Last year, we updated Office.com with a new experience focused on two simple things: helping users get the most out of Office and getting them back into their work quickly. The streamlined site has clearly resonated with customers, and now more than 40 percent of Office 365 web users start their work by visiting Office.com.

Starting today, we’re bringing this experience to Windows 10 in the form of an app, simply called Office. It’s now available to Windows Insiders (Fast) and will roll out to all Windows 10 users soon. The app itself is free and it can be used with any Office 365 subscription, Office 2019, Office 2016, or Office Online—the free web-based version of Office for consumers.

A few key reasons to use the app include:

• Quickly switch between apps. See all your Office apps in one place and switch between them with a single click.
• Get back into your work. Jump to your most recently used documents, pinned documents, and documents shared with you—whether they’re on your local machine or stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.
• Find what you need. With Microsoft Search integrated prominently, you can quickly find the apps, documents, people, and sites you need to get your work done.
• Tailor it to your organization. Organizations can apply company branding and integrate other line of business applications through single sign-on to customize the experience for their users.

The Office app will replace the My Office app, which currently helps users manage their Office 365 subscriptions. If you already have the My Office app, you will get the new Office app through an automatic update in the coming months. Otherwise, you can download it from the Microsoft Store. Starting this summer, new Windows 10 devices will come with the Office app already installed—making it easier than ever to start using Office on a new PC.

Let us know what you think

We are excited to share this initial release with the Windows Insiders, and we’ll continue to improve the experience based on your feedback. Please let us know what you think via the feedback link under Settings within the app.

Hamster has revealed that Arcade Archives Donkey Kong Jr. will be made available on the Nintendo Switch eShop later this week, officially launching on 21st December.

Just in case you need reminding, Donkey Kong Jr. was first released in arcades back in 1982. Serving up a lovely dose of classic Nintendo platforming action, the game sees Donkey Kong being captured and caged-up in his latest encounter with Mario. You play as Donkey Kong Jr., making your way to the top of each level to set him free.

Players must skillfully jump and hang on to vines, avoid all enemies, get to the top, and steal the cage’s key from Mario to be successful. You can see the game in action via these two screenshots below which have actually been taken from the Virtual Console release.

Donkey Kong Jr. joins both Puzzle Bobble and Puzzle Bobble 2 in this week’s complete Hamster lineup, plonking even more retro goodness on Nintendo’s modern machine. It’ll be available this Friday for $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29.

Are you a fan of Donkey Kong Jr.? Will you be coughing up the cash to play it one more time? Let us know below.

The latest issue of V-Jump has revealed new details about Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission for the Nintendo Switch.

Published by Bandai Namco and developed by Dimps Corporation, the digital card game will support online battles, matching players against opponents of an equal skill level. There’ll also be “real battles” that affect player rank and change the ruleset every two hours. If you don’t have the online subscription, there’ll also be local offline battles, requiring two Switch units.

In addition to the confirmation of online multiplayer, the magazine also revealed Goku: Xeno, Vegeta: Xeno, Jiren and a hero upgrade card will appear in the game. The first copies of the game released in Japan will include an unlock for three super powerful UR cards as well.

If you’re a Dragon Ball fan or are perhaps interested in digital card games, this might be one to keep an eye on. The title was rated by the Australian Classification Board in November, suggesting an announcement for the game locally shouldn’t be too far off.

Is this a game you would be interested in playing online? Leave a comment below.

Out of all the simulation games on the market that have been given mobile adaptations, Kalypso Media’s tongue-in-cheek Tropico seems to be the one players have been clamouring for the most. It’s finally available on the App Store (for iPad users only), thanks to PC-to-iOS masters Feral Interactive, and the construction and management simulator feels just as over-the-top and joyous as it did when it first sprang onto the scene.

Step onto a gorgeous plot of land on one of several small Caribbean islands as you come into power over your newly-adopted citizens. Your main goal in Tropico is to remain in power as the all-powerful ‘El Presidente.’ This can be accomplished in several different ways, most of which involve building structures like clinics, pubs, police stations, casinos, churches, and a whole set of other locations your citizens will need.

Then, you need to serve up edicts through which you’ll control and appease your citizens and those culpable for keeping you afloat. For instance, you can beg the United States to help you with foreign aid if you find yourself in a pickle, or raise rents when you decide you’ve been too easy on the people, money-wise. These Edicts are extremely important in terms of how the game plays out and are important to keep an eye out.

Most of your time, however, will be spent trying to figure out how to make money. You’re nothing without your cash reserves, at least not really, and as such you need to figure out ways to manufacture items, attract tourists, or sell cash crops so you can start rolling in the dough. When you have those things in place, you need to focus on your people, the true heart of Tropico.

You can learn a lot about the citizens of Tropico by checking your Almanac, which contains all the information you need to keep quick tabs on the populace. Names, relationships, education, political ideology, and more can be found here. From here, you need to decide where you’re going to employ your citizens, what they’ll do on a day-to-day basis, and how you’ll keep them happy.

You’ll need to take care of their needs, like sleeping, going to religious services, staying healthy by visiting the doctor, and enjoying themselves with fun night club shows and stuffing themselves with food. If you can’t keep them happy, you’ll find yourself being protested against, see your citizens taking part in uprisings against you, or simply voting against you. There’s so much to keep track of that it can seem overwhelming, between the multifaceted Edicts, construction, keeping your people happy and safe, and figuring out how best to rule your island. Luckily, the game does a great job of giving you plenty of reading material to explain it all, with nuanced tutorials and explanations that make things very clear when you need assistance.

Tropico‘s mobile iteration is a premium game (it’s $11.99) but there aren’t any microtransactions to concern yourself with. You simply need only pay once, and all features are unlocked at the onset. There are plenty of them, too. You can start with a regular Tutorial or an Advanced Tutorial to get your bearings, tackle the Campaign, or play around in Sandbox mode. Campaign Mode finds you completing missions and unlocking new islands as you go, where Sandbox mode gives you the freedom to explore anywhere at the onset while playing around as you see fit.

There are 15 islands to unlock Campaign mode, starting with St. Helena and the modest goal of exporting 8,000 units of bananas. There’s a variety of different avatars to choose from as well, from Fidel Castro or Che Guevara to some ridiculous characters, like ‘Voodoo Pizzaman’ or ‘El Pollo Diablo’, an obvious nod to Breaking Bad‘s Walter White, otherwise known as Heisenberg.

If none of these characters strike your fancy, you can always create your own with a fairly rudimentary avatar editor. Customizing their looks doesn’t give you many options, but you do get a chance at naming your character, choosing a background and qualities, and other important traits that will ultimately shape your game. It’s a nice addition to the roster that lets you make Tropico feel truly ‘yours’, and players will no doubt want to take advantage of it.

Your background and traits will give you advantages and disadvantages in-game. If you come from a privileged background, you’ll have a leg up in terms of industry. If one of your traits happens to indicate you were brought into power by the CIA (a real one that can be selected) you won’t have many expectations foisted upon you by the people. There are a wide range of traits that offer multipliers and point bonuses, all of which you’ll have to keep an eye on if you want to truly succeed and remain in power. Selecting one of the 18 built-in characters ensures you’ll have an eclectic mix of personalities, but creating your own avatar can bring challenges as well. This is part of what gives the game such a satisfying amount of replay value.

Of course, the challenge when it comes to bringing PC-centric strategy titles to mobile devices always lies within the user interface. Without a keyboard and mouse to navigate, it can become a cumbersome waltz to pinch and zoom to inspect elements of the screen, place structures, or even inspect what’s going on in your “kingdom” of sorts.

Tropico on iPad has been given a specially redesigned interface specifically for play on mobile devices in an effort to combat these issues. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of alternate control schemes, it’s serviceable enough that it doesn’t detract from the overall experience in any way. It’s still a bit cumbersome to try and navigate large areas of the map via pinching and dragging, but the interface overall is one that’s been improved to the best of the staff’s ability. It’s just not a game that’s truly meant to be played on mobile, so some sacrifices understandably have to be made – you don’t have a mouse for those precise movements here.

Feral Interactive brought what it calls the ‘Dictator’s Desk’ to the game, or a bar where you can quickly access your most important in-game commands such as Intel, your Avatar, a list of Edicts, Overlays, Construction projects, and your Almanac. It’s all quite attractive, resembling a nice cherry desktop with attractive icons that look less like a taskbar and more like someone’s messy office. It gives the whole thing a nice, homey feel even though you’re an all-powerful dictator. The UI is fantastic, and the bar is a great addition to the game – it’s the map navigation that’s finicky, but as previously stated, that’s something to be expected when it comes to games like these on mobile.

In terms of controlling things on a larger screen, Tropico is also making its way to iPhone in 2019, but there’s no word just yet on which models will end up supporting it. Given the iPad’s requirements (iPad 5th and 6th generation, iPad Pro 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations) it’s safe to say it’ll require plenty of processing power. But this is a game you’ll want to stick to on iPad, where you have the extra screen real estate.

With Tropico 6 headed for release next year, this port is a great way to experience where it all began (for the modern games, at least), especially since it’s such an accessible way to play the game without fussing with a PC or getting it to run smoothly. It looks great, plays well, and it’s got everything you remember from the original and then some. Ready to take on the role of El Presidente? Your people are waiting.

Yesterday, we found out Alfonso Ribeiro – who played Carlton Banks in the early ’90s television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – would be suing Epic Games for adding his character’s dance move to its popular free-to-play multiplayer title Fortnite.

Ribeiro is not the first famous person to take legal action against the video game company now valued at $15 billion and he seemingly won’t be the last, either. In the latest news, Backpack Kid – the self-proclaimed creator of the “Floss” dance – is the latest individual looking to make some extra money from this recent trend. The 16-year-old’s mother and manager have filed a lawsuit on his behalf because they believe the game’s developers are taking advantage of his success.

Like Ribeiro and the rapper 2 Milly, Backpack Kid is also in the process of copyrighting his dance move. When speaking to TMZ, Backpack Kid said the decision to take legal action wasn’t motivated by money. In a previous interview in June, the boy said he was happy to be represented in the game, even if he wasn’t credited.

What do you think about this? Which side are you supporting? Tell us in the comments.

Earlier this week, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai wrote about the new Switch release in Famitsu.

According to the translation – courtesy of Siliconera, Sakurai’s thoughts about how the game should be played are still the same. His belief is there is no correct way to necessarily play Smash Bros. As for his views on the eSports scene, he’s come to accept the way the game is played on a competitive level but noted how a lot of work had gone into the casual play style.

It’s not all that surprising to hear his feelings about the professional scene are still the same. On previous occasions, Sakurai has stated how he’s not concerned about the competitive aspects of the Smash Bros. series and even believes Nintendo’s philosophy does not align with this type of gaming.

Speaking to The Guardian back in August, Sakurai revealed what he regularly thought about when watching professional Smash tournaments online:

“The one thing I always think is that, if only they used more different stages and items, there’d be a lot more variety in the gameplay.”

In terms of how he’s feeling about the series in general following the release of Ultimate, according to his latest column in Famitsu, he said he would always prioritise a new entry in the series if Nintendo was to approach him again, but obviously won’t guarantee he’ll be on the project forever.

In regards to how the series brings together Nintendo’s all-star cast, Sakurai feels it has now evolved well beyond this – thanks to the larger roster featured in the latest game. These collaborations stem from the Spirit mode, which became an essential way of incorporating other franchises into the game.

What do you make of Sakurai’s comments about the competitive Smash scene? Tell us below.

Project Hospital is the latest entry into the field of medical center simulations, which is usually covered in a tongue-in-cheek way, such as with both Bulfrog and Krisalis’ Theme Park Hospital and Two Point and Sega’s upcoming Two Point Hospital.

Oxymoron Games’ Project Hospital takes a more realistic approach in terms of the medicine involved, although some side aspects are simplified or even fictionalized for a better play experience. Lead programmer Jan Beneš kindly answered some questions about its development for us.

The origin of Oxymoron Games can be tracked some years back, when most of the team members were still employees in different bigger studios in Prague or Helsinki, thinking (and talking) about working on our own games one day. The experience with a variety of games from third-person action games, like Mafia II and III or Quantum Break, to different genres like sports or simulation games turned out to be really useful when starting a new project from scratch.

Reality and depth seems to have worked really well for us. Most of the recent games tackling the hospital theme are very casual and simple, their content has mostly nothing in common with real hospitals. On the other hand Project Hospital is focused on players who want a challenging approach and who want real medicine. The complexity gives you a plenty of options what to play with and what to build and a long learning curve gives you small challenges in many aspects of gameplay (easy to learn, hard to master). And all of this has a basis in real world medicine with a slight educational potential. I think this is where Project Hospital excels.

I admit that balancing this game between gameplay and reality was quite tricky, but overall gameplay should always come first. I could say that Project Hospital is as real as possible, but still just a game – and a game must be fun to play. That’s why there are no STDs or dying children, that would be just too depressing, or too specific details like vital functions where you would have to consider the values of heartbeat, blood pressure, temperature and others, because that would make the game unplayable for people without medical background (and for some of us devs as well).

Taking in account how complex the game is and how small a team we are (smaller than for example the team behind Prison Architect), it’s true that there have been some hard decisions and some originally planned features had to be simplified or postponed after release – typically variations of the same system (ambulances vs. helicopters, elevators vs. stairs).

Sometimes the reasons for going with a simpler solution were both the implementation cost and design decisions, especially when the features would make the game even more demanding for the player to understand and learn.

One of the main design pillars has been to allow the player to focus on any of the main aspects of the game while the rest will work mostly automatically. Another example would be prefabs in building mode.

The option to go hands-on with individual patients is clearly the favorite part of the game for a lot of players and a it definitely got lot of attention during development. The players can control any aspect of what happens with the patient by planning examinations and treatments, figuring out the diagnosis or assigning doctors and departments. Still, when managed correctly, the staff should be able to handle most cases independently and only notify the player if there is a problem or a crisis.

The user interface has definitely been one of two biggest challenges (second one being the complex rules of how the patients flow through the hospital, while the player can intervene at any point).

Nobody in the team had previous experience with UI design, so there has been a lot of ‘learn as you go’ along the way and many parts of the interface underwent quite a few iterations, as also the underlying systems evolved during development.

We’re happy that we managed to implement quite a few quality of life features like different levels of transparency, guides on the floor when placing objects and detailed tooltips for anything in the user interface, the whole management/logistics view turned quite nicely and in a way it presents itself almost like interactive infographics–but there are always some ideas how to improve the interface further.

The management side and especially hiring correct staff has more weight when it comes to running a hospital smoothly, but the layout of course plays an important role as well. In any game with a relatively fast time scale (our day lasts for about an hour) the walking times are really important so both the layout of the hospital, elevator placement and even layout of individual rooms matter. The effect is even more prominent with inpatients, as a nurse needs to go get a stretcher to transport the patient.

The game is built with Unity, which was a reasonable choice, but we’re basically only using the UI system and renderer and no asset store packages at all. The game itself is mostly a standalone codebase written in C# with quite a few custom systems – it’s sometimes a real lifesaver to have direct access to code for both debugging purposes and for easy changes.

For example our animation system allows us to easily create random character variations, change clothes, trigger events and we can develop specific tools as needed. Another example is pathfinding, there’s a lot of rules like access rights or elevator usage which make it impractical to use the Unity navigation system, so a custom (not very fancy) multi-threaded system based on A* is what we went with.

Haha, luckily not. Fun fact: hypochondria was one of the first testing medical conditions in the alpha version of the game and had a specific examination that was uncovering it.

One of the best parts of the experience compared to working on triple-A where everybody has a very specific role and is shielded from the outside world, was working with the community. First people who got in touch were actually professionals in the medical field who did some free consultancy for us and even helped with the medical texts in the game, like descriptions of diagnoses or symptoms.

We ran a closed beta a few months before release with a few hundred people and it really helped us catch a lot of issues early. The game shipped with eight community-translated languages (which has now grown to 13) and more are on the way. Generally this really exceeded our expectations and gave us a nice morale boost along the way.