Aegis Defenders Receiving A Limited Run Games Physical Release
Limited Run Games is partnering with the team at Humble Bundle to release a physical copy of the 2D wonder Aegis Defenders on the Switch and PlayStation 4. The title originally debuted on eShop in February 2018.
Pre-orders for the hard copy will be available on 10th May at 10 am EST. There’ll also be a two-week timed pre-order for the Switch version and Limited Run has confirmed there won’t be a collector’s edition for this one.
Explore ancient ruins, defend against waves of enemies, and experience an epic story through the eyes of four heroes in @AegisDefenders!
Aegis Defenders started out life as a Kickstarter project in 2014 and combines platforming action and exploration with tower defense. It also supports a two player drop in/drop out co-op mode. In our review we said it was a fantastic game and gave it nine out of ten stars.
Is this a physical release you’ve been holding out for? Do you already own a digital copy? Tell us below.
It seems like it was just six months ago that we announced Fedora 29, and here we are again. Today, we announce our next operating system release. Even though it went so quickly, a lot has happened in the last half year, and you’ll see the results in Fedora 30.
Fedora Editions are targeted outputs geared toward specific “showcase” uses. Since we first started using this concept in the Fedora 21 release, the needs of the community have continued to evolve. As part of Fedora 30, we’re combining cloud and server into the Fedora Server edition. We’re bringing in Fedora CoreOS to replace Fedora Atomic Host as our container-focused deliverable in the Fedora 30 timeframe — stay tuned for that. The Fedora Workstation edition continues to focus on delivering the latest in open source desktop tools.
Fedora Workstation features GNOME 3.32 — the latest release of this popular desktop environment. GNOME 3.32 features an updated visual style, including the user interface, the icons, and the desktop itself. New to Fedora Server are Linux System Roles — a collection of roles and modules executed by Ansible to assist Linux admins in the configuration of common GNU/Linux subsystems
No matter what variant of Fedora you use, you’re getting the latest the open source world has to offer. GCC 9, Bash 5.0, and PHP 7.3 are among the many updated packages in Fedora 30. We’re excited for you to try it out. So go to https://getfedora.org/ and download it now. Or if you’re already running a Fedora release, follow the easy upgrade instructions.
Along with the release of Fedora 30, we’re moving our “Ask Fedora” support forum to the Discourse platform. Log in to Ask Fedora to try it out and watch for a Fedora Magazine article about it soon.
As always, thanks to the thousands of people who contributed in some way to the Fedora Project in this release cycle, and to the Fedora heroes who helped get this release out on schedule even with so much else going on. If you’re in Boston for Red Hat Summit next week, whether you are one of these contributors, would like to be one in the future, or just a friend, make sure to visit the Fedora booth in Community Central!
BabylonJS, an open source browser based game engine, just released a major update in the form of the 4.0 release. In addition to a website makeover and new forums, the 3D game engine gained several improvements including a new Inspector, improved PBR rendering capabilities, physics support via the Ammo.js plugin and much more. If you are interested in learning BabylonJS, be sure to check out our existing tutorial series available here.
Be sure to check the complete release notes for more details, as there are dozens more improvements as well as several breaking changes for Babylon v3.x developers to be aware of.
BabylonJS is open source and available on GitHub under the Apache open source license. It ships with an excellent interactive playground that makes learning and playing with BabylonJS a breeze. There is also a complete cloud based level editor available here. Check out the video below to learn more about this release and to see that playground, inspector and editor in action.
Chewbacca Actor Peter Mayhew Passes Away, Hollywood Stars Send Their Tributes
Actor Peter Mayhew, who is best known for his portrayal of Chewbacca in the Star Wars series, has passed away. Mayhew died on April 30 in his home in North Texas, USA. He was 74.
His passing was announced by his family in a statement posted to Twitter. After the news broke, tributes poured in. Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill said, "He was the gentlest of giants-A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him." Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo opposite Mayhew's Chewbacca, told The Hollywood Reporter, "Peter Mayhew was a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character. These aspects of his own personality, plus his wit and grace, he brought to Chewbacca. We were partners in film and friends in life for over 30 years and I loved him. He invested his soul in the character and brought great pleasure to the Star Wars audience."
A number of other actors and celebrities connected to Star Wars and otherwise have responded to the news. Scroll down to see their responses.
Mayhew played Chewbacca in the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens in a role shared by Joonas Suotamo. Mayhew did consulting work for The Last Jedi to help Suotamo feel capable in the role.
Outside of his film career, Mayhew did a lot of charitable work for groups like Wounded Warriors, Make-A-Wish, and the 501st Legion. He also created his own Peter Mayhew Foundation that supports individuals and families in need.
The family of Peter Mayhew, with deep love and sadness, regrets to share the news that Peter has passed away. He left us the evening of April 30, 2019 with his family by his side in his North Texas home. pic.twitter.com/YZ5VLyuK0u
Mayhew is survived by his wife, Angie, and three children. "His kindness, generosity, and care will live on in the Peter Mayhew Foundation with Angie taking the helm as his voice," his family said in their statement.
Mayhew's first big movie role was in 1977's "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger," which was released in the same year as A New Hope.
He was the gentlest of giants-A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him. Thanks Pete #RIPPeterMayhew#Heartbroken@TheWookieeRoarspic.twitter.com/8xbq9HEWF2
"We are deeply saddened today by the news of Peter Mayhew’s passing. Since 1976, Peter’s iconic portrayal of the loyal, lovable Chewbacca has been absolutely integral to the character’s success, and to the Star Wars saga itself."-Kathleen Kennedy.
The @WaltDisneyCo mourns the loss of our beloved #chewbacca portrayer, #PeterMayhew. Peter was larger than life in so many ways...a gentle giant playing a gentle giant. Rest in peace.
RIP Peter Mayhew. To create a beloved character with warmth and humor is a testament to any actor’s spirit. To do it under a half ton of yak hair takes a true legend. ❤️❤️
?I am so sorry to hear about Peter. We had so many fun and memorable tweets back and forth over the years plus seeing each other at a convention here and there. My deepest condolences to his family. He will be sorely missed! ? https://t.co/R3lAEvkQJc
Nintendo Reveals The Switch eShop’s Best-Selling Games For April 2019 (Europe)
Not surprised Cuphead is doing well, it’s one of my favorite games and deserves the top spot for sure. Anyone saying otherwise is just hating. I haven’t seen a single legit criticism for it above, so yeah.
My only personal gripe with the game is that King Dice is a bit unfair at the end due to the fact you have to bounce off the pink cards he sends out, but he doesn’t send them out fast enough and I find myself getting hit because the pink card isn’t coming out before I start descending.
The Detective Pikachu Movie Reviews Are In, And It’s Actually Pretty Mixed
The Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie releases in cinemas worldwide next Friday, just one week from today. We’ve been feeling pretty optimistic about this one – the trailers have seemed surprisingly promising throughout the build-up to the film’s release – but now it’s time to see what the critics think.
Yes, select media have now had the opportunity to check out the full film and have posted early reviews online. We’re pretty shocked to see that views are rather mixed; at the time of writing, the film has a Metascore of 50 out of 100 – you can’t get much more average than that. On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s currently sitting at a much better 74%, however.
We’ve included a few snippets of reviews for you below (with links to all of the full reviews provided).
IGN,Joshua Yehl [8.0/10]:
“Smith’s character gives the story an emotional weight and Reynolds delivers an endearing comedic performance that’s closer to his subversive Deadpool schtick than you’d expect. While video game movies haven’t had the best track record, this movie is by and far the best example of how to do one right.” Read full review
The Guardian, Steve Rose [3/5]:
“Without Reynolds this would be pretty run-of-the-mill; with him it’s a perfectly acceptable family movie. Given the history, that’s a giant leap for Pokémon-kind.” Read full review
The Verge, Julia Alexander:
“Detective Pikachu is a fever dream — a product of night time car rides with a Game Boy, staring up at the street lamps that pass you by, painting the darkened sky with wild imaginations of what a world full of Pokémon might feel like. Detective Pikachu is a silly, almost hallucinogenic ride.” Read full review
ScreenCrush, Matt Singer [5/10]:
“Beneath the predictable story, Detective Pikachu isn’t about much, and if you need Wikipedia to explain who Mewtwo is, most of the jokes will go right over your head. The whole thing is a bit too childish for adults, and a bit too convoluted for kids. It absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects however, even if the subject matter makes me think it’s unlikely to receive one.” Read full review
Variety, Peter Debruge:
Though consistent with the game (with a few extra but obvious twists thrown in for good measure), the story of “Detective Pikachu” doesn’t allow nearly enough Pokémon-related action, while the quality of the computer animation (by Moving Picture Co. and Framestore) falls far short of the basic level of competency audiences have come to expect from effects movies. Read full review
Empire, Olly Richards [3/5]:
“It’s impossible to overstate how much this film owes to Ryan Reynolds. Even if you don’t understand Pikachu’s world, everyone can understand a great joke superbly delivered.” Read full review
The Associated Press, Mark Kennedy:
“Live-action feature film adaptations of video games have proved a dicey proposition in the past. For every ‘Mortal Kombat’ there’s a ‘Prince of Persia.’ This one just feels like a venal money grab from a mega corporation. You’ve played Pokémon Go, right? Call this one Pokémon Don’t Go.” Read full review
We wouldn’t be too disheartened, though. Interestingly, comparing the reviews from major film industry press outlets to those from video game backgrounds shows a common trend, and this gets extended even further when taking into account the views of online personalities and influencers who have already seen the film.
Sites such as Polygon and Eurogamer had fairly mixed-to-positive reviews on the whole, but both highlighted the joys of the Pokémon themselves and the world around them. The more film-centric sites, who we’d assume don’t have quite the same knowledge of the Pokémon franchise, have commonly argued that the acting of Ryan Reynolds is the saving grace here, with the Pokémon not being particularly special.
Pokémon fansite Serebii scored the film 4/5, saying that it “really plays the line a lot between hardcore Pokémon fan references and things for the uninitiated, but it never goes over the line one way or the other and keeps a perfect balance”.
Perhaps this suggests that the film is great for fans of the series, while being simply ‘OK’ for those who don’t know the Pokémon world and not so great for those who have no interest in it at all – which would make sense, after all.
We’ll have our very own review of the film right here on Nintendo Life next week, so make sure to keep an eye out for that if you’d like to read our verdict. Until then, why not let us know if you plan to see the film with a comment below?
Xbox One players have two more games they can now play on their console. Microsoft's director of programming for Xbox Live, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, took to Twitter to announce that the Xbox One now supports two more Xbox 360 titles via backward compatibility.
Developed by Team Ninja for the PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is an enhanced Ninja Gaiden 3 port that includes the original DLC, as well as a variety of performance enhancements and improvements. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge released nearly a year after the initial game's March 2012 release date and brought alongside a host of changes like increasing the speed of kunai climbing, introducing new weapons like the lunar staff and kusarigama, improving enemy AI, and more.
Trials Evolution was developed by RedLynx. Released for the Xbox 360 in April 2012 before speeding to iOS and PC in 2013, Trials Evolution--the fourth mainline entry in the Trials franchise--tasks you with facing and overcoming a variety of motorcycle trials in a bid to claim the top spot on the leaderboards. Trials Evolution includes two course editors (Lite and Pro) that allow you to create and share courses online.
In our Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge review, we called the update "a welcome gesture, and one that makes for an improved action game--yet a hundred small fixes are no substitute for a game built from the ground up to be a challenging, fluid, and fulfilling action extravaganza."
In our Trials Evolution review, we said it's "a great game that not only tests your skill and patience, but keeps you laughing at the ridiculous scenarios."
PlatinumGames Shares More Detail On Bayonetta 3’s Unorthodox Development
If you’re as eager to get your hands on Bayonetta 3 as we are, you probably spotted our story yesterday which shared the news of a change in the development process for the series. Now, we have a little more info on the subject thanks to PlatinumGames studio head, Atsushi Inaba.
Talking to VGC, Inaba reveals that the change in development is centred around the game’s structure, with the original games being created in an orthodox, chronological order. This looks to be entirely out of the window for Bayonetta 3, perhaps explaining why the studio previously said the game would be “crazier” than ever before.
“With Bayonetta 1 and 2 we had basically an orthodox development process, at least for us. We did stage one, then stage two, then stage three and built up the drama and the pacing chronologically. For Bayonetta 3, we can say that we learned enough from making the past two games to change our process in a way that’s different to what I just described.”
So, is this something that players will notice? Or will the end result feel just like previous entries? VGC put that very question to Inaba, too.
“Maybe the players will recognise this as well. And that’s all the hints you get!”
The first tasty slice of footage can’t come soon enough for this one. Will things really be that different? Will it be good different, or bad different?
Looks Like Ubisoft’s Child Of Light Isn’t Getting A Sequel After All
One of Ubisoft’s more left-field projects – and one of its best, we’d argue – is Child of Light. The game originally launched on Wii U back in 2014 and has since seen a rerelease on Switch, both times enchanting our minds enough to have us hoping for another helping with a lovely sequel or two.
At one stage, a sequel seemed very likely indeed – the game’s creative director once said that some “very cool projects” for the Child of Light universe were in the works, and eventually shared an image teasing a ‘Child of Light 2’ – but it would appear that the game isn’t on the way after all.
Speaking to VGC, the very same creative director, Patrick Plourde, has revealed that the game is well formed in his head but isn’t being worked on – to the best of his knowledge, at least.
“I know the major beats, the location, and that it would feature multiple protagonists. It would have two protagonists going on different paths in life with different motivations, linked by their friendship.
“I don’t know if there’s a Child of Light 2 that is in production, Ubisoft is big, but I’m not working on it. Right now, I don’t think there’s a Child of Light 2 being produced… I’m not holding my breath.”
Plourde tells VGC that the plan for Child of Light 2 was partly inspired by Swan Lake, with its story exploring love, friendship, and how people change as they grow up.
It’s a shame that we might never get to see this in action, but the situation seems almost fitting. Another inspiration for the game’s theme of people and the way in which they change came from the dev team who worked on the original game – a team which has now, for the most part, disbanded.
Have you played Child of Light? Would you have liked to see this sequel make it to release? Let us know in the usual place.
It’s been a bit of a slower week this week but hopefully you’ve all found something to your liking – not as many reviews as I’d like but everyone is working on something, so the pipeline will keep spitting out new entries for the index and we’re working on a couple of new features as well.
I especially like updating the Upcoming Mobile Games feature, as it allows me to go back through the various bits of news we don’t always get to cover, and get hyped for the rest of the year.
This game released last week but we forgot to give it a mention – the SpellForce series can chart its origins to the wild days of 2003, where it’s spent most of 15 years across 8 releases masquerading as a real-time strategy/RPG. Now the series is making its mobile debuts with SpellForce: Heroes & Magic, and it’s ditched the standard flow of time to offers a turn-based strategy experience instead.
It’s leaving the story and lore of the SpellForce universe largely untouched, and offers both a free play or a 13-mission adventure mode. There are three playable races, six neutral factions, and you have to build up your kingdom, explore the surroundings and defeat your enemies in turn-based hex combat.
This one ticks multiple PT Bingo boxes this week – it’s got ‘Spell’ in it, like our top entry, and is a roguelike deck-builder RPG with card mechanics and procedural generation. One of it’s unique hooks is reported to be ‘Card Fusion’, so you can finally summon that Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon that you’ve been dreaming of all these years.
On a serious note, this game is yet another newcomer in what’s becoming a rapidly over-crowded genre. The aesthetic is certainly cool, but it depends whether the gameplay can back it up – we’ll bring you our thoughts as soon as we can.
On PC I’ve been a fan of games like Space Engineers and Kerbal Space Program for years. I don’t quite have the fortitude (or the math) to play them as much as I’d want to, but I’m glad they exist and they are fun to drop into every now and then.
Lunar Rescue Mission is no KSP, but it boasts realistic phsyics and several different vehicles that require mastering as you travel across sectors trying to rescue stranded colonists. Quite keen to get a review done for this one as it’s different and something you often see, plus it’s not even that expensive. It’s been in beta on Android since at least 2017, but now its released fully on both platforms.
And last but certainly not least, Tropico’s iOS port is now available on iPhone, as well as iPad, making it a universal app. Just go to wait for that android version now…
Now that Carriers are well and truly out the door the Trese brother’s unrelenting pace of updates is back on track. Update #146 adds two new female faces, adds a new prototype Bounty Hunter story mission and a whole bunch of QoL fixes. The full change-log can be seen on steam.
Evolution has had a few updates since it released, but the most recent one allows Premium users to play for free with any friends or family that are only using the ‘free’ version of the game.
Sales
Asmodee Digital Spring Sale
Asmodee Digital are having a Spring Sale on both iOS & Android, with the following games going for up to 60% off:
Carcasonne (Android)
Mysterium
Agricola
Agricola 2P
Isle of Skye
Pandemic
Pathfinder Adventures
Twilight Struggle
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (iOS & Android)
It’s May 4th tomorrow, but plenty of places are getting in early with their Star Wars celebrations – everyone’s favourite Bioware RPG is currently half-price on both mobile platforms, just in case you STILL haven’t picked it up yet.
Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!
