PQube and Aquire have announced that maze-based arcade game SCRAP RUSH!! will launch on Nintendo Switch in the west this summer.

The game puts you and your friends into an arena full of metal blocks (we imagine we’re not the only ones feeling a heavy Bomberman vibe after watching that trailer). Instead of bombs, though, you collect scrap, which gets turned into blocks and launched at opponents.

You’ll need to crush your opponents against the wall, all while dodging attacks from other players who are trying to do the same to you. The game was trending on the Japanese eShop last month, so it would seem that players have been enjoying this “hilarious” last-robot-standing affair.

We have some screenshots for you to check out below.

We’ll make sure to keep an eye out for a release date for this one in the coming weeks, but until then, why not let us know your early thoughts in the comments below?

Apple has developed and launched a game on the iOS App Store, something MacRumors says the company hasn’t done since 2008.

The game in question is Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard, a free game named for one of the company’s notable investors that tasks players with flinging newspapers from Buffett’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska to the Apple HQ in Cupertino, California.

The concept plays into a short clip played during Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent visit to Omaha where he and Buffett brainstorm an app to develop, and Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard is the result.

While the App Store lists Wildlife Design Inc. as its seller, MacRumors points out that the app’s terms say that it is copyrighted, maintained, and operated by Apple. A spokesperson speaking to Business Insider also confirmed that the game was co-developed by Apple. That qualifies Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard the first release Apple has helmed since the 2008 release of Texas Hold’em.

The original Plants vs. Zombies, a charming tower defense game that spawned a prolific and still-running series, has turned 10 years old. To commemorate the release, the game’s creator George Fan has shared some of his early design doodles.

His notes offer a quick but interesting look at what ended up becoming an iconic game of its generation. Fan shared those design sketches in a thread on Twitter, running through how different character types and small mechanics appeared and evolved in the early days of planning for the game.

For instance, he says at one point a prototype of Plants vs. Zombies was a Magic: The Gathering-inspired deck building game. Another early idea of the game had plants fighting off aliens, specifically those from another PopCap-published game called Insaniquarium, but that idea was scrapped once Fan says he sketched the perfect zombie.

A peek at the rest of his notes can be found in the full twitter thread and, for another look at Fan’s process for creating Plants vs. Zombies (specifically the delicate business of teaching game mechanics to players), take a look at his talk from GDC 2012.

Happy 10th Birthday, Plants vs. Zombies! I had no idea when scribbling this on paper over 10 years ago just how much it’d change my life! pic.twitter.com/MyZMx9m7Zh

— George Fan (@thegeorgefan) May 5, 2019

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Skip Ahead Ring will begin receiving the latest 1910 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_19H2HOLD_1910\18362.7073.190424-1920).  This build has the same features and fixes as 1905 however we need valuable core recovery coverage and feedback as we skip ahead.

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_19H2HOLD_1910\18362.7073.190424-1920
• Available: 2:00PM PST 4/27/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PST 4/28/19

New Features:

The 1905 features are highlighted here in a new blog post  https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/04/25/improvements-to-xbox-game-pass-friends-list-and-messaging-coming-to-xbox-insiders/

Fixes:

My Games and Apps

• Fixes to address Multiple Games/Apps failing to launch with the too long to start error on latest update.

Settings – Hard Drive Transfer

• We have fixed the Moving/copying content from one drive to another.

System

• Fixed a sign in crashing bug.
• Localization fixes.
• UI and string changes to the Xbox Assist App.
• UI fixes to address flickering when starting the Xbox Accessories app.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles.
• Some users are experiencing no audio with headsets and we are investigating
• Some users are encountering no audio on their Xbox console after boot (no shell audio, no game audio, no app audio), then have CSS ask them to perform the following steps:

1. Cold reboot the console

OR

2. Go to Audio settings on console
3. Change their HDMI audio settings to the highest supported uncompressed channel count for their equipment
4. Switch back to the desired format
5. Audio should be restored

My Games and Apps

• We are tracking the video corruption issue with Youtube and Netflix 4k playback.

Profile Color

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

Descenders is Now Available on Steam and is 25% off!*

Descenders is extreme downhill freeriding for the modern era, with procedurally generated worlds, and where mistakes have real consequences. Will you lead your team to glory and become the next legendary Descender?

*Offer ends May 14 at 10AM Pacific Time

We were rather taken by retro-racer Horizon Chase Turbo when it power-slid onto the Switch in November last year. Brazillian developer Aquiris really brought the classic arcade racing games of yesteryear bang up to date, making this an essential purchase.

The lovely folks over at Aquiris still have unfinished business with Horizon Chase Turbo, however, and have revealed their ambitious roadmap for the game. Lots of new exciting features are planned for the second half of 2019.

Let’s take a look at what they’re cooking up:

PLAYGROUND MODE 2.0

In addition to be the fastest, win and lead the ranking, now players have another good reason to check into our Playground Mode: get exclusive prizes. Collecting coins in a new scoring system they will gain access to new skins in special seasons.

NEW DLCs

Horizon Chase Turbo already brings hours and hours of fun and speed, but for the hardcore retroracers it’s never enough. Thinking of them, we are working on new DLCs with new cars, new campaigns and more.

NEW GAME MODES

When it comes to designing upgrades, granting fun for the gamer always gets the pole position. Our team analyzes players behavior within the game and their thoughts on social media. Thus we get insights for new ideas and upgrades. There are surprises right ahead, you can count on it!

We love it when developers continue to update their games to make them the very best they can be, even a year or so after release. Let us know if you’re excited about these future updates with a comment below.

Microsoft Build 2019 is here, and thousands of developers are learning about the latest technologies, sharing best practices with colleagues, and writing lots of code. Last week I wrote about business applications sessions to see at Build, and on Monday I discussed updates for helping ISVs (independent software vendors) and developers be successful from both a business and a code perspective.

A few years ago, Microsoft introduced an IP co-sell program to help our digitally transforming enterprise customers get the software they needed from our Azure ISV partners. Many of these customers were moving to the cloud, so we started by focusing on Azure. During this time roughly 3,000 ISVs have generated over $5 billion in partner revenue from the collaboration between Azure sellers and ISVs. Following up on last month’s announcement about an upcoming program for business applications ISVs, Scott Guthrie announced the expansion of the IP co-sell program to include Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partners. Including these products and Azure in the program will make it easier for ISVs and Microsoft sellers to collaborate in serving our joint enterprise customers.

Enterprise customers are increasingly seeing software at the core of their business and are developing a deeper understanding of their software needs. Beyond person to person sales engagements, there will be times when they want to buy the app directly while having confidence in the quality of what they’re receiving. Like consumers, enterprises are familiar with getting their software through marketplaces and the ability for ISVs to transact through marketplaces lowers the barrier for reaching their enterprise customers. On Monday, we announced that SaaS transaction capabilities have been added to AppSource and the Azure Marketplace. As part of this, we will enable transactability support for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partner apps over the coming months. This is just a start to what we are doing with the marketplace, and now is the perfect time to get familiar with our partner program that launches in July to learn more about the benefits that come with being a Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partner.

The Power Platform provides great general tooling for creating business apps while the Common Data Model (CDM) creates a standard representation of that data. There are times when an industry’s focused solution and data model are better than starting from scratch. For this case Dynamics 365 Industry Accelerators provide industry specific implementations, and we’re announcing private previews in automotive and financial services. The accelerator for the automotive industry enables you to build connected customer experiences based on a proven common data model designed to transform consumer experiences and enable smart mobility services. In financial services, we have built accelerators to help you develop banking solutions in the retail and commercial space with enhanced ways to engage customers and provide an improved customer banking experience. Automotive and financial services accelerators join previously announced accelerators including healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit. Sign up to learn more about how you can participate or help us build the next set of industry accelerators.

During my talk at Build, I showed how all of this fits together through three phases: data at the core, empowering domain experts to be citizen developers, and showing how developers and ISVs can build depth solutions. We used healthcare as an end to end scenario that we can relate to and showcased how we’re infusing AI into all three phases in a way that every industry can start to take advantage of, moving from BI to AI. Lastly, I was delighted to welcome two customers on stage that are delivering innovative solutions. HandsFree Health™ is a new startup founded by senior executives in healthcare including the former President of Aetna. They built an innovative new home healthcare device using Microsoft AI technologies spanning speech, bots, vision, and a companion Xamarin mobile app that we showed on stage. We also took a deeper look at what ISVs can do with Indegene, a global healthcare solutions provider who is building the next generation of cloud applications for life sciences with the Dynamics 365 Healthcare Accelerator.

If you are at Build or following along at home, I have created a list of some Dynamics 365 and Power Platform sessions that you might be interested in. Enjoy your Build 2019 experience and we look forward to seeing how you build, extend, or connect Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform.

Cheers,

Guggs

By Mikey Campbell
Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 06:00 pm PT (09:00 pm ET)

While in Florida for SAP’s annual Sapphire user conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook took time out of his schedule to visit meet Worldwide Developers Conference scholarship winner Liam Rosenfeld at an Orlando Apple store.

Apple CEO Tim Cook meets WWDC scholarship winner Liam Rosenfeld. | Source: Tim Cook via Twitter

At the SAP conference, Cook was on hand to introduce an expansion to an existing partnership that will see the German software corporation roll out new enterprise apps infused with Apple technology.

Following the conference, Cook stopped by Apple Store Millenia for a brief sit-down with Rosenfeld, one of 350 U.S. students selected to receive a scholarship to attend WWDC 2019 in June, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

“I was not expecting that at all,” Rosenfeld said. “It was such an amazing surprise.”

Along with coding his own iOS apps, Rosenfeld, 16, started a coding club at Lyman High School that has grown to 16 members. The sophomore has one app in the App Store, Image to ASCII Art, and is developing two more projects including a game that teaches musicians how to tune their instruments.

Rosenfeld was able to show Cook his work in a short meeting held in the Apple store’s conference room. The CEO was impressed with what he saw.

“He has a quality that I think is on a short list of characteristics that drive success, and that is curiosity,” Cook said of Rosenfeld.

Speaking to the Sentinel, Cook took the opportunity to push Apple’s coding in education agenda, noting WWDC scholarships are doled out in an effort to fill the need for tech savvy workers. The awards are handed out to students and members of STEM organizations and include free access to the event and lodging.

“You need public, private, non-governmental organizations working together because this is not a trivial transformation that needs to happen here,” Cook said. “We have an obligation. We are fortunate to have had some success.”

Rosenfeld agrees with Apple’s take on the importance of learning to code in school, a skill set that could prove particularly beneficial to K-12 students.

“There aren’t many things you can get into in high school and use it to move toward a career path,” Rosendfeld said. “Computer science is what is driving change.”

Cook tweeted about his meeting with Rosenfeld on Tuesday and included a link to the Sentinel’s report.

Studio des Ténèbres made Frost, a deckbuilding solitaire survival card game that was very well-received, especially on this site. That’s why I was excited to look at their latest: Mini Gal4xy. In addition to its clever interpolation of “4X” into the title, the core idea of a simplified space 4X game for mobile is a great one. With isolated star systems there’s no need for a complicated map, and sci-fi fluff gives you lots of flexibility in terms of making techs and units that work well but make sense in the universe. What’s more, the game appears really polished, with a great Saturday-morning cartoon look. Unfortunately, a lot of the other parts don’t show nearly as much polish.

In my first game, the decision points I was presented with in the parts of the game I was able to play were pretty dull. Unlock certain technologies and you can unlock certain exploitation slots on planets that let you get more resources. The planets are randomly generated and connected and the tech tree is procedurally generated too, not consistent from game to game. Since everything is random, it’s simply a matter of pattern recognition. The nearest planets require such and such tech unlocks. Those techs are behind these other techs. Save your resources, colonize those planets, rinse, repeat. If you somehow end up with a pile of the wrong resource, just swap it at 3:1 with any other resource. Playing a whole turn takes seconds because there are so few decisions to make.

It’s a game of optimizing your response to a procedurally-generated puzzle. What’s more, there’s no AI to speak of. You get to choose the “barbarians” (in Civ terms) that you’ll steamroll over to unlock new planets, but you don’t actually fight any other empires. Instead, the name of the game is maximizing your point totals through careful development. Score high enough, and you can unlock new techs, rules, and alien races for your next go round.

With such a significant reliance on random chance, you get situations that feel unfair pretty frequently, and even your greatest accomplishments can feel unearned when the map was laid out in your favor. In one game, the procedural map locked me into a corner where the only planet I could colonize was locked behind a technology at the end of the tree, and the tech to colonize from my ships wasn’t much closer. Cue turn after turn of slowly accumulating science points one by one. Obviously, that game was one of my lower-scoring ones.

Luckily, Mini Gal4xy starts to become more interesting once you’ve unlocked a few more technologies and a few more alien races. The races, in particular, take a page from the playbooks of Cosmic Encounter and Endless Legend by being dramatically different in their abilities and play styles. The Nomads don’t have a home base and their ships are built unarmed but with colonizing capabilities. The Fermulons start without a ship but can explore neighboring planets by building an Observatory. It’s an interesting challenge figuring out how to adapt to the limitations and take advantage of the strengths of each race, especially when they seem to break what you understand to be the basic rules of the game.

Understanding the basic rules was another problem, though. Despite the simplified gameplay, a lot of things are not explained and I often had questions that the game’s icons could not answer. There’s a tutorial, but it doesn’t explain that the dots above each planet will light up when you can afford an improvement there, or why enemy ships sometimes attack your ships in system and sometimes wait for you to make the first move.

With improvements to the interface and more carefully-crafted procedural generation, Mini Gal4xy would definitely be worth your time just for the fun of figuring out how to make the limitations of each race bend to your favor. Unfortunately the game takes a third strike from persistent and occasionally game-breaking bugs.

Mini Gal4xy has a hard time with changes of focus, often being dumped from memory and reloading after the app has been closed for only a short time.  Beyond that, sometimes just fighting a battle or ordering a ship to move will freeze the game, requiring a forced app closure. When I first started playing, these crashes would also erase my save game, rendering the game functionally unplayable, but a recent patch has corrected this particular bug (while significantly delaying the completion of this review!) Entering battles is still risky, not because my ships are outgunned or my enemies tenacious, but because battles still frequently cause freezes. Force quitting from these freezes sets you back to the beginning of your turn. This is particularly annoying when the only way forward is to fight, and that is literally impossible.

There’s good ideas here. The basic systems are solid enough to handle alien races with dramatically different starting points, and a score-attack mini space 4X game is a great concept for mobile. This one’s just not quite ready to launch.