Update: The patch is now live.

Although Game Freak is focused on its upcoming Switch release Pokémon Sword and Shield, it’s still working on some minor fixes for last year’s title, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!

According to Serebii.net, an upcoming patch for the game will bring the title up to Version 1.0.2. It will resolve two bugs. The first is a communication problem that occurs if the playtime is 999:59 and the second fixes an issue preventing Mystery Gift entry after 10 attempts, even after time has passed.

Are you still playing this game? Are you looking forward to the next major entries in the Pokémon game series? Tell us below.

Earlier this month, an infinite jump trick dubbed the “moonwalking” glitch was discovered in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Interestingly, this same glitch has now been used to get an “infinite” amount of Korok seeds. While there was a way to obtain unlimited Korok seeds in the past, this previous method was patched out by Nintendo around a year ago.

If you’d like to see how exactly the new method works, you can view the YouTube video below, uploaded by Gaming Reinvented:

If you would like a more thorough breakdown, read the full explanation.

Have you played Breath of the Wild recently? What do you think of the above glitch? Leave a comment below.

The Fedora CoreOS team is excited to announce the first preview release of Fedora CoreOS, a new Fedora edition built specifically for running containerized workloads securely and at scale. It’s the successor to both Fedora Atomic Host and CoreOS Container Linux. Fedora CoreOS combines the provisioning tools, automatic update model, and philosophy of Container Linux with the packaging technology, OCI support, and SELinux security of Atomic Host.

Read on for more details about this exciting new release.

Why Fedora CoreOS?

Containers allow workloads to be reproducibly deployed to production and automatically scaled to meet demand. The isolation provided by a container means that the host OS can be small. It only needs a Linux kernel, systemd, a container runtime, and a few additional services such as an SSH server.

While containers can be run on a full-sized server OS, an operating system built specifically for containers can provide functionality that a general purpose OS cannot. Since the required software is minimal and uniform, the entire OS can be deployed as a unit with little customization. And, since containers are deployed across multiple nodes for redundancy, the OS can update itself automatically and then reboot without interrupting workloads.

Fedora CoreOS is built to be the secure and reliable host for your compute clusters. It’s designed specifically for running containerized workloads without regular maintenance, automatically updating itself with the latest OS improvements, bug fixes, and security updates. It provisions itself with Ignition, runs containers with Podman and Moby, and updates itself atomically and automatically with rpm-ostree.

Provisioning immutable infrastructure

Whether you run in the cloud, virtualized, or on bare metal, a Fedora CoreOS machine always begins from the same place: a generic OS image. Then, during the first boot, Fedora CoreOS uses Ignition to provision the system. Ignition reads an Ignition config from cloud user data or a remote URL, and uses it to create disk partitions and file systems, users, files and systemd units.

To provision a machine:

1. Write a Fedora CoreOS Config (FCC), a YAML document that specifies the desired configuration of a machine. FCCs support all Ignition functionality, and also provide additional syntax (“sugar”) that makes it easier to specify typical configuration changes.
2. Use the Fedora CoreOS Config Transpiler to validate your FCC and convert it to an Ignition config.
3. Launch a Fedora CoreOS machine and pass it the Ignition config. If the machine boots successfully, provisioning has completed without errors.

Fedora CoreOS is designed to be managed as immutable infrastructure. After a machine is provisioned, you should not modify /etc or otherwise reconfigure the machine. Instead, modify the FCC and use it to provision a replacement machine.

This is similar to how you’d manage a container: container images are not updated in place, but rebuilt from scratch and redeployed. This approach makes it easy to scale out when load increases. Simply use the same Ignition config to launch additional machines.

Automatic updates

By default, Fedora CoreOS automatically downloads new OS releases, atomically installs them, and reboots into them. Releases roll out gradually over time. We can even stop a rollout if we discover a problem in a new release. Upgrades between Fedora releases are treated as any other update, and are automatically applied without user intervention.

The Linux ecosystem evolves quickly, and software updates can bring undesired behavior changes. However, for automatic updates to be trustworthy, they cannot break existing machines. To avoid this, Fedora CoreOS takes a two-pronged approach. First, we automatically test each change to the OS. However, automatic testing can’t catch all regressions, so Fedora CoreOS also ships multiple independent release streams:

• The testing stream is a regular snapshot of the current Fedora release, plus updates.
• After a testing release has been available for two weeks, it is sent to the stable stream. Bugs discovered in testing will be fixed before a release is sent to stable.
• The next stream is a regular snapshot of the upcoming Fedora release, allowing additional time for testing larger changes.

All three streams receive security updates and critical bugfixes, and are intended to be safe for production use. Most machines should run the stable stream, since that receives the most testing. However, users should run a few percent of their nodes on the next and testing streams, and report problems to the issue tracker. This helps ensure that bugs that only affect certain workloads or certain hardware are fixed before they reach stable.

Telemetry

To help direct our development efforts, Fedora CoreOS performs some telemetry by default. A service called fedora-coreos-pinger periodically collects non-identifying information about the machine, such as the OS version, cloud platform, and instance type, and report it to servers controlled by the Fedora project.

No unique identifiers are reported or collected, and the data is only used in aggregate to answer questions about how Fedora CoreOS is being used. We prominently document that this collection is occurring and how to disable it. We also tell you how to help the project by reporting additional detail, including information that might identify the machine.

Current status of Fedora CoreOS

Fedora CoreOS is still under active development, and some planned functionality is not available in the first preview release:

• Only the testing stream currently exists; the next and stable streams are not yet available.
• Several cloud and virtualization platforms are not yet available. Only x86_64 is currently supported.
• Booting a live Fedora CoreOS system via network (PXE) or CD is not yet supported.
• We are actively discussing plans for closer integration with Kubernetes distributions, including OKD.
• Fedora CoreOS Config Transpiler will gain more sugar over time.
• Telemetry is not yet active.
• Documentation is still under development.

While Fedora CoreOS is intended for production use, preview releases should not be used in production. Fedora CoreOS may change in incompatible ways during the preview period. There is no guarantee that a preview release will successfully update to a later preview release, or to a stable release.

The future

We expect the preview period to continue for about six months. At the end of the preview, we will declare Fedora CoreOS stable and encourage its use in production.

CoreOS Container Linux will be maintained until about six months after Fedora CoreOS is declared stable. We’ll announce the exact timing later this year. During the preview period, we’ll publish tools and documentation to help Container Linux users migrate to Fedora CoreOS.

Fedora Atomic Host will be maintained until the end of life of Fedora 29, expected in late November. Before then, Fedora Atomic Host users should migrate to Fedora CoreOS.

Getting involved in Fedora CoreOS

To try out the new release, head over to the download page to get OS images or cloud image IDs. Then use the quick start guide to get a machine running quickly. Finally, get involved! You can report bugs and missing features to the issue tracker. You can also discuss Fedora CoreOS in Fedora Discourse, the development mailing list, or in #fedora-coreos on Freenode.

Welcome to Fedora CoreOS, and let us know what you think!

The United Nations (UN) estimates that by 2050, 68 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. This rapid urbanization poses serious challenges to municipalities around the world, such as increased congestion and air pollution.

Cities need to be resilient – to survive, adapt, and grow, they also need to be great places to live in. Smart cities are leading the way in this transformation by moving on from 19^th century ways of designing cities around automobiles to redesigning cities with people in mind – technology can help in ways not possible before.

Finding new ways to connect with and engage residents

Participating in local governance is important for all city residents, but traditional city hall meetings aren’t accessible to everyone. Smart cities, however, are now bringing city halls online via social media, or kiosks to remote areas.

At the same time, smart cities are modernizing their services and the infrastructure that delivers them. Water, energy, and other public services need careful regulation, and Internet of Things (IoT) technology is helping cities manage them in a sustainable and economical way. Cities are even using these innovations to collaborate across departments. In Denver, air quality sensors outside of schools measure the levels of pollution in different areas. City workers combine this information with traffic data to build a complete picture of how the flow of automobiles affects air quality.

Connecting and engaging with residents also means making public services more visible and accessible to everyone. Municipalities in the United States such as Lafayette, Louisiana, have introduced non-emergency municipal service portals that allow residents to receive real-time updates about sanitation, crime, city budgets, and more.

Smart infrastructure case study: Houston, Texas, United States

Houston is undergoing an impressive smart city transformation. The city began working with Microsoft in 2018 to modernize its infrastructure, and its many ongoing initiatives include:

• Smart water meters. Around 60 percent of the city’s 500,000 water customers have smart meters, which gather data on water usage every 15 minutes. In the future, this technology will give customers real-time leak alerts and conservation advice.
• Proactive roadside air filtration. Bridges along the city’s main overpass are fitted with air quality monitors and air filtration technology, which senses and cleans pollution to prevent it from affecting nearby neighborhoods.
• Community sentiment analysis. Houston uses Zencity technology to analyze data from social media and the internet, identifying trending topics to understand residents’ opinions about the city.

Finding smart solutions to traffic problems

Traffic is a big challenge for today’s cities, and it’s an issue that’s always changing. A few years ago, around 30 percent of inner-city traffic was attributed to drivers looking for parking. Today, rideshare services coupled with the growing popularity of one-day delivery services, might be contributing to increased traffic.  There are a number of cities who are commissioning studies to look at the impact of these types of services. It’s a challenge for cities – on one hand they want to bring new services to their residents but they are not fully aware of the impact until further down the line.

Smart cities try to tackle traffic congestion in a number of ways, including levying congestion charges or introducing electronic road pricing systems, which are smart tolls that vary according to traffic. Other cities are using technology such as security cameras and smart cars to gather traffic flow data.

Making mobility a priority for residents

Smart cities are also helping residents to get around by offering intelligent transportation services that adapt to their needs, such as route optimization. These services map out specific routes for individual residents, helping them get to their destinations quickly and they are informed by real-time data to help residents avoid delays such as traffic jams.

Growing evidence suggests that these systems encourage residents to use other modes of transportation besides automobiles. For growing cities, this can help reduce the “battle for the curbside” as cars compete to park or drop people off. The challenge for cities, however, is in ensuring that these smart transportation systems are safe and manageable after deployment. This is made easier by digital twin technology, in which cities simulate and virtually test new systems before deploying them.

Smart transportation case study: Auckland, New Zealand

The coastal city of Auckland is home to 1.6 million people, and it’s quickly attracting new residents to its shores. Thanks to its enviable quality of life and strong economy, the city expects its population to double in the next 25 years. This presents many transportation challenges for Auckland, particularly as its narrow shape limits how far its roads can expand.

To tackle these issues, Auckland created a new digital strategy to help residents move around. By using Microsoft cloud platforms, the city gathers data about traffic movement and weather conditions. This information is then used to inform commuters about travel routes and help plan developments in transportation infrastructure.

The city also deployed a range of smart transportation technologies, including traffic lights that react to real-time data. Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors on buses and sensors placed at key points along roads and intersections monitor the flow of automobiles in different areas. The system calculates when specific routes are overcrowded, and it adjusts the wait times at intersections to prevent traffic jams.

Reports indicate that the city’s digital strategy is having a real effect. Drivers are finding parking spaces more easily, citizens are using rail services more, and wait times for public transportation are being reduced significantly.

Next steps

With the ongoing shift toward rapid urbanization, smart cities are currently setting an example for the rest of the world, and people are noticing. In an October 2018 report, IDC FutureScape predicts that “Investment in smart city use cases will reach $158 billion by 2022, with the fastest overall growth in the Americas and the most spending on fixed visual surveillance and public transit.”

As the technology in these initiatives matures, one thing is certain—the cities of the future will put people first.

Want to learn more about how cloud-based technology is helping cities to put people first? Download our e-books Digital transformation in public transportation and Smarter cities start with smart infrastructure: 6 key elements to read about the innovations that are shaping urban life.

Disaster can bring out the best in human nature. Emergency service personnel, rescue crews and volunteers work tirelessly, often putting their own lives at risk.  

Whether they’re responding to a natural disaster or other accident, rescue and relief teams increasingly use AI as a vital tool to save lives and to get help to the right place at the right time. 

These are some of the technologies from organizations beyond Microsoft that are making a difference in disaster zones. 

[Subscribe to Microsoft on the Issues for more on the topics that matter most.] 

Robot rescuers 

When a building collapses, rescuers will look for voids, spaces in the rubble where a person could be trapped. This is often slow, painstaking work in cramped and dangerous conditions.  

Enter Snakebot: a 5–centimeter-wide robot equipped with lights and cameras that can squeeze into tight spaces. Developed by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Snakebot can crawl, climb, roll and even swim. Prototypes were used in the aftermath of the Mexico City earthquake in September 2017. Operators sent the robot to search voids too small or unstable for people or search dogs to enter. Learning from that experience, the team that designed it now plans to add microphones and sensors that can detect hazardous gas. 

In Japan, the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant after the tsunami that struck the country in 2011 required robots to enter areas that people couldn’t. Teams sent a variety of remote–controlled and autonomous machines to inspect and remove the fuel rods.  

Eye in the sky 

Drones are giving emergency services a bird’s–eye view of disaster zones, which is proving particularly useful in fighting wildfires.  

Using surveillance drones that can stay aloft for hours, and small quadcopters, operators on the ground can see how a fire is behaving in real time and the hazards in the way. Some drones are equipped with thermal–imaging cameras or laser–imaging systems that help firefighters build maps predicting where fires will spread. 

Researchers are developing ways of using swarms of autonomous drones to assist firefighters on the ground. The Defense Science and Technology Laboratory in the U.K. and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory recently ran the Swarm and Search AI 2019 Fire Hack competition, looking for new algorithms and AI applications for planning and executing complex drone missions. 

Recent devastating blazes like 2018’s Camp Fire in California demonstrate the need for such resources.  

Targeted help 

When a disaster strikes, large amounts of information flow into control rooms and emergency call centers. Making sense of it is vital to prioritizing the response and to deploying resources and personnel correctly. 

AI can trawl through vast quantities of data in a very short time, spotting patterns that may not be apparent to people under stress. Capabilities include prioritizing emergency calls and analyzing social media to create a picture of events unfolding in real time. DigitalGlobe’s Open Data Program, which provides high-resolution satellite imagery for disaster response, was used in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in 2019 to identify damaged roads, buildings and infrastructure from space. 

In September 2018, Microsoft announced the AI for Humanitarian Action program in collaboration with the United Nations. This $40 million, five-year Microsoft initiative harnesses the power of AI to help with disaster recovery and supports nonprofit and humanitarian organizations through financial grants, partnerships and technology investments, in addition to technical expertise. This work is across the areas of disaster response; refugees and displaced people; human rights; and the needs of children, and is part of Microsoft’s AI for Good suite, a growing $125 million commitment to using AI to help unlock solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges.  

For more on AI innovation, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai. And follow @MSFTIssues on Twitter.   

Zhidi

We’ve just shipped the official version of the SignalR Service SDK for ASP.NET support:

Azure SignalR Service is a fully managed Azure service for real-time messaging. It is a preferred way for scaling ASP.NET Core SignalR application. However, SignalR Service is based on SignalR for ASP.NET Core 2.0, which is not 100% compatible with ASP.NET SignalR. Some code changes and proper version of dependent libraries are needed to make ASP.NET SignalR application work with SignalR Service.

We have received many usage feedbacks from customers since we announced the preview support for ASP.NET, at Microsoft Ignite 2018. Today, we are excited to announce that we have released the generally available version 1.0.0 of ASP.NET support SDK for Azure SignalR Service!

This diagram shows the typical architecture to use Azure SignalR Service with application server either written in ASP.NET Core, or now, in ASP.NET.

For self-hosted SignalR application, the application server listens to and serves client connections directly. With SignalR Service, the application server will only respond to clients’ negotiate requests, and redirect clients to SignalR Service to establish the persistent client-server connections.

Using the ASP.NET support for Azure SignalR Service you will be able to:

• Continue to keep SignalR application using ASP.NET, but work with fully managed ASP.NET Core based SignalR Service.
• Change a few lines of SignalR API codes, to switch to use SignalR Service instead of self-hosted SignalR Hubs.
• Leverage Azure SignalR Service’s built-in features and tools to help operate the SignalR application, with guaranteed SLA.

To receive the full benefit from the new ASP.NET support feature, please download and upgrade your SDKs to the latest supported versions:

• .NET: 4.6.1+
• Microsoft.AspNet.SignalR.*: 2.4.1
• Microsoft.Azure.SignalR.AspNet: 1.0.0

Many factors, including non-technical ones, make the web application migrate from ASP.NET to ASP.NET Core difficult.

The ASP.NET support for Azure SignalR Service is to enable ASP.NET SignalR application developers to easily switch to use SignalR Service with minimal code change.

Some APIs and features are no longer supported:

• Automatic reconnects
• Forever Frame transport
• HubState
• PersistentConnection class
• GlobalHost object
• HubPipeline module
• Client side Internet Explorer support before Microsoft Internet Explorer 11

ASP.NET support is focus on compatibility, so not all ASP.NET Core SignalR new features are supported. To name a few: MessagePack, Streaming, etc., are only available for ASP.NET Core SignalR applications.

SignalR Service can be configured for different service mode: Classic/Default/Serverless. For ASP.NET support, the Serverless mode is not supported.

For a complete list of feature comparison between ASP.NET SignalR and ASP.NET Core SignalR, the proper version of SDKs to use in each case, and what are the recommended alternatives to use for features discontinued in ASP.NET Core SignalR, please refer to doc here.

We’d like to hear about your feedback and comments. You can reach the product team at the GitHub repo, or by email.

Zhidi Shang

Principal Program Manager, Azure SignalR Service

Follow Zhidi   

I’m technically not here as you read this, so this week’s updates is short and sweet again – sorry about that. I’ve been set on catching up on some overdue reviews this week, which is why so many have dropped this week. Not as many planned for next week but there’s still interesting games on the horizon worth exploring.

Next week it’s going to be a mixture of additional reviews, plus extra passes at Auto Chess and Harry Potter as those are still proving popular.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now

Santorini Board Game (iOS & Android) – Full Review Coming Soon!

Despite its light-hearted aesthetic, Santorini offers a wonderfully pure form of strategic play where your moves are few, but the tactical depth is near endless. 2 -4 players are given workers to move around a grid-based board, where the only things you can do is move, and build. Your goal is to firstly build a tower up to three levels, and then get one of your workers on top of that tower. The thing is, you only get to do one move/build action per turn with one worker. Plus, you can ‘cap’ towers to stop your opponent getting to the top (and they can do the same to you).

It’s an excellent abstract strategy game that should fit really well on mobile. The Santorini app, by Roxley, features challenging AI, pass-and-play and online multiplayer, as well as tutorials, challenges and other goodies. If you own the physical game, it can also be used as a companion app and features the optional ‘God’ powers that spice up what is an otherwise simple game. We can’t wait to do the full review!

Updates

There’s actually quite a few updates worth highlight this week, so this section needs must be a bit breezier than usual.

• Legends of Andor (Review) has received a small update that improves the UI and adds an ‘undo’ button, amongst other things.
• Carrier Battles for Guadalcanal (Review) is one of the few decent iOS wargames our there right now, and it’s just received a new content drop. This update reworks all of the scenarios, looks at Fog of War and makes a lot of changes to the air game.
• Mini Metro (Review) is another favourite of ours, and its latest update adds a new city, as well as smoothing out some kinks with our areas of the game.
• Knights of the Card Table (Review) – this deck-building/roguelike now has a new challenge mode where each dungeon follows its own unique set of rules, allowing you to experiment with equipment load-outs.
• Codito’s version of Le Havre has just received an update, despite the company closing down a few years ago. The Big Hamlet expansion is now available as an IAP, and there was also a free update adding some additional gameplay options.

There’s also been an update to the official Steam Link app, and of course Star Traders: Frontiers has received yet another content drop. Phew!

Sales

Not much to really shout out about this week, although Egypt: Old Kingdom is on sale for the first time since it launched, at nearly half price.

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

The team at Blizzard Entertainment published a blog post today in which company cofounder Frank Pearce lays out his intent to leave the company and “pass the torch to the next generation.”

This is significant because Pearce was the last Blizzard cofounder who hadn’t left; fellow cofounders Mike Morhaime and Allen Adham have both departed at this point, though Adham resigned in 2004 and returned in 2016, while Morhaime left just last year.

Alongside Pearce’s farewell message is a note from Blizzard president (and former World of Warcraft executive producer) J. Allen Brack thanking Pearce for his work and explaining that Pearce had stepped into an “advisory role to help with the transition” when Morhaime departed last fall.

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from video game industry ‘watcher’ Simon Carless (GDC, Gamasutra co-runner), rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.

This week’s roundup includes a look at Thatgamecompany’s Sky, the rise of the professional dungeon master, and the far-ahead tech of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on N64, as well as the latest on No Man’s Sky, Dead Cells, and lots more besides.

Another busy week – we just added six new members to the GDC ‘Core’ Advisory Board, including Sean Vanaman, M.E. Chung, and Elan Ruskin, and we opened up the call for submissions for our 2020 show too – tell your friends! And in the meantime, read these excellent links…

Until next time…
– Simon, curator.]

——————

Minecraft Earth’s closed beta: This augmented reality needs more augmenting (Sam Machkovech / Ars Technica – ARTICLE)
“After five days with the game’s closed beta (which launched seconds ago as a closed, invite-only beta in the Seattle area), I must report that the game’s early version is missing the series’ magic—and Mojang is going to need to put some more pixellated blocks into place before calling this one a victory.”

Designers Are Imagining Video Games Without Guns (Keith Stuart / OneZero / Medium – ARTICLE)
“But after years of playing games like these, I’ve started to ask myself: Would it be possible for any of these mainstream blockbusters to exist without guns? Have developers overlooked other ways to explore stories? Are there more interesting dynamics we could play with in games, designs that could encourage a different kind of feeling in players?”

The Design of Subnautica (Charlie Cleveland / GDC / YouTube – VIDEO)
“In this 2019 GDC session, Unknown Worlds’ Charlie Cleveland discusses the design of Subnautica and how it created feelings of exploration, discovery and the unknown.  [SIMON’S NOTE: also new from GDC on YouTube this week – this video on the making of Florence.]”

How Japanese RPGs Inspired A New Generation Of Fantasy Authors (Aidan Moher / Kotaku – ARTICLE)
“Scott Lynch’s experience growing up with Japanese console RPGs “absolutely” influenced his later writing, he said. “Most specifically, the grandeur and atmosphere the Final Fantasy games evoked through their blending of magic with technology, and via their use of Yoshitaka Amano’s art and Nobuo Uematsu’s music.””

The Rise of the Professional Dungeon Master (Mary Pilon / Bloomberg Businessweek – ARTICLE)
“On a recent Friday evening, Devon Chulick stood in the kitchen of his San Francisco apartment brewing potions. A dry-erase game board with a grid of black squares to assist in drawing maps was laid neatly across the coffee table in the living room, along with a dozen or so miniature elves, wizards, and drow rogues, which had been released from their Tupperware prisons.”

Pac-Man Ghost AI Explained (Retro Game Mechanics Explained / YouTube – VIDEO)
“Ever wondered how exactly each ghost follows Pac-Man around? It’s all explained right here.”

With ‘Sky,’ thatgamecompany’s Jenova Chen wants to fix what’s broken with games (Todd Martens / LA Times – ARTICLE)
“If one is going to make a game focused on love and caring, where advancement is helped by human collaboration at its most kind, you better believe Chen has the research — and the pitch — to prove his point. His Santa Monica-based company has taken risks — and a path counter to the rest of the business — to focus largely on themes of compassion in its titles.”

A Top 20 List of IF (Emily Short / Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling – ARTICLE)
“This year, I’ve deliberately skewed my list towards the criterion of maturity: games that represent what IF has become as a medium, that benefit from thought and careful play, and that communicate something about the human condition that is truthful, important, and hard to convey.”

DF Retro – how N64’s Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was years ahead of its time (John Linneman / Eurogamer – ARTICLE & VIDEO)
“Bungie’s Halo or Rare’s GoldenEye are often thought of as the first games that truly delivered a technologically advanced, first-class FPS shooter to console platforms – but from my perspective, Iguana Entertainment’s Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for N64 may well have got there first.”

The psychological reasons certain games feel like coming home (Astrid Johnson / Polygon – ARTICLE)
“The Legend of Zelda series, as a whole, has always been effective in making me feel like I’ve returned home when I spend time in their worlds. The first time I noticed the phenomenon, which I’ve been taking to calling the “holiday immersion” effect for lack of a better term, was coming back up to the surface of the Great Sea after exploring the submerged Hyrule Castle in Wind Waker.”

Can We Make Talking as Much Fun as Shooting? (Game Maker’s Toolkit / YouTube – VIDEO)
“Certain RPGs make the tantalising promise that you can skip combat altogether, by talking your way past the bad guys. But how can we turn this into genuinely interesting gameplay?”

Losing yourself in virtual worlds can have good as well as negative effects (Jennifer Ouellette / Ars Technica – ARTICLE)
“Now a psychologist at Bath Spa University in England but still an avid gamer, Etchells specializes in understanding the behavioral effects—both positive and negative—of video games. He chose that focus after going on an alcohol-fueled pub rant as a graduate student, annoyed by a fear-mongering newspaper headline claiming that computer games cause dementia in children.”

Gardening games are blossoming in turbulent times (Lewis Gordon / The Verge – ARTICLE)
“The past few years have been host to a flurry of gardening video games, most of which foreground growth and cultivation over the industry’s more traditional subjects of conflict and challenge… Often these games emphasize the methodical processes of the IRL pastime over the explicit advancement of a narrative or the mastery of game systems.”

Why are so many old games coming back? We asked developers why they chase nostalgia (Brendan Caldwell / RockPaperShotgun – ARTICLE)
“Reviving forgotten entertainment relics is nothing new (hi, George Lucas) but the recent glut of resurrections has made me wonder: why are developers and publishers so keen to go back to old ground? Why do they want to chase this sense of nostalgia? So, I asked them.”

‘My son spent £3,160 in one game’ (Zoe Kleinman / BBC – ARTICLE)
“Last week we told the story of the family whose children emptied their parents’ bank account buying players in the video game Fifa. It generated a big debate about whether parental controls are sufficient, how much responsibility lies with mum and dad – and the ethics of encouraging young players to spend money within games and apps.”

Road To King of Iron Fist – Tekken 7 Documentary (Hold Back To Block / YouTube – VIDEO)
“In 2016, Bandai Namco put together a North American tour for Tekken 7 before its console release, bringing arcade boards to tournaments around the country to give players a chance to play the game before release and also win a spot in the King of Iron Fist finals in Tokyo, Japan. Now for the first time, watch the stories of those tournaments on Youtube!”

The Glorious, Profitable, Inescapable Art of Addiction (Jeff Vogel / The Bottom Feeder – ARTICLE)
“I can’t be the first person to notice that complaining about these games’ loot drop rates is like being mad that the bartender is watering down the drinks. Complaining your character’s numbers aren’t going up fast enough is the “My weed dealer sold me a bag of oregano!” for the new millennium.”

Publishing: The Good, the Bad, and the Necessary (Tanya Short / Kitfox Games / Medium – ARTICLE)
“Don’t let their successes blind you. Dig deep to find the lesser-known published titles in their catalog — the ones that didn’t do so great. Ask them (and yourself) why those ones performed so differently, and what they learned from the experience. Would you be OK if your game performed similarly?”

Looking At How Far No Man’s Sky Has Come (Blake Woog / Game Informer – ARTICLE)
“Early No Man’s Sky was barren. It was a collection of empty planets good for harvesting and little else. The first two updates, Foundation and Path Finder, started to turn these planets from desolate rocks into homes. The Foundation update added a major base-building component that has been built upon since 2016 to the point that it now allows for some incredible base-building creations from the community.”

How Dead Cells Cheated to Make the Game More Fun (Ars Technica / YouTube – VIDEO)
“Sébastien Bénard, lead designer at Motion Twin, goes behind the scenes of Dead Cells’ development. Sébastien explains the challenges they came across and how they made the game feel so good to play.”

‘Project Winter’ Is the Best Game About Betrayal This Year (Cameron Kunzelman / VICE – ARTICLE)
“This is the core conceit of Project Winter, a game of survivors and those who want to kill them in an arctic hellscape. Each game is made up of eight players: six survivors who have thirty minutes to find a way to escape and two traitors out to stop them by any means.”

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