Samantha Robertson Leaves Treehouse And Moves Into A New Role At Nintendo
Nintendo of America’s Samantha Robertson has left the Nintendo Treehouse after eight years. Robertson made the belated announcement herself over on her Twitter page.
There’s no need to be upset about her departure though, as she’s simply moved into a new role at the company. She’s now the Manager of Product Marketing for the Publisher and Developer Relations Department of Nintendo of America. Here’s what she had to say about it:
I can’t wait to work with Treehouse and the whole Nintendo family in new ways as we share our passion for all of the great games that developers and publishers from all over the world bring to life on our platforms.
On behalf of the community here at Nintendo Life, we wish Samantha the best of luck in her new role.
Level-5 Announces Yo-Kai Watch 4 Western Release At The 2019 Anime Expo
During a panel at the 2019 Anime Expo, Level-5 announced Yo-Kai Watch 4 for Nintendo Switch would eventually be released in the west (thanks, HDKirin). Although this isn’t the most surprising news, it’s nice to know the Japanese developer and publisher hasn’t forgotten about the fanbase within this region. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when exactly the game will be localised.
At the same panel, a Japanese Yo-Kai Watch trailer featuring English subtitles was shown. Level-5 explained how the fourth mainline entry in the series would include content that requires players to have watched specific Yo-Kai Watch films to completely understand. The company hasn’t confirmed if these films will be localised yet.
Yo-Kai Watch 3 for 3DS was released at the start of this year in North America and the end of last year in Europe, following its original Japanese release in 2016. The fourth game was released at the beginning of last month in Japan and took the top spot in on the local charts, despite lower than usual sales. We can only hope the fourth game doesn’t take as long to localise this time around.
Are you looking forward to trying out the next Yo-Kai Watch game? Have you played the previous entries? Tell us below.
Video: How To Use Every Power-Up In Super Mario Maker 2
If in-game tutorials aren’t your cup of tea, perhaps you would prefer to watch the above 25-minute video, demonstrating how to use every power-up in Super Mario Maker 2.
Yes, for your viewing pleasure, our lovely senior video producer Alex Olney has recorded how each one of the power-ups in the Nintendo Switch Super Mario Maker sequel can be used. He covers every theme in the game as well! We promise by the end of it, you’ll have at least a few ideas for your own courses.
For example, did you know a giant stiletto – which you can create by shaking a Goomba Shoe – has the ability to perform a ground pound attack? It can even take out Thwomps and destroy Bill Blasters. There are plenty of other interesting and helpful power-up facts contained within this video, so if you want to become the ultimate course creator, make sure you watch it.
Did you learn anything new? Tell us in the comments.
Studio Trigger Reveals Its Stunning Opening Animation For Shantae 5
Earlier this week, WayForward revealed the talented Japanese animation studio Trigger would be responsible for the opening scene in the upcoming release, Shantae 5. To celebrate this announcement, some concept art was shared over on Twitter.
While we expected to be waiting much longer to see the final product, this opening animation has now been officially revealed at the 2019 Anime Expo. Fortunately, it’s also been shared in all its glory online. Read the description and view the trailer below:
Presenting the Opening Animation for Shantae 5, created by none other than the revered Studio TRIGGER! TRIGGER producer Naoko Tsutsumi (Little Witch Academia) collaborated with Shantae creator Erin Bozon (Futurama) and Matt Bozon (series director) to bring the Shantae characters to life. Vocals for the opening were performed by Cristina Vee (Miraculous Ladybug), featuring an original composition by Mark Sparling and musical arrangement by Maddie Lim.
As you can see, the opening animation inspiration from Studio Trigger’s previous work such as Kill la Kill, while featuring a number of familiar faces from the Shantae series. It prompted one fan on social media to ask WayForward if Uncle Mimic would be a playable character the next outing. Unfortunately, though, the developer remains tight-lipped and won’t be sharing any gameplay details just yet. Other fans asked about possible DLC and received a similar response. At least Shantae 5 is off to a promising start!
What do you think the above animation? Are you a fan of Studio Trigger’s previous work? Looking forward to the half-genie’s next outing? Share your thoughts in the comments.
When humans get too lonely, they turn into monsters
Sea of Solitude takes you on a personal journey of a young woman's loneliness. Set sail across a beautiful and evolving world, where nothing is quite what it seems. Meet fantastical creatures and monsters, learn their stories, and solve challenges. Explore a flooded city, either by boat, on foot, or by swimming through the water itself. Dare to look what lies beneath the surface, in a haunting struggle of darkness and light, and discover what it truly means to be human.
KEY FEATURES
- AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY Sea of Solitude embarks players on a nuanced and intimate action-adventure, experienced through the mind of Kay, as she struggles to overcome her inner loneliness. Players must help Kay see below the surface and beyond, guiding her through her Sea of Solitude, in this deeply touching tale of darkness and light.
- A METAPHORICAL WORLD As her journey evolves, Kay's dark and stormy environment begins to transform, with light and color shining into the world. Water levels rise and fall to reflect her own state of mind, transforming the flooded city landscape into new areas for the player to explore, with new challenges to face.
- FACE THE MONSTERS WITHIN Encounter fantastical creatures, solve puzzles, and rid the world of tainted memories. Meet a variety of beautiful and terrifying monsters, each with their own struggles of loneliness to tell. Through confronting these monsters, Kay will not only learn more about them, but also herself, and what it means to be human.
French government launches ‘Join the Game’ campaign to recruit game devs
The French government is trying to convince game developers to ply their trade in France through a new campaign called ‘Join the Game.’
The campaign talks up the opportunities available in France, and claims devs who make the move will gain access to a wide-variety of benefits including tax breaks, funding initiatives, and production support programs.
France, of course, is already home to a huge number of big-name studios and publishers like Ubisoft, Quantic Dream, Arkane Studios, Gameloft, and Focus Home Interactive.
“Proud of its history and dedicated to becoming the leading country in this industry, France has aimed, over the years, to remain an important hub for game development,” reads the Join the Game website.
“France has a dynamic network of publishers and studios, all of which are part of a structured and active ecosystem. It is composed of regional clusters, research laboratories and high-end schools constantly training new international talent.”
Although the campaign doesn’t specifically mention Brexit, some have noted it has arrived at a time of mass uncertainty caused by the UK’s decision to leave the EU — and its inability to hash out or agree on a viable Brexit option.
As a result, some have painted Join the Game as an attempt to lure UK developers across the channel, and given British developers themselves have labeled Brexit a ‘dire threat’ to the UK games industry, it’s not hard to imagine that some might be convinced to make the switch.
Research lessons from the making (and near-breaking) of Halo 2
Halo 2 set a new standard for online multiplayer for the masses with the use of a (now ubiquitous) automated ‘playlist’ matchmaking system that replaced the player-curated lobbies of Halo 1.
Although the system has become the norm in the years since, at the time the notion of removing a player’s ability to choose their map, gametype, and opponents seemed farcical. In fact, it seemed downright insane to the point where one UX researcher called John Hopson went and told Bungie to rethink their approach.
Hindsight, of course, is 20/20. Looking back, we know Bungie was absolutely right to stick to its guns, and Hopson isn’t ashamed to admit he was dead wrong.
Writing about the time he ‘tried to ruin’ Halo 2 on Polgyon, the veteran researcher has detailed the entire saga from start to finish in the hope that researchers and developers might learn from what would’ve been a rather costly mistake. The first lesson? Researchers should absolutely lose the big arguments sometimes.
“UX researchers tend to get into the habit of thinking that we are discovering capital T Truth. This can lead to a lot of frustration when other parties in the development process don’t accept our findings. Now, we’re usually right, but false positives, false negatives, and outright mistakes are always possible,” he wrote.
“Games user research is a vital voice in the development process even though we’re no more perfect than anyone else involved. We’re supposed to advocate passionately for our understanding of the player experience, but we’re not always meant to win.
“In fact, I’d argue that, just like for the players in our games, there is an ideal level of failure for researchers. If every study is equally successful, it just means that we aren’t innovating enough or taking on challenging research topics. We need to take risks, and that means we have to lose sometimes.
Explosive Growth in Trove with Going Green Update, Live Now on Xbox One
Ready your green thumb for Trove‘s brand-new gardening update! In Going Green, there’s new seeds to sow, crops to harvest, and rewards to reap. Gardening is bigger and better than ever!
New vegetable and alchemy plants bring variety to any garden. Before you can reap what you’ve sown, you’ll need to give them tender loving care in the form of sunshine and water.
New vegetable plants like Qubbage, Unicorn Chard, and Totter Tates can be used to craft new consumable food. When you’re all full, you can also use vegetables to craft cosmetics, allies, and mounts
Along with the tasty vegetables, there are now alchemy plants which yield more material resources like Gem Dust to help power up your Gems, coveted Chaos Chests to expand your ever-growing collection of allies and mounts, or even Golden Watering Cans to let your garden grow faster!
While you walk through your farm gathering all these new goodies, you may also find something a little strange – Bobble Pod Seeds! Bobble Pods are a new type of piñata – throw them down and you and your closest seven friends can get some excellent rewards! You’ve got a chance to get different types of recipes and seeds, watering cans to let you farm faster, and possibly even a Ridable Bobble Pod to call your very own.
If you’re in seek of new sidekicks, Ally Habitats are the thing for you! Plant these homes to attract new allies, companions that wander at your side and grant various stats. These homes must be planted in Club Worlds, but their neighborhood is a generous one. When a new ally emerges from an Ally Habitat, anyone with sufficiently high Gardening skill who visits your club world can take one of them home.
No update in Trove would be complete without a shiny new dragon to earn and Going Green is no exception. Kahramet, Warden of the Fields, is here to start the summer right! You can craft this beauty with Blossoming Dragon Egg fragments, which can be found in those trusty, tricksy Bobble Pods.
Along with the Growing Green update comes Season 2 of Bomber Royale, complete with new rewards and maps, plus a host of other small changes to improve your game!
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
Nick Fury In Spider-Man: Far From Home - The Toast Theory (And Why It's Wrong)
Spider-Man: Far From Home closes this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and plants some seeds for narrative threads that will presumably start to take root in Phase 4. But they also raise some questions--particularly about Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury--and we have answers. Spoilers for Far From Home follow.
In one of the post-credits scenes, we learn that Nick Fury and his right-hand Maria Hill have been Skrulls in disguise. Many fans immediately wondered: wait, exactly how long has Nick Fury been a Skrull?
The particular Skrull in question is Talos, who has been on good terms with Fury since the 1990s when they met through Captain Marvel. So when did the body switch happen? Some fans have theorized that the key is toast. Yes, as in toasted bread. In Captain Marvel, Fury reveals that he can't eat toast that has been cut diagonally. But fans noticed that he did that exact thing in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which has led some fans to conclude that he was already a Skrull in disguise at that point.
However, that bread wasn't actually toasted. So was he a Skrull or wasn't he? We're through the looking glass here, people.
For answers, we turn to Far From Home director Jon Watts. And his answer is that Talos spent a lot less time in the iconic eyepatch than you may have thought.
"The timeline for me is that Maria and Fury are Skrulls just starting at the beginning of this movie," Watts told GameSpot. That would appear to settle it, unless another director gets clearance to ret-con the timeline in a future film.
Fury and Maria's first appearance in Far From Home is when they meet up with Mysterio fighting an Elemental. So everything that follows, from tranquilizing Ned to the climactic showdown, is actually Talos. As fans have noticed, this makes sense of certain aspects, like Fury referring to Earth as "your world" and being particularly defensive of Captain Marvel. It also means it was Talos, not the remarkably paranoid Nick Fury, who was fooled by Mysterio.
But it also means that Fury really was himself during scenes such as the funeral at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Apparently his current digs on a massive space station is a fairly recent development, and Talos was lending a hand as best he could.
