Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-27-2019, 01:26 AM - Forum: Lounge
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These 2 PC Games Are Free To Claim At Epic Starting Today
Over the past eight months or so that the Epic Games Store has been in business, the PC game retailer has slowly ramped up its offering of free games for its users, first giving away a game every two weeks and then transitioning to a weekly giveaway. Now, it appears Epic is testing the waters of giving away two free games on a weekly basis, if the offerings this week and next are any indications of its future plans. From now through August 2, you can claim Moonlighter and This War of Mine for free at the Epic Store; then, on August 2, the pair will be replaced by another duo of freebies: Alan Wake and For Honor.
As a reminder, once you claim any of Epic's free games, they're yours to keep forever. To claim them, you'll have to first create a free Epic account, if you don't already have one.
This War of Mine
If you enjoy dark survival-themed games that require life-and-death decisions influenced by your own morals, definitely check out This War of Mine, which was developed by the same team behind Frostpunk. The game puts you in the shoes of a group of civilians struggling to survive in a war-torn city. Scavenging for resources like food and medicine is crucial, and along the way, player-controlled characters will run into other NPC survivors, whom you can choose to kill or help out. Epic seems to be giving away the Anniversary Edition, which adds new characters, new locations, and an entirely new ending to the game.
Then there's Moonlighter, a very different sort of game that you'll like if you're into action RPGs with rogue-lite elements. Primarily, you'll manage your shop in Rynoka Village, controlling inventory, setting prices, recruiting assistants, and upgrading the shop. You can also upgrade other aspects of the town, adding things like a blacksmith or potion-maker to produce items that are helpful for the dungeon portion of the game. Your character can access various worlds through otherworldly gates, where they will fight hordes of enemies and gather profitable loot, resources, and more. As you progress in the game, you can craft new armor and weapons and even enchant existing equipment.
On the topic of PC game deals: Don't miss out on Green Man Gaming's huge summer sale going on right now with over 2,000 PC games and DLC marked down. If you like This War of Mine and haven't played Frostpunk, the latter is on sale for $13.50. Plus, get Resident Evil 2 for $35.63, Monster Hunter World for $27, Civilization VI for $13.20, and more.
Infliction Brings Nightmarish Psychological Horror To Switch This Year
Infliction, a psychological horror game from Caustic Reality and Blowfish Studios, will be scaring your Switch silly from Q4 this year, it has been confirmed.
The game has you wandering through what the game’s publisher describes as an “interactive nightmare”, all set within the confines of a once-happy household. Players will need to piece together the mystery behind a harrowing series of events while struggling to survive encounters with an entity that relentlessly tries to stop you in your tracks.
We’ve got an official description for you below:
Explore a home crystalized by tragedy and uncover the heartbreaking secrets hidden within messages, artwork, household objects, and other vestiges of domestic life. Uncover clues and use items to unlock new paths and make discoveries while doing everything possible to avoid the malevolent presence inhabiting the residence. Hide under tables or beneath beds and harness light sources like camera flashes to stun the spirit and momentarily elude its pursuit.
It’s said to feature a story-driven approach which combines with a “dynamic atmosphere”, all with the aim of providing an unsettling and unpredictable first-person experience. Clinton McCleary, founder of Caustic Reality, has said, “Infliction explores fears that manifested after my wife and I started a family. I set out to create a horror experience grounded in real-world problems that resonates with players and am looking forward to scaring everyone when we unleash it on consoles later this year.”
What do you think? Feeling up for a new horror game later this year? Leave us a not-too-frightening comment down below.
Survival Horror Remothered: Tormented Fathers Delayed On Switch
If you’ve been keeping an eye on Remothered: Tormented Fathers for Nintendo Switch, you may well have noticed that the game hasn’t appeared on the eShop as planned.
Originally scheduled to be launching on the system today, the game has been pushed back to 30th August. A press release covering the announcement explains the situation:
The shift in release date adds more time to polish and tune the final product to meet the developer’s award-winning pedigree. Stormind Games says that “they are committed to providing an immersive and gripping experience for the player. The extra time for the project will help us reach that goal. We want the Nintendo Switch version of Remothered: Tormented Fathers for North America, Europe, and Australia, to be a release that lives up to both the standards of our players and our studio.”
You lovely readers seemed to be pretty excited about the game when we last shared juicy information about it at the beginning of this month; hopefully the wait for the new release date won’t feel too long.
Still hyped for this one? Will you be checking it out when it eventually arrives next month? Tell us below.
Amazon cuts prices on Apple’s latest iPad Pros for back to school
By Christine McKee Thursday, July 25, 2019, 08:40 pm PT (11:40 pm ET)
Amazon has dropped prices on Apple’s latest iPad Pros with discounts of up to $250 off, and prices as low as $649. These markdowns deliver the lowest prices available since Prime Day, with a wide range of models in stock for fast delivery as students prepare to head back to school and college.
Both 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models are heavily discounted during the iPad sale, with several of the markdowns matching Prime Day pricing. Along with deals on the tablets themselves, Amazon is also knocking $5 off the Apple Pencil 2, creating a robust note-taking setup for students heading to college. As with Amazon’s Apple deals, supplies may be limited and prices are subject to change at any time, so shop early for the best selection.
11-inch iPad Pros (Late 2018)
12.9-inch iPad Pros (Late 2018)
Don’t forget the Apple Pencil 2
Grab a pair of 2019 AirPods on sale
Hundreds off in Apple savings
AppleInsider has partnered with top Apple Authorized Resellers to bring you a variety of the best discounts on Apple products. From Macs to Apple Watches, the lowest prices are available 365 days a year in our Apple Price Guide.
Alibaba’s chip-making subsidiary Pingtouge launched its first product on Thursday: chip processor XuanTie 910, which uses open-source architecture. The processor uses the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA)—key programming infrastructure that decides how a device functions. Developers are allowed to build their own products using the Berkeley-based open-source ISA, with few intellectual property restrictions. (Source: Caixin Global)
You control Satsuki Kiryuin as the main
protagonist of this game, and proceed
along with the story while battling against
various characters. All scenarios are
completely new and fully
supervised under the watchful eyes of
the original scenario-writer,
Kazuki Nakashima. You will be experiencing
the story unfold from the perspective of
Satsuki Kiryuin, the rival of the original
series' protagonist Ryuko.
Now, while the game features potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay for you to enjoy, there’s one particular question on everyone’s lips: which house will you join?
The Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, and the Golden Deer all sound like more than suitable options to us, but we want to know which one is screaming out to you. Maybe you’ve already chosen one? Or perhaps you already know who you’ll pick when you load up the game?
We have more info on each house below if you need it – when you’re all clued up, make sure to go ahead and vote in our poll a little further down!
Fire Emblem Voice Actor Gets Credit Removed Following Admissions Of Abuse
Nintendo has removed voice actor Chris Niosi’s name from the credits of Fire Emblem Heroes following admissions from the actor, animator and producer that he has abused and mistreated friends and partners over the past decade.
Chris Niosi – also known as Kirbopher – is perhaps most famous for creating the web series TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise, and has lent his vocal talents to the likes of Pokémon,Bakuman, Queen’s Blade Rebellion, Tales of Zestiria, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, SailorMoon and Octopath Traveler.
He also plays the role of Byleth in the new Switch game, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, as well as the mobile spin-off Fire Emblem Heroes. A week ago, Niosi – who refers to himself as a ‘high functioning’ Asperger syndrome sufferer – published an admission on his Tumblr account that he had “horribly mistreated and abused friends, colleagues and even my significant others” and that he had decided it was time he “addressed each and every one of those people and responded to their feelings with individual apologies for what I’ve done to hurt them”.
Naturally, Nintendo might not have been aware of these abuses prior to hiring Niosi to work on Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Heroes, but it would seem that it has taken retrospective action following Niosi’s confession.
Nintendo has so far refused to comment on the situation. We’ll update this post if that changes.
(Editor’s note: The original version of this story incorrectly started that Niosi’s name had been removed from the credits of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, when in fact it was removed from the credits of Fire Emblem Heroes. We apologise for the error.)
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-26-2019, 06:40 PM - Forum: Windows
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Accelerating innovation with Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform
Every year, we bring together thousands of Microsoft partners from around the world to celebrate, connect, and learn about what’s coming in the next year. Just last week, I had the chance to join this year’s Microsoft Inspire with 13,000 of our partners in Las Vegas, and it was an amazing week full of energy and excitement.
I had the opportunity to share how we’re accelerating innovation with Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform in two featured sessions. Hayden Stafford joined me to talk about the business opportunity in FY20 for Business Applications, and Charles Lamanna and Arun Ulagaratchagan showed off the innovation and partner investments across the Power Platform. In both sessions, partners from Hitachi Solutions, VeriPark, WorkSpan, and EY joined me on stage to talk about the opportunities they’re seeing in the market. Check out the session recordings to see more.
We also shared a few major announcements with the partner community throughout the week that will deepen our partnership, align with how our business is growing, and help customers realize the potential of digital transformation. Take a look at a few highlights below.
Launching the new Microsoft Business Applications ISV Connect Program
ISVs that build on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and PowerApps can offer their customers innovative apps they couldn’t build elsewhere using connections to industry-leading cloud services on Azure and developer tools built just for them.
After previewing elements of the program in the spring, we officially launched the Business Applications ISV Connect Program on July 15th. This program brings together platform and program benefits created specifically for ISVs to support their success. We’re laying a path for a stronger partnership with our ISVs through ongoing platform investments, development tooling enhancements, and go-to-market support for mutual success. Read Steven Guggenheimer’s blog for more information about the program’s requirements and benefits.
Expanding our Dynamics 365 Industry Accelerators
We know our partners want to go to market fast. Our industry accelerators help them do just that.
At Inspire, we introduced two new industry accelerators: the Dynamics 365 Automotive Accelerator and Dynamics 365 Banking Accelerator. We also announced significant updates to the Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator.
Each of these accelerators was developed in deep partnership with industry experts to provide pre-built dashboards, sample data, and workflows that align with common industry scenarios. Steven Guggenheimer’s blog has more on this update as well.
Updating our Dynamics 365 packaging model
In October, Microsoft will be moving from “one-size-fits-all” Microsoft Dynamics 365 licensing plans to focus on providing customers with the specific Dynamics 365 applications that meet the unique needs of their organization. Customers need software that aligns to their functional roles and scenarios, and they require the ability to add or remove applications as their company grows and changes over time. The new licensing model will allow customers to purchase the applications they need, when they need them. Each application is extensible and applications can be easily mixed and matched to configure integrated solutions that align to a customer’s unique business requirements.
Introducing new licensing options for PowerApps and Microsoft Flow
Over the past few months, we’ve announced a set of continued investments in the Power Platform and vision for one connected platform that enables everyone, regardless of their skill set or background, to innovate.
In addition to the general availability of innovations like AI Builder and PowerApps Portals, we will be introducing new licensing options in October 2019 shaped by the feedback we’ve received from our customers and the community of makers and creators who have been with us on the Power Platform journey. At Inspire we previewed new licensing options for PowerApps and Microsoft Flow that:
Make it easier to get started with a single use case before rolling out the full platform for all users.
Make licensing easier to understand by simplifying the complex feature-level differences between P1 and P2 plans.
Customers realizing the potential of digital transformation
Throughout the event, we heard inspiring stories from customers and partners around the world.
One highlight came in Monday’s Corenote with Judson Althoff. We saw how Unilever is transforming its business with Microsoft technology, including Power BI and PowerApps. With connected data at the core, Unilever is able to increase productivity with more accessible insights and empower individuals to solve problems on their own, without a developer.
On Wednesday, Satya Nadella talked about Crane Worldwide Logistics, a Dynamics 365 customer who grew from a startup to a major player in the global logistics industry over the past 10 years. With Dynamics 365 for Sales and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Crane can seamlessly combine customer engagement data with data about customer and seller activities from Office 365, as well as from LinkedIn – even when these interactions take place outside their CRM. And with Dynamics 365 Sales Insights, sellers are able to focus on the right customers, thanks to AI-driven insights that flag existing accounts that need extra attention, as well as leads that offer the most potential.
These are just two of the stories we shared at Microsoft Inspire this year. If you missed any part of this year’s event, take some time to check out the content on-demand to learn how you can build success in the coming year.
After an embarrassing delay, Samsung on Wednesday announced its first folding smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, will launch this September after undergoing a redesign to account for screen reliability issues.
Samsung’s redesigned Galaxy Fold will debut in September.
The Korean tech giant in a post to its website said the device will be ready for sale in September after missing a rollout originally set for April. The new timeline puts the foldable handset in direct competition with Apple’s iPhone, new versions of which are expected to debut that same month.
According to Samsung, the new and improved Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer that has been extended beyond the bezel, making it “apparent that it is an integral part of the display structure and not meant to be removed.” A number of early reviewers attempted to remove the layer thinking it was a screen protector, a user error that broke the smartphone’s flexible OLED panel.
Special reinforcements like “protection caps” have been added at the top and bottom hinges and are designed to keep particulates out of sensitive areas, while additional metal layers beneath the Infinity Flex Display help strengthen the mechanism, the company said. Further, the space between the hinge and the device chassis has been reduced.
The tweaks should help alleviate problems impacting pre-release review units that went out to select news outlets and media influencers in April. Reliability issues were among the early complaints, with many noticing a distinct crease appear along the hinge line of the 7.3-inch OLED panel after repeated folding and unfolding. Some users noted corrupted graphics that in some cases rendered part, one half or the entire panel completely non-functional.
Following multiple reports of screen failures, graphics problems and other issues, Samsung decided to push back a consumer launch as it assessed the situation.
Samsung’s announced enhancements are in line with previous rumors about the Fold’s redesign.
In addition to hardware enhancements, Samsung has worked to optimize more apps for the unique foldable display.
Samsung Electronics CEO D.J. Koh earlier this month admitted the Fold was introduced prematurely.
“It was embarrassing. I pushed it through before it was ready,” Koh said in a statement. “I do admit I missed something on the foldable phone, but we are in the process of recovery.”
An official launch date will be announced in the coming weeks.
