We all want the truth. To properly assess your cloud analytics provider, ask them about the only three things that matter:

1. Independent benchmark results
2. Company-wide access to insights
3. Security and privacy

What are their results on independent, industry-standard benchmarks?

Perhaps you’ve heard from other providers that benchmarks are irrelevant. If that’s what you’re hearing, maybe you should be asking yourself why? Independent, industry-standard benchmarks are important because they help you measure price and performance on both common and complex analytics workloads. They are essential indicators of value because as data volumes grow, it is vital to get the best performance you can at the lowest price possible.

In February, an independent study by GigaOm compared Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Amazon Redshift, and Google BigQuery using the highly recognized TPC-H benchmark. They found that Azure SQL Data Warehouse is up to 14x faster and costs 94 percent less than other cloud providers. And today, we are pleased to announce that in GigaOm’s second benchmark report, this time with the equally important TPC-DS benchmark, Azure SQL Data Warehouse is again the industry leader. Not Amazon Redshift. Not Google BigQuery. These results prove that Azure is the best place for all your analytics.

This is why customers like Columbia Sportswear choose Azure.

“Azure SQL Data Warehouse instantly gave us equal or better performance as our current system, which has been incrementally tuned over the last 6.5 years for our demanding performance requirements.”

Lara Minor, Sr. Enterprise Data Manager, Columbia Sportswear

Can they easily deliver powerful insights across your organization?

Insights from your analytics must be accessible to everyone in your organization. While other providers may say they can deliver this, the end result is often catered to specific workgroups versus being an enterprise-wide solution. Data can become quickly siloed in these situations, making it difficult to deliver insights across all users.

With Azure, employees can get their insights in seconds from all enterprise data. Data can seamlessly flow from your SQL Data Warehouse to Power BI. And without limitations on concurrency, Power BI can be used across teams to create the most beautiful visualizations that deliver powerful insights. This combination of powerful analytics with easy-to-use BI is quite unique. In fact, if you look at the Gartner 2019 Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms and the Gartner 2019 Magic Quadrant for Data Management Solutions for Analytics below, you’ll see that Microsoft is a Leader.

Our leadership position in BI, coupled with our undisputed performance in analytics means that customers can truly provide business-critical insights to all. As the TPC-DS benchmark demonstrates, Azure SQL Data Warehouse provides unmatched performance on complex analytics workloads that mimic the realities of your business. This means that Power BI users can effortlessly gain granular-level insights across all their data.

The TPC-DS industry benchmark I mentioned above is particularly useful for organizations that run intense analytics workloads because it uses demanding queries to test actual performance. For instance, one of the queries used in the TPC-DS benchmark report calculates the number of orders, time window for the orders, and filters by state on non-returned orders shipped from a single warehouse. This type of complex query, which spans across billions of rows and multiple tables, is a real-world example of how companies use a data warehouse for business insights. And with Power BI, users can perform intense queries like this by easily integrating with SQL Data Warehouse for fast, industry-leading performance.

How robust is their security?

Everyone is a target. When it comes to data, privacy and security are non-negotiable. No matter how cautious you are, there is always a threat lurking around the corner. Your analytics system contains the most valuable business data and must have both stringent security and privacy capabilities.

Azure has you covered. As illustrated by Donald Farmer, a well-respected thought leader in the analytics space, analytics in Azure has the most advanced security and privacy features in the market. From proactive threat detection to providing custom recommendations that enhance security, Azure SQL Data Warehouse uses machine learning and AI to secure your data. It also enables you to encrypt your data, both in flight and at rest. You can provide users with appropriate levels of access, from a single source, using row and column level security. This not only secures your data, but also helps you meet stringent privacy requirements.

“It was immediately clear to us that with Azure, particularly Azure Key Vault, we would be able to meet our own rigorous requirements for data protection and security.”

Guido Vetter, Head of Corporate Center of Excellence Advanced Analytics & Big Data, Daimler

Azure’s leading security and data privacy features not only make it the most trusted cloud in the market, but also complements its leadership in other areas, such as price-performance, making it simply unmatched.

Get started today

To learn more about Azure’s industry-leading price-performance and security, get started today!

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms Cindi Howson, James Richardson, Rita Sallam, Austin Kronz, 11 February 2019.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Management Solutions for Analytics, Adam Ronthal, Roxane Edjlali, Rick Greenwald, 21 January 2019.

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Yoshi’s Crafted World is, on the whole, a game on the ‘easier’ end of the difficulty scale. Not unlike recent Mario adventures, but perhaps to a more extreme extent, simply reaching the end goal of the game is relatively simple, with the main challenge for more experienced players coming from collecting every single flower.

In the latest issue of Nintendo Dream, assistant producer on the game, Nobuo Matsumiya, has discussed the reasoning behind its difficulty. He mentions “aiming for a difficulty that allows players to have fun”, and talks about how the game’s Mellow Mode helps all types of players enjoy the experience.

You can see his full comments below (translated by Nintendo Everything). Interestingly, he gives a small nod to players wanting a similar experience to that of Yoshi’s Island.

How difficult did you make the game?
Matsumiya: Because we want people to enjoy the Yoshi world we have created, we were aiming for a difficulty that allows players to have fun. Even though the game is designed around collecting flowers in order to advance to the next area, within each course it’s not only about the flowers but also the Poochy puppies on the reverse side, as well as finding all those crafting materials. That means players can play the levels over and over to collect everything.

But finding everything is a challenge in itself.
Matsumiya: That’s right. That’s why we have also added the Mellow Mode (where Yoshi can use wings to fly around the stage and takes less damage) and the ability to change the difficulty. While there may be some players wanting the same play challenge as Yoshi’s Island, I think there may also be players who want to enjoy the world but find the gameplay bewildering. Because of that, we thought about how we could help out those using the more casual Yoshi. So, for example we have a notification sound play when those players are close to flowers as a hint until they find it, so that we aren’t taking away that excitement of discovery.

Of course, the difficulty of games has been a highly debated topic in recent times, mostly thanks to the release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Having an optional easy mode in a game like Yoshi’s Crafted World definitely makes sense to us, and the Switch is hardly spoilt for choice when it comes to hard-as-nails platformers, so we’re all for it.

But what do you think? Should all games have adjustable difficulty settings? Do you find things like Yoshi’s Mellow Mode useful? Let us know in the comments.

Launching next week on Nintendo Switch is The Padre, a retro-stylised 3D horror-adventure game inspired by classics of its genre.

We’ve got some info for you below, taken directly from the game’s press release, but we’d also urge you to give the trailer at the top of the article a watch. As well as showing off some gameplay footage, it talks you through what you can expect to find in the game. There’s a nice comedic twist in play here, with the protagonist wittering away to himself as he explores.

“On the trail of a lost cardinal, The Padre soon finds himself alone and without his demon-slaying tools inside a dreary mansion where a larger supernatural power is at play. But fear not! The dark and striking atmosphere is often cut by the wicked humor of the witty Padre.

You will need to use your brains to solve challenging puzzles, as well as your brawns to fend off monsters, all while trying to unravel the mysteries of the mansion and your own dark past.

Be wary though, if you fail enough times its permanent GAME OVER!”

The Padre will launch on 18th April for $19.99 / 19.99€ / £15.49, available directly from the Nintendo Switch eShop.

Do you like what you see? WIll you give it a go? Give us a fright in the comments below.

The Federal Trade Commission has set a date for the first leg of its loot box investigation, a public workshop that looks to host a discussion between industry representatives, consumer advocates, trade associations, academics, and government officials on the monetization practice.

That event will be held on August 7 at the Constitution Center in Washington DC, and also streamed online.

The workshop aims to cover a bit more than just a blanket discussion on loot boxes, however. The FTC notes that it wants to cover topics like the origins, evolutions, and role of loot boxes in the digital marketplace, research that examines consumer behavior in the context of video games and digital transactions, and consumer awareness and education about the mechanics, marketing, and financial commitments associated with loot boxes.

In the lead-up to the workshop, the FTC is still looking to solicit input from members of the public on potential workshop topics and participants through June 7.

The FTC is only the latest government body to call for a closer look at how loot boxes are used in video games, though the commission’s first step is already milder than some taken by other regulators outside of the United States that range from fining companies for deceptive loot box practices to outright finding loot boxes unlawful.

This has led to game companies altering how loot boxes and other in-game store elements function in those regions, such as EA’s changes to FIFA’s in-game currency in Belgium or Valve’s multiple changes to Dota 2 and CS:GO in the Netherlands.

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: Tokyo, Japan

The Advanced Technology Division is the Research & Development department of Square Enix Japan.

Bringing together experts from the fields of rendering, animation, physics simulation, artificial intelligence (AI), networking, big data, workflow, mixed reality (AR/VR) and sound, we not only research state of the art of game technology but also contribute to many productions.

We are seeking motivated and experienced artists, programmers and technical artists to work with us in Tokyo on our next projects and push the boundaries in content creation.

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Currently, we’re looking for a junior programmer. This opportunity is for a full-time position in Cambridge, MA or Chicago, IL. Junior programmers at Disbelief are called on to develop and debug in a variety of areas from gameplay to core engine programming. You are expected to learn new systems and projects as you grow as a developer, with support and training from more senior members of the team. Most importantly, you will work to solve problems with the help of the team. We work with leading-edge technologies to make them perform at the top of their capabilities, and we take pride in solving problems others can’t.

Location: Peoria, Illinois

The Department of Interactive Media at Bradley at Bradley University seeks a dynamic individual to join our award-winning and nationally ranked game program beginning August 2019 as an Instructor-of-Residence of Game Design. The successful candidate will be able to teach students game design and the game development process. Professional experience and college-level teaching experience is preferred

Location: Pasadena, California

We’re looking to fill a Lead Quality Assurance position. Our ideal QA Lead is a self-starter, who understands the importance of good QA, and can work within a fast-paced Agile environment. Our QA Lead will work with our developers, daily, to ensure our systems are functioning flawlessly.

Location: London, England

We’re looking for a games programmer with a passion for software creation and problem solving with a proactive, can-do attitude to overcoming technical challenges. To succeed in this role you will need to have a strong foundation in software engineering and enjoy working on a wide range of diverse and challenging problems within a results-focused mission-driven team.

Grab your mech suit: Realm Royale is heading to the next frontier! The all-new, sci-fi themed Battle Pass blasts off with 50 levels of content — including the HL-1700 Motorcycle Mount, which you can see above. The fantasy world of Realm Royale is about to collide with a futuristic set of out-of-this-world items!

If you’re new to Realm Royale, The Next Frontier Battle Pass is the perfect time to jump in! Face off in a battle royale of up to 99 opponents in Solo, Duo, or Squad game modes. Choose from one of four classes, then loot – or forge – weapons and abilities throughout the course of each match to claim the coveted Crown Royale. Summon your mount at any time to charge into (or away from) battle, and attempt to escape from certain doom in chicken form if you lose a fight!

No matter what class you prefer, The Next Frontier Battle Pass has an unlockable class skin for you. Get the drop on your enemies as the half-man, half-robot, all-amazing Six-Shooter Cyborg Assassin, or blaze a trail of vanquished opponents as a futuristic biker with the Cyber Rider Hunter. If you’re looking for something a little more tactical, the Hi-Tek Trooper Warrior has arrived from the battlefield of tomorrow to take up arms in the Realm. Finally, the Radon Flux Mage combines technology and magic to dominate the battlefield in style.

In the past we’ve offered everything from unicorns to velociraptors as mounts, but The Next Frontier Battle Pass adds an entirely new mount type: The HL-1700 motorcycle. Engineered to traverse the Realm with style and power, the new motorcycle mount pairs well with some of the class skins we’re offering with this Battle Pass. On the chicken side, we have two all-new techno-chicken skins: The robotic R0B0K chicken, and the cyber-armored BattleBok chicken.

We’re also introducing an all-new item in this Battle Pass, with two earnable map markers – place these markers on your mini-map and your in-game marking beam will transform into a column of colorful voxels or a futuristic beam of energy! Plus you’ll unlock a selection of titles, avatars, sprays, and more – this Battle Pass features a huge assortment of sci-fi themed items which you can use to tech-out your Realm Royale experience.

If you’re interested in earning some rewards before going all-in on The Next Frontier Battle Pass, we’re also offering 10 completely free rewards that can be earned just by playing during this Battle Pass, including the first tier of the Six-Shooter Cyborg Assassin skin.

Whether you’ve played through the previous Battle Passes and are eager to see what The Next Frontier holds, or you’re new to Realm Royale and are ready to start forging your legend for the first time, we hope you’ll join us in exploring undiscovered territories in The Next Frontier!