The next wave of Gears of War Funko Pop! figures are about to hit store shelves this Thursday, May 23! As we announced earlier this month, the mainline collection includes Kait Diaz in her winter gear from last year’s Gears 5 trailer, Marcus Fenix in his classic gear, Queen Myrrah, the Locust Boomer and the GameStop exclusive Skorge.

But that’s not all! Also releasing on Thursday is a limited-edition Collector’s Box which includes four Gears Pop! pins, a Gears Pop! baseball hat, a Gears Pop! artbook and four limited release Pop! figures: a red Skorge with shaded details, a gold-dipped of Marcus Fenix, a patinaed Myrrah, and Anya Stroud. The Collector’s Box is available exclusively at GameStop (in-stores and online) with limited quantities at EB Games, Sportscard Australia, select retailers throughout Europe and at E3.

All of these Pop! figures include a digital code for the upcoming Gears Pop! mobile game, which releases later this year. The code can be redeemed to your Xbox Live account starting May 23 – once the game has launched, the specific content associated with the code will unlock as it is released in game.

For more information on the Gears franchise, stay tuned to Xbox Wire, and to keep up to date with the latest information about Gears Pop!, you can visit www.gearspop.com and follow @GearsPop on Twitter.

“I think this is the commitment we’re ready to make today, and we’ll be listening to people. We definitely open a lot of lines of dialogue here, and we’d like to start with that.”

– CD Projekt Red leadership says speaking publicly about crunch acts as a public commitment to treat its devs humanely

CD Projekt Red’s co-founder Marcin Iwiński and studio head Adam Badowski approached Kotaku to discuss how the studio aims to tackle crunch as development of Cyberpunk 2077 enters its final laps.

Crunch is a persistent topic of conversation in the game industry, but stories about the practice are typically born out of burnt-out developers coming forward as opposed to studio leadership reaching out to the press. Iwiński, however, says the proactive approach aims to act as a public commitment that “we want to be more humane and treat people with respect.”

On the topic of crunch, Iwiński vows that the final stretch of Cyberpunk 2077’s development will “be better than The Witcher’s finishing period,” in the very least. He tells Kotaku that the studio is pushing its existing “non-obligatory crunch policy” even harder this time around and ensuring developers know that crunch isn’t mandatory, even when they’re directly asked to work nights and weekends. (Though, as past stories on crunch often point out, there are many ways crunch can become an implied requirement even without a direct mandate.)

The full Kotaku article has a detailed account on which promises CD Projekt Red would and wouldn’t commit to during the conversation. For instance, Iwiński wouldn’t say much of the specifics of the crunch that has happened so far, or promise to limit crunch to set periods of time. Instead, he reiterates that opening up to the press aims to act as a public commitment to the team working on Cyberpunk 2077.

“We’ve created a lot of force functions for us to improve,” Iwiński told Kotaku. “Making this commitment, I hope it shows that we are treating this matter very seriously.”

Kotaku’s Jason Schreier points out that the proactive approach may aim to preempt a potential investigation similar to the one the site published on BioWare’s Anthem in April. Schreier notes that four former CD Projekt Red devs reached out to Kotaku following that Anthem story to say they’d seen similar labor practices while working on Cyberpunk 2077.

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

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

Here are just some of the many, many positions being advertised right now. If you’re a recruiter looking for talent, you can also post jobs here.

Location: Burbank, California

Insomniac Games is looking for an audio designer to create, edit, and implement game-ready audio of the highest quality for AAA projects. They’ll work closely with the audio and development teams. They’ll maintain a high level of quality and consistency of assets throughout development.

Location: Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Our Software Developers drive, innovate, and execute engineering tasks on our games. You will support the technical vision and implementation of the Hyper Hippo games to help us evolve and take our game to new heights, growing our player base and helping create new features that continue to bring our fans back for more.  Scaling our games into the top of the charts, you’ll have an opportunity ensure our games and features maintain optimal performance continue to engage our players around the globe.

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Under the direction of the Chair, Media Studies, the Professor, is responsible for facilitating and guiding learning and providing an effective learning environment for all students. The professional responsibilities include the design/revision/updating of courses, the teaching of assigned courses, and the provision of academic leadership.

Location: San Jose, California

FoxNext Games is looking for an experienced narrative designer to translate the vision of the creative director into in-game story and playable events, develop fresh and innovative stories, settings, and characters in the Aliens science fiction universe, lead collaboration with other writers and designers, own the story bible and narrative vision for the project, create deep and engaging characters to populate the world, and script in-game dialog to bring them to life, and more as a member of its team.

Location: Redwood City, California

Crystal Dynamics is looking for an outstanding, talented, and experienced FX Artist. The successful FX Artist will have experience with particle editing, texture creation and real-time materials, and will have both a strong creative and technical background. This FX Artist with be able to conceptualize, present, and execute ideas within a schedule, while actively participating in technical and artistic problem solving, and will be able to partner with multiple disciplines to meet project-specific needs.  He or she will be able to quickly understand custom toolsets and deliver assets within the confines of real-time engine constraints and programming demands.

Starting at 3:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1905 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3055.190510-1845) Read on for more about the new features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1905 system update.

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3055.190510-1845
• Available: 3:00PM PDT 5/11/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 5/12/19

Fixes:

Audio

• Some users may have been impacted recently by their Dolby Atmos for Home Theater audio setting reverting to another audio setting. We have made a fix recently and are looking to our Insider Audience to verify it.
  
  • If you intend to use Dolby Atmos for Home Theater, please check out your Audio Settings and make sure it is enabled. If you are continuing to have problems enabling it, please file a bug.

• We have fixed an issue in which Users who changed their Headset format settings (to enable/disable Dolby Atmos for Headphones, Windows Sonic For Headphones) did not have their intended setting take effect in the UI flow (even though it looks like it succeeds)

My Games and Apps – Video Apps

• We have fixed the issue with video corruption showing in apps such as Youtube and Netflix with 4k playback.

System

• Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Today we are announcing that we have made the difficult decision to transition the Minecraft Forum from an active website to a read-only archive. This decision has been made after careful consideration about how we can best serve the Minecraft community with the resources we have available. A read-only archive of the website will ensure that the valuable content contributed over many years is safe-guarded, remaining available for visitors to explore.

From everyone at the Minecraft Forum we are deeply grateful for our communities contributions to the forum over the last decade, big and small. Millions of members have shared tens of millions of posts that have been viewed billions of times, and everyone contributed something to make this forum great. Minecraft Mod creators helped expand the world of Minecraft, support volunteers worked tirelessly to provide access to that world and everyone together turned that world into a community.

Read only mode will be enabled on June 16th, 2019. From this date you will no longer be able to login to the Minecraft Forum and no new content will be created, however all links to the Minecraft Forum will continue to work as-is, all content will remain accessible. This change does not impact the Minecraft Wiki. The Minecraft Wiki will continue as an active website, we have no plans to archive the Minecraft Wiki.

We appreciate that this is a big change and that there will be many questions. I am available in the comments of this news post to answer any questions you may have, and you are welcome to reach out via Private Message if you have any questions you would like to ask privately.

Please use the comments as an opportunity to share your story about what this community has meant to you. We would love to hear about how the forum has impacted you, whether it inspired a passion for creating, helped build friendships or simply provided you somewhere to share your love of the game — any thoughts you may have are welcome.

– citricsquid

If you were one of those people who were intrigued by the epic two-player card driven game Twilight Struggle but found it all a bit too complex and longwinded, then Playdek’s latest release may be more to your liking. Fort Sumter shifts the action from the Cold War to the American secession crisis of 1860. The bombardment of Fort Sumter and the ensuing surrender of US army forces was a key event in the nation’s history and led to the outbreak of the American Civil War. Somehow, the designer has managed to condense these dramatic events into a fifteen-minute game, in which each player only ever gets the opportunity to play a grand total of twelve cards.

Do not, however, entertain the idea that the quick playing time means that Fort Sumter is just another in a long line of microgames in the mould of Love Letter. There is definitely a lot more going on here, with one player taking control of the Unionists and the other playing as the Secessionists. Players compete to exert political influence in an attempt to manoeuvre their way into the strongest position in preparation for the inevitable outbreak of war. The action is played out on a small map that shows four spheres of influence, namely, political, secession, public opinion and armaments. Each sphere is made up of three spaces, the most influential of which will be denoted as pivotal. For instance, in the sphere of public opinion, the pivotal spot is newspapers. Throughout the game, players will use cards to place political influence cubes in the various spaces in an attempt to wrestle overall control of as many spheres as possible.

Players begin each of the three rounds with a hand of six cards. Two of these cards will depict a secret objective, which usually means having the most influence cubes in a particular area. Each player then elects to keep one objective and to discard the other. Next, players take it in turns to play their remaining cards, whilst setting one aside until the final round. These cards represent a notable person or historical event and are colour coded to denote which of the two sides they are aligned to, although there are also some neutral cards. Players are not limited to only using the cards that match their side.

Each card has a number in the top corner that shows how many influence cubes that it allows you to place. This isn’t usually as strong a move as the special action but it is more flexible since it allows you to exert influence anywhere on the board instead of being tied to particular spaces. If the Secessionists side plays the ‘Plantation Class’ card for example, then they will either be able to use the card’s basic action to place one cube on any space or use the special action to place two cubes on any of the three secession spaces. If the unionist player plays the same card then their only option is to place a single cube by using the basic action.

It is pretty obvious to explain this thematically, as rich plantation owners with their invested interest in slave labour and their political influence, were the driving force behind the secessionist movement. However, unless you are a real American history buff you are not going to know the background behind many of the cards, and without latching on to this context, the game can become a very abstract exercise in cube pushing. There is a card gallery that provides the necessary historical relevance of the various cards, but this cannot be accessed without returning to the main menu. On the subject of abstract design, the map of the USA is also just window-dressing. Indeed there is an option to use an alternative map that completely does away with the whole pretence and so just groups the locations by type. This actually makes it easier to assess the current state of affairs.

Fort Sumter has a few more nuances up its sleeve; there is a peacekeeper who prevents cubes from being added or removed from a particular space. He can be brought into play by playing the appropriate card or by escalating the crisis. As players bring more influence into effect, tensions mount and the crisis level increases. The first player to trigger the highest crisis level will earn a larger political influence bonus, however, they are also perceived as the chief aggressor, costing them a victory point and possibly bringing about a premature ending to the game.

At the end of the first three stages, players that control the vital pivotal spaces will be able to add or remove cubes in that particular sphere. If a player has managed to secure a majority of cubes in all three of a sphere’s spaces, they earn a victory point. Extra points are awarded for completing that turn’s secret objectives. To add a tense climax to proceedings, the fourth and final round plays out a little differently. Both players secretly select the order in which they want to play the three cards that they have kept aside. The effects will then be determined by simultaneously revealing both players cards one at a time to determine if they have matching influence spheres.

The first thing that is likely to impress is an extremely comprehensive tutorial, which guides you through an entire game. This not only teaches the rules but also gives some useful strategic insights. It also introduces the player to the faultless interface, which creates an authentic representation of the board game in which all of the essential information can be taken in at a glance. The graphics are a mix of old photographs and illustrations and give proceedings a strong historical flavour, as does the patriotic piano tunes and spoken quotes. Unfortunately, the range of play options is a little limited, you can play online or offline but there is only one level of AI, which will not take many games to overcome. He is not the smartest; in one game he placed the peace commissioner on a space that actually served to protect my control of an area.

This game is easy to learn and contains plenty of interesting decisions. It manages to create some very tight pressure points, often feeling like a game of chicken as you try to force your opponent’s hand. The trailing player has the considerable advantage of having the final say at the end of each round, which means that it can be prudent to hang back until you are ready to strike. My main concern is that the luck of the draw can leave one player with a bunch of cards tailored for the opposing side. Also, in spite of the rich background, with a cast of strong characters and notable events, players are essentially just pushing cubes, which means that the historical significance of what they are doing can struggle to make an impression.

Fort Sumter may sound like a war game but it actually turns out to be more of a euro style board game. The slimming down of the mechanics hasn’t been without sacrifice and some may feel that the abstraction has gone a little too far. Yet, it still manages to be a fine, quick-playing political simulation that can give you a Twilight Struggle style fix in a fraction of the time.

Fort Sumter will be releasing on iOS & Android tomorrow. Because our review is early, we don’t have the store links yet but will update this review when we do.