rock Band 4 players. We are also releasing a free pack of DLC that features 4 Harmonix bands. These bands were chosen specifically to showcase the diverse talent of the Harmonix staff – we have a song from the band, “Shocked Laura,” an upbeat pop song that was composed for Dance Central. We have a song from “Orion” (proud member of the Rock Band DLC team) which features super smooth futuresque synthpop. We have a new song from Rock Band veterans “Newfane” (featuring Chris Rigopulos, our COO and arguably biggest RB fan in the office) and a song from “Duck & Cover” – my own bratty punk band. I love the eclectic-ness of the pack and hope you enjoy it (did I mention, it’s free?).

Join Us for Rivals Season 13

As turn our gaze towards the future of the Rock Band franchise, a clear path emerges – it is our great pleasure to delight the music community with DLC and Rivals challenges. It’s been nice to see the reception to the Season 13 rewards, after floaty heads and wings, a full set of instruments is a nice grounding reward. That said, we’ve got some exciting content in the hopper for 2020 — we can’t wait to share it with you. Also, in case you are just tuning in, we have our lucky 13^th season of Rivals happening right now — this is an excellent time to jump in and join the fray.

Birthday Gifts

I’m sure you are thinking, “Cool! What do you want for your birthday, Rock Band?” Well, nothing would make us happier than to have you fire up your Xbox One, strap on your guitar, pick up your drum sticks, grab the mic and join us for a song or two. We’re proud to have made it this far and are looking forward to rocking with you through the holiday and into next year (and beyond!!).

Also, make sure to follow us on social media for more updates on our celebratory plans.

Rock Band 4 is available now for Xbox One on the Microsoft Store. Click here for purchase details.

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: Dublin, California

As a World Architect or Environment Artist, you will work directly with the game directors and discipline leads to help define breathtaking AAA scenery.

 Responsibilities:

• Create worlds and stage scenery to set the tone and vision.
• Constructs 3d environments to include modeling, mapping, materials, lighting, VFX, atmospherics, collision, and gameplay related setups.
• Develop, experiment, and advance the environments by innovating new techniques.
• Manage all the assets and data associated with the environments.
• Thoroughly understand the art pipeline and integrates assets into the game.
• Thoroughly understand the hardware limitations and common techniques.
• Work directly with other artists, designers, and engineers to complete environments.

Experience/Skills:

• 2+ years of industry experience working on different platforms.
• Working knowledge of Photoshop, Substance, Maya, and/or other 3D software.
• Strong sense for architecture and natural scenery including form, color, and composition.
• Ability to manage and maintain entire world assets.
• Architectural background and/or related field a big plus!
• Working knowledge of Unreal & Unity a big plus!
• Ability to multi-task and adapt easily to change.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to interact effectively.

Interested? Apply now.

Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.

Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.

The Game Creators have just released the AppGameKit Studio: Particle Editor, which despite the name will work with both AppGameKit Classic and the newer AppGameKit Studio.  It is a combination editor and runtime making creating and controlling particle systems for AGK a breeze. 

Key features include:

• Create effects with as little as 1,000 to 1 million particles
• Emitter types include box, circle, disc, filled sphere, spherical shell, line
• Burst emitters for explosions and sparks
• Particle type settings from size, colours, lifespan and more
• Animated image particle support
• Particle blend modes supported, opaque, alpha, additive
• Particle colouring controlled using gradients
• Particle orientation control
• Turbulence system
• Vector field controls, paint, push, attract, repel, swirl
• Function packed runtime code for your projects (Win, Mac & Linux)
• Custom textures and gradients supported
• Reflector system used to bounce particles off floors and walls

The Particle Editor is available as DLC with an MSRP of $30 USD.  If you are interested in checking out AppGameKit Studio, be sure to check out our hands-on getting started tutorial series available here or check out the video below.

GameDev News Engine 2D

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After spending a month with the iPhone 11 Pro, let’s look closer at the top features of the new top-of-the-line Apple smartphones.

A13 Bionic

Apple’s A13 Bionic processor uses the same 7nm architecture as the A12 Bionic and has four high-efficiency cores and two high-performance cores.

But they’ve upped its power. The high-performance cores are 20% faster and consume 30% less battery while the high-efficiency cores are 20% faster and use 40% less battery.

Both the GPU and the neural engine are 20% faster and use less battery.

New colors

For the iPhone 11 line, Apple has mixed up the color scheme once more.

Some colors, such as space gray and silver have been around but now sport the svelte matte finish on the back coupled with the highly-polished sides.

Then we have midnight green that is entirely new to the iPhone line.

USB-C Fast Charge

To go with that “pro” moniker bestowed upon the latest iPhone, Apple has included the same 18W USB-C fast charger and USB-C Lightning cable that was included with the 2018 iPad Pro.

Apple touts that you can use it to charge your iPhone 11 Pro’s battery 50% in only 30 minutes.

Apple’s U1 chip

As a new addition, Apple has included the ultra wideband U1 chip. UWB is useful for location tracking in your immediate surroundings. Right now, not much supports that but Apple is utilizing it for AirDrop prioritization.

Point your iPhone 11 Pro at another iPhone 11 Pro and it jumps to the top of the AirDrop list.

We’re sure Apple has more in store for this in the future.

Wi-Fi 6

Up from 802.11ac, Wi-Fi 6 — or 802.11ax — will allow for faster speeds thanks to improved performance in crowded networks. Apple says on a Wi-Fi 6 network users will see up to 38-percent faster download speeds.

Of course, you will likely need a new router to take advantage of that.

Faster LTE 4G

It isn’t 5G, but iPhone 11 does feature 18-percent faster 4G LTE speeds on existing networks.

There are a lot of variables to test this out, but we will always take faster versus the alternative.

Battery

Battery life is outstanding on the new iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. iPhone 11 Pro gets four hours more than iPhone XS and iPhone 11 Pro Max can get up to five hours more than the XS Max.

Those are some huge numbers and day-to-day, we’ve noticed it.

Super Retina XDR display

iPhone 11 Pro’s display clocks in at the same resolution as its predecessor, but ups all the other specs versus the iPhone XS. The new model now has a 2,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio, sustained brightness of 800 nits, and max brightness of 1200 nits for HDR content.

Live wallpapers

As is often the case, new iPhones mean new wallpapers.

With iPhone 11 Pro, we have a series of four new wallpapers that all feature a live animation as well as dark/light mode support. They are also somewhat color-matched to the different iPhone 11 Pro finishes.

Improved water resistance

Apple gave iPhone XS an IP68 water resistance rating, meaning it could be submerged in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes and it would be protected against harmful dust.

iPhone 11 Pro takes it a step further with the same IP68 rating, but can now be submerged up to four meters for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Along the lines of durability, we have water resistance.

Apple is claiming iPhone 11 Pro has the strongest glass on a smartphone. While we aren’t prepared to put that to the test on our own devices, stronger glass means that the front and back of your iPhone 11 Pro should be less prone to cracks and shattering than the year-ago models.

Ultra-wide lens

Ultra-wide angle lenses are becoming more popular, showing up on more flagship devices. That includes iPhone 11 Pro. It joins the existing wide-angle and tele lenses already outfitted.

This new lens can capture 170-degree shots which is great for epic landscapes or intimate close quarters.

Faster tele lens

Alongside the new ultra-wide, Apple has beefed up its other lenses. Starting with the telephoto lens. It now has a faster f/2.0 aperture. That will result in a quicker shutter in lower light which in turn means less grain.

Improved wide angle lens

The wide-angle lens was updated too with 100% coverage of Focus Pixels which means faster autofocus, particularly in low light.

Capture Outside the Frame

Now that Apple has three lenses to shoot from, they’ve created a new feature called “capture outside the frame.”

Here, when you are shooting on the wide-angle lens, it captures an extra image using the ultra-wide lens. These are merged, so when you need to level the photo, you can do so without losing image quality.

The same applies to shooting with the tele lens.

Night mode

With the new cameras and powerful A13 Bionic, new photo modes have come to the iPhone 11.

Most prominent is night mode. It couples a series of long and short exposure shots to create a combined image with much more detail and much less noise.

Deep Fusion

Deep Fusion is Apple’s name for its new computational photography tricks coming to the iPhone 11 with iOS 13.2.

The feature isn’t fully available yet, but we have gotten to try it out on the beta and in a middle-to-low light, photos should see much more texture than when shot without Deep Fusion.

It is automatically used and not a feature to toggle on or off, and the early looks are promising.

Portrait mode

Portrait mode uses two cameras to capture depth and create the amazing shots we’ve come to love. On iPhone XS, it used the tele and wide-angle lens, resulting in always a 2X zoom when taking these pictures.

With iPhone 11 Pro, portrait shots can now be captured at 2X, as well as 1X combining the wide and ultra-wide cameras.

QuickTake

In the camera app of iPhone 11 Pro, holding the shutter button no longer just captures burst photos. Rather, it instantly starts recording a video.

It records as long as you hold the button, or you can swipe to the right to lock it into recording. Alternatively, holding and immediately swiping to the left will trigger burst mode capture.

Audio zoom

This feature allows the microphone on your iPhone to match the audio with the amount of video zoom. As you zoom in closer to the subject, the accompanying audio will get louder as well.

TrueDepth Camera system

Lastly, the front-facing camera and TrueDepth Camera system were updated. It has a new 12MP sensor —up from 8MP.

It also has a wider field of view, up to 85 from 70 degrees for those group selfie shots.

4K video

The rear shooter is just as capable as it was on the iPhone XS. But, on iPhone 11 Pro, the True Depth camera system is now able to record 4K video at 60 frames per second.

Slofies

Apple’s newly-coined term seems fairly straightforward. Use the TrueDepth Camera system of the iPhone 11 Pro to capture slow-motion selfie videos at up to 120 frames per second at 1080p.

Total package

All of these features make the phone great. But, like we said when we reviewed the iPhone 11 Pro, most of the examinations have come down to that camera, and maybe the battery life.

Getting an iPhone 11 Pro for one, or all, of these features is absolutely a jump worth taking if the iPhone is integral to your daily life and your iPhone is feeling pokey.

Where to buy

Ready to purchase an iPhone 11 Pro? There are a variety of iPhone deals going on now at top wireless carriers.

iPhone 11 deals

• AT&T Wireless: Switch to AT&T and get up to $700 off with trade-in of eligible smartphone.
• Verizon Wireless: Get up to $500 off a new iPhone with select trade-in and Unlimited. Plus, switch with Unlimited and get $200 more.
• Sprint: Starting at $12.50 per month with Sprint Flex lease and select trade-ins.
• T-Mobile: Save up to $1,000 on the iPhone 11 Pro when you switch and trade in a qualifying iPhone.
• Walmart: Save up to $100 on the iPhone 11 Pro. Offer valid only on purchase with installment plan.
• Sam’s Club: Get a $150 Sam’s Club gift card when you buy and activate the iPhone 11 by Nov. 8.
• Visible: Get up to a $200 Prepaid Mastercard Virtual Account when you buy an iPhone 11 Pro and bring your phone number to Visible. Plus get 0% financing, no money down, no upgrade fees, and free overnight shipping for well-qualified customers.

Earlier this year, we introduced Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) in Power BI as Public Preview. Now, we’re happy to announce that AutoML in Power BI is generally available in all public cloud regions where Power BI Premium and Embedded is available.

Using AutoML in Power BI, business analysts without a strong background in machine learning can build ML models to solve business problems that once required data scientists. Most of the data science behind the creation of the ML models is automated by Power BI, while giving visibility into the process used to create your ML model to provide you with full insight. Since AutoML targets analysts who may not have prior experience building ML models, we have made a significant investment in adding automatic guardrails such as class balancing, training-test data split, cross-validation, missing value imputation, and high cardinality feature detection to ensure that the model produced has good quality.

Macaw, a Dutch full-service digital company, deployed automated machine learning in Power BI to quickly ingest sales data and train, validate, and invoke machine learning models directly in Power BI.  Dave Ruijter, Principal Consultant Data and AI at Macaw, shared that “The automated functionality within Power BI helps us scale how we infuse our solutions with AI capabilities. Now Macaw Power BI analysts can include machine learning in their solutions without involving a data scientist.” One of their customers, Mitch van Deursen, the Co-owner and Chief Information Officer at Shoeby says, “We now get answers to key business questions within five days, where normally modelling would take months. “ Read about their story here.

With the Public Preview release, AutoML in Power BI enabled users to:

• Train a machine learning model to perform Binary Prediction, General Classification, and Regression
• View the model training report
• Apply the ML model to their data, and view predictions and explanations

Since then, we have been improving and adding new capabilities to AutoML in Power BI.

Binary prediction support for non-Boolean outcomes

Earlier, AutoML expected the outcome field for a binary prediction model to be a Boolean value. We now also support non-Boolean values in the outcome field. In the wizard, you can directly choose the target outcome that you’re most interested in, saving you the preprocessing steps of converting it to Boolean.

Improved Feature Recommendation

We improved the statistical methods that suggest input fields that can be used for training the ML model. Auto ML now analyzes a sample of the selected entity, recommends fields, and shows the reasons for fields that are not recommended. If a certain field has too many distinct values or only one value, or low or high correlation with the output field, it would not be recommended.

Controlling training time

AutoML now allows you to control the time for training a model.

You can choose to decrease the training time to see quick results or increase the amount of time spent in training to get the best model. The former is useful when you are building a POC or for making sure that you have selected the right fields.

Improved training reports

Training reports have been improved to make them more readable. Additionally, reports are now generated two times faster.

Binary prediction reports now include a Cost-Benefit analysis tool. Given an estimated unit cost of targeting and a unit benefit from achieving a target outcome, it helps you identify the subset of the population that should be targeted to yield the highest profit.

Explainable AI

AutoML emphasizes the explainability of predictions to provide visibility into fields that are most important. It provides top predictors during training as well as explanations for each prediction that the ML model produces during scoring.

The Top Predictors section has been improved to show comprehensible feature breakdown so that you can easily validate that the model aligns with your business insights about the outcome field. In the house price prediction example below, the feature breakdown chart for “sqft_living”(on the right) shows that higher “sqft_living” values have higher house prices.

In addition to this, we have added support for text features in top predictors.

Explanations for predictions are now surfaced as a separate entity to make them easily accessible and readable. In order to make the model predictions interpretable, we show the contribution of every feature towards the prediction, and these contributions add up to the predicted value.

In the house price prediction example below, you can see that some features have a positive influence (in green), and other features have a negative influence (in red). Adding these contributions to a base value (average value of the house price in the training data in this case), gives you the predicted house price of $379,738, thus allowing you to easily explain these model predictions.

Using this explanations entity you can quickly build reports explaining model predictions. Automatically generated explanation reports will be available shortly.

Get started building you own ML Models

Here is a step-by-step tutorial that shows how to build your machine learning model using Auto ML. To learn more, refer to the documentation. If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with us about your use cases, pain points, please reach out to automlpowerbi@microsoft.com. We’d love to hear about your experiences, feedback, and ideas on how you’d like to use Auto ML in Power BI.

The latest Nintendo Download update for North America has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!

Nintendo Switch

Disgaea 4 Complete+ (NIS America, Tue 29th October, $49.99) When the ruling powers of Hades are revealed to be corrupt, Valvatorez must spark a rebellion to bring them down! Armed to the teeth with dynamic, over-the-top gameplay and a horde of special features, this is the ultimate Disgaea!

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (SEGA, Tue 29th October, $39.99) Hold onto your bananas, because Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is rolling your way! Experience the magic of one of the most beloved titles in the series, now remastered in HD! Head back into the fantastical world of Super Monkey Ball and take back your bananas from the space alien pirate king, Captain Crabuchin. Race through over 100 colorful stages and challenge your friends and family to 10 fan-favorite Party Games! Feeling like the fastest, most maneuverable monkey around? Try out Time Attack mode or the grueling Decathlon endurance run! Will you make it onto the scoreboard?

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout (Koei Tecmo, Tue 29th October, $59.99) The concept of this title, the latest in the series to depict a new “Atelier” world, is “True-to-life youths that develop together, even if just a little bit”. It is the story of a girl and her friends who are about to become adults, discovering what is most important to them. To depict the story of the main characters discovering things they’ve never seen before, we’ve created fields with natural shadows that allow you to feel the breath of the world.

Close to the Sun (Wired Productions, Tue 29th October, 2019, $29.99) It’s 1897. Deep in international waters, the Helios stands still. Dark clouds loom overhead as unforgiving waves crash against the hull. Colossal effigies of gold, decorated with magnificent finery, stretch as far as the eye can see. Born of Nikola Tesla’s vision, the Helios serves as a haven for the greatest scientific minds. An unbound utopia for research, independent from state and isolated from the gaze of society.

Disney Classic Games: Aladdin And The Lion King (Disney Interactive, Tue 29th October, $29.99) Two of the most beloved Disney games of all time make their long-awaited return to modern consoles in Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King! This unforgettable package of Disney classics is filled with tons of new features, enhancements, game modes, and display options, plus multiple versions of the games!

Harvest Moon: Mad Dash (Natsume, Tue 29th October, $29.99) Go solo or take along a few friends in this fast-paced farming frenzy! Harvest, fish, milk, and more as you fulfill orders to complete each level, but watch out for molten lava, raging boars, and other obstacles! Can you and your friends try to clear all the levels to restore the broken lighthouse?

Vampyr (Focus Home Interactive, Tue 29th October, $49.99) London, 1918. You are newly-turned Vampyr Dr. Jonathan Reid. As a doctor, you must find a cure to save the city’s flu-ravaged citizens. As a Vampyr, you are cursed to feed on those you vowed to heal. Will you embrace the monster within?

Switch eShop

Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, Tue 29th October, $29.99) Featuring Chris Redfield and his partner Sheva Alomar, as they venture to the heart of Africa to investigate an outbreak. Featuring single-player and co-op modes, this fully-loaded release includes all previously released DLC (Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape story expansions, Versus mode, extra figures and 4 costumes), No Mercy mode, as well as the new mode “The Mercenaries United” which combines the two fan-favorite modes, The Mercenaries and The Mercenaries Reunion for an even more intense experience.

Resident Evil 6 (Capcom, Tue 29th October, $29.99) Blending action and survival horror, Resident Evil 6 is a dramatic horror experience that cannot be forgotten. The game spans across various areas of the globe starring multiple playable characters, including fan favourites and new faces. Jump into the fray either solo or up to 4-player co-op in 4 dramatic chapters of the campaign or head into one of multiple extra modes such as Survivor that pits up to 6-players against one another in a heated battle.

〇× Logic Puzzle 1000 ! (Success, Today, $14.00) Simple but addictive! The Stick-out of brain training puzzle playing only with 〇 and ×! Simple logical puzzle with easy rules, filling 〇 and× in the cells ! There are 1000 quiz in 4 difficulties levels, try gradually the more difficult one, then fully enjoy the depth of LOGIC PUZZLE !

Anthill (Thunderful, Today, $9.99) Join the ranks of Anthill, a gorgeous strategy game from Image & Form – the studio behind the SteamWorld series! By drawing pheromone trails, you direct your ground forces to different destinations, working with streams of units rather than individual ants. Much like a tower defense game, your mission is to protect the hill as wave upon wave of enemy bugs are thrown at you.

Cat Quest II (PQube, Today, $14.99) CAT QUEST II is a 2D open-world action-RPG set in a fantasy realm of cats and dogs. Under threat from a continuing war between the cats of Felingard and the advancing dogs of the Lupus Empire, CAT QUEST II tells the tail of two kings, brought together against their will, on a journey of paw-some discovery to reclaim their thrones. Read our Cat Quest II review.

Creepy Brawlers (Mega Cat Studios, Today, $4.99) After a spectral hand pulls you out of your seat and into the silver screen, you become the underdog in an underworld championship. Lace up your gloves and get ready to duck, bob, and weave as you go toe to toe with a marathon of monsters. Better train like hell…

Dark Devotion (The Arcade Crew, Today, $19.99) Explore the secrets of a mysterious fallen temple and put your Templar faith to the test in Dark Devotion, where no sacrifice is too great in praise of your God. Measure your devotion and your bravery by journeying into deepest darkness for answers to questions that will challenge your very existence.

Dark Veer (Forever Entertainment, Today, $4.49) From the creator of Bedtime Blues and The Childs Sight “Time for bed sweetheart, it’s very late. But I won’t be able to sleep if you are away! I will be home before you wake up, it’s only for one week…” You try to sleep, but strange things keep happening.

Deep Space Rush (Ratalaika Games, Fri 25th October, $4.99) Join the DeTeam! A top-secret security force that protects the scientific space stations from virus contaminations! Take on randomly generated levels to save everyone before they all get infected. Avoid traps and monsters to survive the sweep!

Door Kickers: Action Squad (Killhouse Games, Mon 28th October, $14.99) Door Kickers: Action Squad is a crazy old school side scroller action game that puts you in the role of a SWAT trooper and sends you to deal with the bad guys in Nowhere City USA. Choose your gear, then kick the doors down and face the action.

Dusk Diver (PQube, Tue 29th October, $39.99) When an unstable dimensional rift brings together Gods, Phantoms and Humans – headstrong highschool girl Yang Yumo must step up to protect the neighbourhood. Fight alongside your guardians as part of a dynamic action-oriented combat system and expand your abilities by immersing yourself in the bustling streets, stores, personalities and even cuisines of Taipei.

Earthfall: Alien Horde (Nimble, Tue 29th October, $19.99) Earthfall is a 4-player co-op shooter where you team up with friends or play alone to save the world from invading aliens. Search for over 20 different kinds of weapons, or use 3D printers to print your own! Automatic turrets, deployable barricades, or mounted guns let you set up defenses to channel the enemy into kill zones.

Fear of Traffic (BitService, Today, $5.50) Designed to find its sweet spot among families and infants, you will have great moments with Fear of Traffic. With its colorful world and a magical soundtrack, you will play in this game where your mission will be that of finding the way out, avoiding blocked roads, animals, odd objects on the way and dramatic accidents with other drivers.

Ghost Blade HD (eastasiasoft, Today, $14.99) Ghost Blade HD is an intense Bullet-Hell top down shoot ’em up, composed by frenetic and addictive score-based gameplay. With its inspiration going back to the shooting games of the 1990s era, Ghost Blade HD ties old memories to current tones and techniques.

HAUNTED: Halloween ’86 (Today, $9.99) The mind-melting sequel to our first game. The side-scrolling, platforming, beat-em-up adventure takes players back to the town of Possum Hollow on Halloween night when Harry & his haunts wreak havoc again. This time Donny has his tag team partner Tami to help kick the crap out of those mindless wastoids that stand in their way of saving the town.

Home Sheep Home: Farmageddon Party Edition (Aardman Animations, Fri 18th October, $9.99) Join Shaun the Sheep and his friends Timmy and Shirley on this epic adventure journeying through underground caverns, negotiating the busy streets of London and teleporting through outer space all in search of the green, green grass of home.

Horror Pinball Bundle (SuperPowerUpGames, Fri 25th October, $8.99) Enjoy 3 games in one with the perfect reproduction of real pinball machines, with all kinds of graphic details and sounds. Discover all the secrets, in these thrilling games, witches, werewolves and mummies awaits you.

Into the Dead 2 (Versus Evil, Fri 25th October, $34.99) Journey through the zombie apocalypse in a race to save your family. Arm yourself with an arsenal of powerful weapons and do whatever it takes to survive. Maim, mow down, and massacre the Dead – anything to keep moving! In a world where no one is safe, how far will you go to make it out alive? Read our Into the Dead 2 review.

Lethis – Path of Progress (Plug In Digital, Today, $19.99) The Game: Lethis – Path of Progress is an old school 2D city builder set in a Victorian Steampunk universe called Lethis. You will have to build and manage cities, provide resources for your inhabitants while making sure there are enough workers to sustain your production lines.

Let’s Sing Country (Fri 25th October, $44.99) All begins with the first tone! Create your own spotlight with the hottest tracks in country music courtesy of Let’s Sing Country and follow in the footsteps of cutting-edge artists and perform songs like: Bebe Rexha ft. Florida Georgia Line with “Meant to Be”, Rascal Flatts with “These Days”, Chris Janson with “Buy Me A Boat”, Joe Nichols with “Sunny and 75” and more!

Party Treats (QubicGames, Fri 25th October, $1.99) Party Treats is a funny and innovative local multiplayer game that can be played by up to 4 players.

Pixel Gladiator (Drageus Games, Fri 25th October, $6.99) You’ve been sent to an abandoned planet as one of the participants of the most popular Gladiator show. Your goal is to survive as long as possible, fighting back deadly creatures in the focus of billions of viewers.

Pizza Bar Tycoon (Baltoro Games, Fri 25th October, $4.99) Look out, this pizzeria will soon become the best one in town! Well… at least that’s your plan. The clients are already standing in line, and you have to serve them as soon as you can. It’s harder than it sounds though!

Soul Searching (QubicGames, Fri 25th October, $9.99) Soul Searching is a narrative survival game where you control a lone traveler who sails from homeland to an endless sea. On the way, you’ll visit different islands, discover stories of their people, and learn about souls and dragons.

Spaceland (Ellada Games, Wed 30th October, $14.99) It is probably the most dynamic turn-based strategy in the spirit of the old school. Fewer shelters, more work to do. Land on a lost planet and show the mutants what you are made of. Shoot, kick, blow up and destroy. You will put together the most reckless team of fighters and unravel the mysteries of the mystical planet following the best traditions of science fiction.

Tennis Go (Sabec, Today, $8.99) A fun and simple to play Tennis game for everyone! Now you can play Tennis anytime, anywhere with Tennis Go. simply use the stick to control your character around the court to hit the ball and with a blend of speed and control win the crucial point and become the grand slam champion Chose between many fun characters to play with to defeat your opponent with. Tennis GO is for all ages and has been made so anyone can easily play.

Ultra Off-Road 2019: Alaska (Ultimate Games, Fri 25th October, $18.99) Ultra Off-Road 2019: Alaska is an exciting game in which you’ll have the opportunity to drive around Alaska. Take on the role of a driver who tests his driving skills to the maximum. Advanced destruction system, dynamic time flow and great routes – everything is ahead of you!

Vortex Attack EX (KaleidoGames, Today, $9.99) Galaxy is in danger with hostile ships swarming from the opening vortex. Blast the swarming hordes with huge variety of upgradeable ships. This frenetic arcade space shooter featuring worldwide leader-boards and intense local multiplayer mode will keep you playing until all ships are unlocked and galaxies saved.

Winter Sports Games (Joindots, Today, $24.99) Off to the snow! It does not matter if you prefer to ski, bobsleigh or sled down the ice rink, or relax curling the stones over the ice when curling – there is certainly something for everyone here. There are six exciting disciplines to win tournaments and master challenges.

Xeno Crisis (Bitmap Bureau, Mon 28th October, $19.99) Xeno Crisis is an arena shooter in which one or two players take control of battle-hardened marines embarking on a deadly mission to confront an alien menace and get home alive! Run and gun your way through thousands of adversaries as you explore the devastated research outpost, searching for survivors, and ultimately facing the origin of the outpost’s demise.

Activities

Enter the My Nintendo Luigi’s Mansion 3 Sweepstakes! – This year, the spookiest holiday of the year is extra spooky because the Luigi’s Mansion 3 game arrives on Oct. 31. Want to help us celebrate the game’s launch? You can enter the My Nintendo Luigi’s Mansion 3 Sweepstakes, exclusively for My Nintendo members. Redeem your My Nintendo Platinum Points for a chance to win spooky-fun prizes. The statues are incredibly detailed – seriously, check out the design of the ghost-sucking Poltergust G-00. It even matches the design seen in the game’s trailers.

Nintendo eShop Sales

Check out the full list of deals available this week here.

So that’s your lot for this week’s North American Nintendo Download. Go on, be a sport and drop a vote in the poll above, and comment below with your hot picks!