Two great pieces of news for Unreal Engine developers today. First off, Epic Games have announced they are continuing the monthly Unreal Engine asset giveaway that they have been running for the previous year. This means on the first Tuesday of each month, you have the opportunity to “buy” 5+ assets from the Unreal Engine Marketplace for free. Once “purchased” they are yours to keep forever.
The second news is that Unreal Engine are giving away $4 Million worth of assets from the game series Infinity Blade. Details from the Unreal Engine blog:
In addition to renewing the program for another year, we’re celebrating this milestone with the release of five new asset packs from the award-winning Infinity Blade franchise, valued at $4 million in development investment. Along with seven previously released Infinity Blade packs, these free Infinity Blade assets are now available for use in Unreal Engine projects, for free, permanently.
Going forward, new featured free Marketplace content will be released on the first Tuesday of every month, and the catalog of permanently free assets will also continue to grow.
Lastly, mark your calendars for the Creator Appreciation Event, a special sale launching on Tuesday, November 5 in recognition of alumni who have contributed to the free content program in its first year.
It is not entirely clear if there will be free content on November the 5th, or if the Infinity Blade content is considered this months entry. Regardless, stay tuned to GameFromScratch for ongoing coverage of Unreal Engine marketplace giveaways! To learn more and see the new assets, check out the video below.
EDIT: In the official media release, it was clarified that there will in fact be a release on November 5th!
Epic Games today announced a year-long extension of featured free content via the Unreal Engine Marketplace, providing assets, tools, and plugins to accelerate the production of high-quality 3D games and experiences, at no cost to creators. New featured content will be released on the first Tuesday of every month beginning on November 5.
Stay tuned for ongoing coverage of the next year of UE4 content!
Tips, tricks, and customizations for your new AirPods Pro
Here’s how to get the most out of your new AirPods Pro with AppleInsider’s extensive list of tips, tricks, and customizations.
AirPods Pro in wireless battery case
Apple’s new AirPods Pro are packed with new features, and it can be a bit overwhelming to make sure you take advantage of everything it has to offer.
The basics
Let’s talk about the basics of AirPods Pro use.
First, is controlling playback. Apple ditched the tapping gesture for the Pro and replaced it with force sensors in the stems. A simple short squeeze is all that’s needed to control your music or video.
A single squeeze plays/pauses the current content. Two squeezes will jump to the next track and a triple squeeze goes backward.
The force sensors in AirPods Pro stem
The highlight feature —active noise cancellation (ANC) —can be toggled by squeezing either of the AirPods Pro stems and holding for a long moment until an audio chime confirms the mode switching.
“Hey Siri” support is here, allowing you to summon the virtual assistant with the keyphrase.
AirPods Pro in iPhone battery widget
Battery life can be ascertained by opening the case near your iPhone, as well as from the battery widget in the Today view. If you have an Apple Watch, tapping on the battery icon in Control Center will also give you your AirPods Pro battery life. Siri too can chime in on this if you choose to go hands-free.
Make them your own
AirPods Pro can be customized and personalized extensively. Adjustments range from the fit, to the controls, to using them on all your devices.
AirPods Pro fit test results
Customizing the fit is crucial. With an improper fit, the audio quality will suffer. Instead of relying on your initial perception, a quick test will give you a better idea of the headphones seal using the internal microphone.
Head to Settings, Bluetooth, and find your AirPods Pro. Tap the i next to them while connected. Then just tap on the fit test. Apple recommends trying all three sizes and trying different sizes on different ears. When swapping the silicone tips, pay attention to orientation because they aren’t a circle, but rather an oval.
Multiple sizes may test fine, so it is then up to you to decide which is most comfortable.
AirPods Pro Settings menu
In that same settings menu, you can do a lot more. For example, you can change the name of your AirPods Pro.
AirPods Pro settings menu
You can also adjust the controls for each of the AirPods Pro earpieces. You can choose between either Siri or noise control and if you choose noise control, it will cycle between transparency, ANC, and off —or any combination of those three. These can be set up differently for each ear. So maybe the right toggles ANC and the left toggles transparency or perhaps the right is set up for noise control and the left is set up for Siri.
Lastly, in those settings is also where you can choose which microphone to prefer. AirPods Pro automatically choose the mic it thinks is best, but you can always have it default to one or the other.
Announce Messages with Siri
Speaking of Siri, AirPods Pro can automatically announce messages with Siri as they come in making for far easier communication using only the headphones.
AirPods Pro uses Apple’s H1 chip and work seamlessly with all of your other Apple devices. It can be connected straight to Apple Watch for when you leave your phone behind, transferred to your Mac or iPad, and even can be great for watching content on your Apple TV.
Get more out of AirPods Pro
Now let’s look at how you can get even more from your AirPods Pro.
Charging AirPods Pro from iPad Pro
In the box, Apple includes a USB-C Lightning cable to charge the headphones. Using that cable, you can charge AirPods Pro direct from the latest iPad Pro which has a USB-C port on the bottom. You can also ditch the cables altogether and charge the case with any Qi charger.
Looking again at noise canceling, there are many ways that it can be controlled. You can ask Siri to turn audio transparency or noise cancelation on and off. Or you can jump into Control Center and dive into the audio slider to go between all three modes.
If you have an Apple Watch, tapping the AirPlay icon with AirPods Pro connected is yet another way to toggle ANC on/off.
Knowing what the lights on your AirPods mean can be helpful. For example, when you remove your AirPods and the light goes amber, this means there is less than one full charge in the case remaining. When you remove AirPods and the light is green, it means there is at least one full charge left in the tank.
The light is also used when pairing AirPods to other devices. Just hold the button on the back of the AirPods case for a few seconds until the light flashes white. This means it is in pairing mode and can be paired to any non-Apple device such as a Samsung Galaxy phone, a Windows PC, and more.
Live Listen using AirPods Pro
AirPods Pro also has a feature called Live Listen that allows you to use a single AirPod as a listening device. It is designed for accessibility, focused on users who need help hearing —but a single earbud could also be used for listening in on a room, or as a baby monitor in a pinch.
Place an earbud where you want to listen, place the other in your ear, move away, and toggle the feature on in Control Center. Enable it by going to Settings, Control Center, Customize Controls, and tap on the Hearing control.
Finding misplaced AirPods Pro in the Find My app
If you ever misplace your AirPods Pro, the last known location will show in the Find My app. Furthermore, if you misplace an individual earbud —or both —you can see if they are nearby and even play a noise to help locate them. You can play the noise on both, or choose one specifically.
Audio sharing with AirPods
Finally, new in iOS 13.2, is audio sharing. While listening to music, bring another device or the device it is connected to near yours to open the Share Audio modal. Or simply open the AirPlay menu and choose “Share Audio…”
This allows the audio to go to two sets of AirPods at the same time so a pair of people can jointly listen to music, watch a movie, or even play a game together.
AirPods Pro
Available now
Apple AirPods Pro retail for $249 and are carried by these top retailers:
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-31-2019, 09:09 PM - Forum: Windows
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Xbox unveils lineup of bundles for the holiday season
It’s hard to believe, but the holidays are quickly approaching, and if you’re in search of the perfect gift, look no further than our lineup of Xbox One bundles that pair consoles with the season’s hottest games, and new and customizable controllers. By gifting an Xbox One to friends or family, they’ll have access to more than 3,000 games, as well as must-have services and features that can’t found anywhere else, like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox One Backward Compatibility. Every Xbox One X and Xbox One S bundle includes a built-in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, 4K streaming with High Dynamic Range and Dolby Vision, and premium audio with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support. Xbox is the best place to play, and this holiday season, we have something for everyone on your list, at every price point.
We recently unveiled now includes an all-new upgrade option for the next Xbox console, Project Scarlett once it’s available in Holiday 2020. Xbox All Access is available
Additionally, if you enjoy gaming with your children, every Xbox One console comes equipped with industry-leading family settings. The more than 20 customizable settings empower parents to set spending limits, install content filters based on the age of each child, and apply the newly announced app and game limits as you see fit.
See below for an overview of all the Xbox offerings available this holiday, and make sure to check with participating retailers – including your local Microsoft Store near you or online – for more information on availability and pricing.
Xbox Game Pass
Give the gamer in your life the ultimate gift of unlimited access to over 100 great games with Xbox Game Pass – it’s the perfect way to discover your next favorite game.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ($14.99 per month). The ultimate gift this holiday season, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, as well as access to a curated library of over 100 high-quality console and PC games with new games added all the time. You can get your first month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $1 right now.
Xbox Game Pass for Console ($9.99 per month). With Xbox Game Pass for Console, gamers get access to a highly-curated library of over 100 great games on Xbox One. You can join the fun in new games or catch up on a recent hit because with Xbox Game Pass, you always have something new to play.
Xbox One X Bundles
This holiday is the perfect time to gift the world’s most powerful console to a friend or family member. We’re offering seven Xbox One X bundles this holiday featuring the season’s hottest games plus Xbox Game Pass for Console and Xbox Live Gold. Xbox One X bundles available this holiday include:
Xbox One X NBA 2K20 Special Edition Bundle ($499.00). Features a 1TB Hyperspace console, Xbox Wireless Controller, a copy of NBA 2K20, a one-month membership of Xbox Game Pass for Console and a one-month membership of Xbox Live Gold.
Xbox One X NBA 2K20 Bundle ($499.00). Features a 1TB console, Xbox Wireless Controller, a copy of NBA 2K20, a one-month membership of Xbox Game Pass for Console and a one-month membership of Xbox Live Gold.
Xbox One S Bundles:
The Xbox One S offers the best value in gaming, and this holiday, we have six bundles available that come packed with games like Gears 5, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Fortnite Battle Royale plus Xbox Game Pass for Console and Xbox Live Gold. If you’re looking to gift the newest member of the Xbox One family, check out the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. Xbox One S bundles available this holiday include:
Xbox One S NBA 2K20 Bundle ($299.00). Features a 1TB console, Xbox Wireless Controller, NBA 2K20, a one-month membership of Xbox Game Pass for Console and a one-month membership of Xbox Live Gold.
Xbox Wireless Controllers:
The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 is the world’s most advanced controller designed with the most passionate gamers in mind. This highly anticipated controller is now available, in addition to a variety of special edition controllers.
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 ($179.99). Designed to meet the needs of today’s most passionate gamers, the all-new Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 features over 30 new ways to play like a pro. Enhance your aim with new adjustable-tension thumbsticks, fire even faster with shorter hair trigger locks, and stay on target with a wrap-around rubberized grip. The controller is available starting November 4.
Xbox Design Lab (Starting at $69.99). With Xbox Design Lab, fans have more than a billion design combinations to choose from to personalize the controller, including new colors, metallic finishes for D-pads and triggers, and rubberized grips. Or, players in the U.S. can choose a design featuring their favorite NFL Xbox Design Lab is available to residents in Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and more than 20 additional European countries.
No matter who you are shopping for this year, we’re excited to offer a variety of options to help you gift the perfect gaming experience.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-31-2019, 09:09 PM - Forum: Windows
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New Industry Experience Center brings digital transformation to life
We read every day about how companies are transforming their businesses through technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and the Internet of Things. But are these gains achievable across industries? Can a hospital, for instance, really see the same benefits from these technologies as, say, an automotive manufacturer?
Microsoft’s new Industry Experience Center (IEC), which opened last month in Redmond, Washington, aims to answer that question – with a resounding yes. The 23,000-square-foot center showcases 60 fascinating, real-world examples of customers and partners that are innovating their businesses and disrupting markets with Microsoft technologies.
An optical sorter shows how Bühler, one of the world’s largest providers of food processing solutions, is using visual AI to sort out poisonous corn, protecting consumers and increasing production efficiency.
Microsoft’s new 23,000-square-foot Industry Experience Center in Redmond, Washington.
A short distance away, a drone from eSmart Systems buzzes above, dramatically illustrating how machine learning is allowing public utilities to spot problems with power poles without sending a technician out, helping them reduce costs and ensure the safety of their workers.
In the grocery aisle, IoT-enabled displays from Kroger illuminate dynamic pricing and product information based on what the customer touches and looks at on the shelf. Visual analytics automatically alert store staff when an item is out of stock or running low.
“We often talk about technology and services that drive digital transformation, but the IEC is a chance for customers to interact with them firsthand,” says Deb Cupp, CVP of Worldwide Enterprise and Commercial Industries at Microsoft. “These are immersive experiences that demonstrate how companies are digitally transforming, and how our customers and partners are using these solutions to drive disruption in their industries.”
The manufacturing area of the IEC features a compact industrial robot from ABB and an optical sorter from Bühler.
Technology at work in the real world
Each interactive exhibit allows visitors to get hands-on with the technologies and explore how they are being used across industries to drive innovation. Experiences are focused on nine key industries: Retail and Consumer Goods, Financial Services, Education, Government, Health Care, Automotive, Manufacturing, Energy and Media and Communications.
That doesn’t mean a health care company, for instance, will only be guided through health care experiences in the IEC. Instead, Microsoft’s team of full-time “envisioning specialists” take each customer on a customized journey through the most relevant technology solutions for their unique business – no matter what the industry.
RFID wristbands from partner Thuzi – which every visitor gets upon starting their engagement – add to the personalized experience. As customers walk through the center, if they see an exhibit they want to learn more about, they simply tap their wristband against a “puck” on the exhibit wall. They then receive an email with a link to a customized microsite with more information, designed just for them.
Deb Cupp, CVP of Worldwide Enterprise and Commercial Industries.
Cupp says, “Engagements are tailored to each individual customer and designed to spark creative ideation, inspired conversations and new opportunities. With the IEC, customers can get up close and personal with innovative technologies applied across industries so they can envision what’s possible by partnering with Microsoft.”
A showcase for industry innovation
The IEC sits in the same building in what has been, for the last 10 years, the Retail Experience Center. But late last year, the company decided to expand the center to a cross-industry offering to demonstrate the application and breadth of its technology across verticals.
Today, the IEC features everything from first-party Microsoft technologies to solutions created by startups, large global companies and everything in between. Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Capture Studios has installed a state-of-the-art volumetric stage at the IEC where visitors can get a souvenir hologram.
“We’re lighting up innovation by industry across a wide variety of customers and partners all over the globe,” says Cupp.
Fedora 31 Workstation comes with a Firefox backend moved from X11 to Wayland by default. That’s just another step in the ongoing effort of moving to Wayland. This affects GNOME on Wayland only. This article helps you understand some changes and extra steps you may wish to take depending on your preferences.
There is a firefox-wayland package available to activate the Wayland backend on KDE and Sway desktop environments.
The Wayland architecture is completely different than X11. The team merged various aspects of Firefox internals to the new protocol where possible. However, some X11 features are missing completely. For such cases you can install and run firefox-x11 package as a fallback.
If you want to run the Flash plugin, you must install the firefox-x11 package, since Flash requires X11 and GTK 2. Wayland also has a slightly different drag and drop behavior and strict popup window hierarchy.
Generally, if you think Firefox is not behaving like you want, try the firefox-x11 package. In this case, ideally you should report the misbehavior in Bugzilla.
The Wayland architecture comes with many benefits, and overcomes many limitations of X11. For instance, it can deliver smoother rendering and better HiDPI and screen scale support. You can also enable EGL hardware acceleration on Intel and AMD graphics cards. This decreases your power consumption and also gives you partially accelerated video playback. To enable it, navigate to about:config, and search for layers.acceleration.force-enabled. Set this option to true and restart Firefox.
Brave users may wish to try the Firefox next-generation renderer, called WebRender, written in Rust. To do that, search for gfx.webrender.enabled and gfx.webrender.all in about:config. Set them to true, then cross your fingers and restart Firefox.
But don’t worry — even if Firefox crashes at start after these experiments, you can launch it in safe mode to reset these options. Start Firefox from a terminal using the following command:
Get ready for Game2Give, our inaugural charity event to support the Bungie Foundation’s iPads for Kids Program and Children’s Miracle Network benefitting sick kids across the country. Between October 24 and November 10, we invite the Destiny Community to join us in celebration of what we can accomplish together through games and giving.
Starting today, we invite community members to sign up to host your own Destiny fundraising stream between 10/24-11/10. We have some incredible prizes for you all at various fundraising milestones. Check them out!
On October 29 at 12pm PDT, we’ll be kicking off a 24-hour Festival of the Lost streaming marathon with some of your favorite content creators culminating in a live stream with the devs over here at Bungie.
We are so excited to share the sweet prizes we have to thank our donors for their amazing contributions to help kids. Check them out:
A $10 donation will earn you the NEW Mist Blossoms Emblem:
A $50 donation will earn you both the Mist Blossoms Emblem and our first-ever Charity Ghost, the Gilded Shell Exotic Ghost!
A $100 donation will earn you both of the items above, and will enter you to win an item from the Bungie Prize Pool
Best of all 100% of donations go directly to the charities. We’ll be officially kicking off this momentous event next Thursday, 10/24. In the meantime, get yourself signed up to stream or make your donation early! Prizes will be redeemable after the event begins.
Dark Souls-Like ANIMUS: Harbinger Brings The Battle To Switch Next Week
We know, we know – the whole Dark Souls comparison thing is more overdone than that obliterated piece of toast you ruined this morning, but look… This really is like Dark Souls.
Everything from ANIMUS: Harbinger‘s opening sequence to its combat (all visible in the smartphone version trailer above) reminds us of From Software’s grisly action-RPG, right down to the player character’s familiar appearance. For all intents and purposes, the game appears to be a cheaper, portable take on the famous series, albeit with some key differences here and there.
To teach you a little more about it, here’s a story introduction and feature list:
These are the days before Ire: Blood Memory, the days when Kerr the Breaker’s evil slipped its way into Cadmeia. You, Forlorn — follower of the Resonant, and caught out of time and place — are called upon by the shadow of the late King Cadmus to bring judgement to those that have betrayed the land. Only you can take on this duty, as you are forgotten, and those forgotten can never die, as they have truly never lived. Be the hand of deliverance and mercy to the afflicted. You will have no friend save for your trusty blade, axe, and hammer. Answer the call of this dead sovereign.
Game Features: • Compact stage and boss fight game • Main quests (21) • Sidequests – Trial (12) / Proof (6) / Passage (random boss) • Proficiency tree • Skill shards • Reinforcement system • Farming equipment and materials • Difficulty (3) • Weapons, armour, and accessories of different types and attributes
The game’s launching on Switch on 7th November and will be available for just $7.99, considerably less than Dark Souls: Remastered‘s retail price of $39.99.
Do you think this one might be worth picking up? Or would you rather play the full-fat experience now that it’s available on Switch anyway? Let us know with a comment.
Sony has laid plans to shut down PlayStation Vue entirely, ending the PlayStation brand’s four-year stint in the digital TV business.
Sony Interactive Entertainment deputy president John Kodera explained the decision in a post to the PlayStation Blog today, noting that those years hadn’t seen the television industry adapt as much as the company had hoped when first building a digital TV service for PlayStation 4 and web.
“Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected,” says Kodera. “Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business.”
The announcement comes days after reports began to circulate that Sony was looking for a buyer for PlayStation Vue and its reported 500,000 current subscribers. With this latest development, the service is set to shut down on January 30, 2020.
“We are very proud of what PlayStation Vue was able to accomplish,” says Kodera. “We had ambitious goals for how our service could change how people watch TV, showcasing PlayStation’s ability to innovate in a brand-new category within the Pay TV industry. We want to thank all of our customers, some of whom have been with us since PlayStation Vue’s launch in 2015.”
Watch Afterparty director Adam Hines break down the game’s drink-fueled design
Today on the GDC Twitch channel, Night School Studios cofounder and game director Adam Hines dropped by to discuss the design and development of Afterparty, the studio’s follow-up to the 2016 spooky adventure game Oxenfree. It’s a comedy game that mixes choice-driven storytelling and a unique drinking mechanic to fuel players’ journeys out of hell.
Hines, who co-founded Night School with his cousin Sean Krankel, had a lot to share about the lessons learned from making Oxenfree and the Mr. Robot mobile game Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltratiOn. In particular, he broke down some parts of the writing process, how the team approached creating a vivid art style on a low budget, and how the studio is thinking about keeping its doors open while shipping small narrative games.
It was a hell of a good conversation, one you can now watch in its entirety in the video above. For more game developer interviews and select GDC talks, be sure to follow the GDC Twitch channel.
