3 PS4 Game Sales Are Now Live On The US PlayStation Store
It's a good week to be a frugal PS4 owner. That's because you get not one, not two, but three game sales on the PlayStation Store between now and September 10. If you enjoy the Assassin's Creed series or games made by Rockstar or Bandai Namco, there's a good chance you'll find something worth buying this week. As usual, PS Plus members will get additional discounts on some of the games. Read on for the details.
Fans of historical bloodshed can pick up most of the Assassin's Creed series at a discount right now. Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection, which contains remasters of Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations, is on sale for $20. The seafaring Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is down to $10, while Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered is on sale for $18. And if you haven't picked up Assassin's Creed Origins yet, you can do it now for $24, before Odyssey lands in October. Additionally, a hefty amount of Assassin's Creed DLC and expansions is also on sale.
That's a lot of deals, and we only really scratched the surface of what's available on the PSN. You can find the full listings for all of the sales right here.
Create your own player and rise to legend status in THE ONE. Play on different courts across the world, Build Your Squad, and challenge others for global dominance in THE LEAGUE and on THE STREETS. With new ways to develop your player and play the game, experience the most authentic feel NBA LIVE has ever had.
Play online or with friends as SNK's iconic heroines in the brand-new 2 vs 2 fighting game, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy! Activate Special Moves with a single button, and make use of special items to change the tide of battle! However, the fight isn't over the moment you've chipped enough health away. Once your opponent is on the ropes, utilize your Dream Finish technique to win the match! Spectate on other battles online, and wage on who you think will win using in-game points. Use your winnings to buy voice clips and accessories in an all-new costume system, and customize your favorite heroine to your heart's content!
FEATURES:
* Assemble Your Heroines and Battle Head-to-Head -- A brand new tag battle action fighting game is here! Players can participate in a four-multiplayer frenzy online or with friends!
* An Iconic Cast of SNK's Female Characters! -- Choose from a generous roster of female heroines from the SNK universe!
* Defeat Foes With Style and Elegance -- Coordination is key, as players can choose from up to 100 different accessories for their characters. Accessories including cat ears, glasses, face paint, and new sound effects.
Famed game designer Hideo Kojima has shared little about his new project, Death Stranding, since the game's showing at E3 earlier this summer, but fans may get another look at the enigmatic title soon. Kojima Productions has announced Death Stranding will have a presence at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which is scheduled to kick off in Japan later this month.
According to the official Kojima Productions Twitter account (via Siliconera), the studio will host a Death Stranding stage event during TGS on September 23. No timing details have been announced yet, but the presentation will feature appearances from director Hideo Kojima himself, as well as "several" voice actors from the game. Additional information and guests will be announced at a later date.
Development on Death Stranding began following Kojima's departure from Konami in 2015. The title was first revealed during Sony's E3 2016 press conference, although aside from being an open-world action game, it is still very much shrouded in mystery. It stars a number famous actors, including The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, Hannibal's Mads Mikkelsen, and Lea Seydoux and Lindsay Wagner, both of whom were revealed during the game's E3 2018 trailer.
The extended trailer also provided fans their first glimpse at Death Stranding's gameplay. In it, Norman Reedus's character can be seen traversing a variety of environments, including rivers, expansive plains, mountainsides, and Martian-like landscapes. Later in the video, he encounters a woman who helps him avoid detection by invisible monsters.
Death Stranding is in development for PS4. A release date for the game has not yet been announced. Despite this, the title is already available for pre-order from a number of retailers. You can learn more in our Death Stranding pre-order guide.
Video: How Supercell challenges traditional studio conventions
In this GDC 2018 talk, Supercell’s (Clash of Clans) Ilkka Paananen dives into the management lessons he’s learned as a company founder, sharing his experience of building an unconventional organizational structure for Supercell.
Paananen shares his observations after years of leading companies that were structured like most games companies.
Management owned the vision and had creative control, while he wanted to create a structure that would allow talented, creative developers to flourish instead.
He discusses how Supercell challenges tradition and give teams the independence and full autonomy to design games, lead projects and have the final say on whether the company launches or kills a game.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas.
Games intelligence firm SuperData acquired by analytics company Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings announced in a press release today its acquisition of games market intelligence firm SuperData Research, known for collecting and interpreting data from customers.
As part of the acquisition (the details were not disclosed), SuperData will help strengthen Nielsen’s games and eSports research sectors, which offer publishers, developers, console manufacturers, media platforms, eSports brands, and industry stakeholders data from customer research.
While SuperData and Nielsen share numbers publicly, it’s worth noting that research pulled from either company should be taken with a grain of salt.
It’s not entirely clear how they interpret and collect data and the language surrounding their methodology seems vague.
Damage to Thaviks is preserved when Thaviks switches weapons
Daily Heroic Story Missions
Daily Heroic story missions now available
Crucible
General
Fixed an issue that sometimes triggered the Quitter Penalty after completed Competitive Crucible matches
Starting in Season 4, Iron Banner will be updated to enable Power level advantages, beginning on September 18
Removed Mayhem temporarily from the weekly featured playlist until a future update
Trials of the Nine is now on hiatus
Trials of the Nine reputation tokens cannot be redeemed until the activity returns
Maps
Retribution and Wormhaven are now available on all platforms
Retribution has been reworked and enlarged to support 6v6 matches
Rumble
Earning a place in the Top 3 in Rumble will now count as a win
The correct number of Valor Rank Points will be granted
Competitive
Glory
Retuned Glory Rank Points gained and lost have to reduce the overall climb to higher ranks
Fixed the weekly award and doubled its gains
Fixed and returned weekly Glory decay
Players who competed in Season 3 will earn bonus rank points for completing their first match in Season 4
Removed loss streaks
Valor
Losses in the Competitive playlist no longer reset your Valor win streak
Game Modes
Control and Clash modes have been added to the Competitive playlist
Rewards
Pinnacle Crucible rewards are now awarded via quests
These quests will not be removed at the end of the season
Redrix’s Claymore has been retired in Season 4 as a seasonal reward
Players who earned Redrix’s Claymore in Season 3 will receive additional bonuses
Private Matches
Added the option to adjust the respawn timers for Survival
Score-to-win options have been updated for several modes
Control
Added 25 and 150, removed 10 and 20
150 is the new default
Clash
Added 25 and 150, removed 10 and 20
100 is the new default
Supremacy
Added 25 and 150, removed 10 and 20
150 is the new default
Gambit
General
The Gambit playlist is unlocked
Requires Forsaken
Requires completion of mission “Spark”
Infamy ranks now available
Tower
Vendors
Zavala
The Season 4 vendor progression system has been updated with two separate progressions
Vanguard Rank
Like in previous seasons, Vanguard rank can be increased by turning in Vanguard tokens to Zavala
Increasing your Vanguard rank will provide Vanguard engrams, containing new Year 2 weapons and armor with random rolls
You can continue to acquire items found in Vanguard engrams beyond the season end boundary
Seasonal exclusive items that are purchased via Vanguard rank have been moved to their own row for clarity, and will only be attainable until the end of Season 4
Nightfall Rank
Increased by attaining score on various Nightfall strikes
Items are now available for purchase from Zavala by increasing in Nightfall Rank
Shaxx
Updated reputation reward packages for Season 4
Updated bounties for Season 4
Added pursuits to Shaxx’s inventory
Added new rewards for Valor ranks
Gunsmith
No longer exchanges Year 1 mods; these can be safely dismantled
Now sells two mods (one armor, one weapon) a day.
Gunsmith packages now require 100 Gunsmith Materials
Updated repuation reward packages for Season 4
Events & Rituals
Challenges
General
Between levels 20 and 50 challenges provide a source of Legendary items and experience
When you reach level 50, an entirely new set of challenges activates and the leveling ones are no longer available
After you reach level 50, these are the main avenue into the powerful rewards that previously lived within milestones
Level 20 challenges with progression will be converted to a new challenges at level 50
Daily challenges now available
Specific challenges offered each day
Individual daily challenges reset on a four day cadence
Weekly challenges now available
Reset each Tuesday
Items & Economy
General
Increased experience rewards for completing strikes and nightfall
Reduced experience rewards for completing normal and heroic public events
Iron Banner, Vanguard, and Crucible tokens earned in Season 3 may be redeemed with their respective vendors in Season 4
Players are no longer able to delete mods or shaders from an items details screen
Masterworks
Masterwork reward chances are being reduced in some activities
Pre-Forsaken raids will still offer a higher chance for Masterwork acquisition, but that chance has been lowered from 50% to 10% to be in line with Masterwork drops in Forsaken
Year 1 armor will always dismantle to one Masterwork Core
Year 1 weapons can dismantle to one or two cores, but no longer three
Power
Activity rewards now respect your Power
If you complete an activity while severely under-leveled, rewards will offer a larger Power upgrade
If you complete an activity while heavily over-leveled, rewards will be a lower Power level
Shaders
Forsaken shaders do not drop in the wild; instead, they come from dismantling gear with that shader applied
Rare-quality shaders are often applied to drops, but have a low chance of being granted by dismantling
Legendary-quality shaders appear much less frequently on gear, but have a high chance of being granted by dismantling
It no longer costs anything to apply shaders to gear
Infusion
Infusion for all pre-Forsaken and Forsaken gear is capped at 600 Power
Weapon infusion is now slot-based rather than archetype-based
Example: Any Kinetic weapon can be infused into any other Kinetic weapon, but you can no longer infuse an Energy Hand Cannon into a Kinetic Hand Cannon
Infusing duplicates of the same item is much less expensive than using two different items
Destination Materials
Reduced drop rates of destination materials from some destination activities
Collections
Includes any weapon, armor piece, Ghost Shell, ship, Sparrow, emblem, or shader players have earned since Warmind’s release on May 8
Except for Year 2 legendary armor and weapons with random rolls, all items can be reacquired through Collections, for a fee
The cost to reacquire an item scales based on what the item dismantles into
Three of Coins
Three of Coins have been deprecated
Converted into “Faded Cards”
Can be safely discarded for Legendary Shards
Eververse
Prismatic Matrix Schedule
The Prismatic Matrix is now scheduled out for the full season
The Prismatic Facet (free weekly account roll) is now obtained via a special Tier 1 Eververse bounty, rather than being tied to leveling, which can be acquired for 250 Glimmer and that does not require an Eververse Bounty Note
This permits players at all levels to obtain their free weekly roll
Eververse Bounties
Each Seasonal Bright Engram now grants one Bounty Note
These Bounty Notes can be exchanged for a variety of weekly Eververse Bounties, which come in three tiers:
Players can acquire as many Eververse bounties as they have Bounty Notes
Eververse bounties expire seven days after acquisition
Bright Dust Dismantle Yields
Bright Dust, which you gained from dismantling types of Eververse items, is now a fixed amount
Example: Shaders will always yield 10 Bright Dust
Bright Engram Updates
Reward probabilities are now displayed on bungie.net
Added new Legendary weapon ornaments to the Bright Engram
Added new Ghost Projection category to the Bright Engram
Weapon and armor mods are no longer available in Bright Engrams
Eververse Armor and Perks
With the addition of random perk rolls on armor, we have made some changes to how perks are applied to Eververse armor
Eververse armor acquired from non-deterministic sources (i.e., the Bright Engram) will include random perks
Eververse armor acquired from deterministic sources (i.e., the Prismatic Matrix or Bright Dust storefront) will have fixed perks
Leveling Rewards in Forsaken
Starting in Forsaken, you will no longer earn Bright Engrams each level until you reach the level cap
Players progressing through the campaigns will receive an Eververse gift at the end of each campaign once per class with a variety of items and some Bright Engrams included
This includes players who use a Character Boost
Once you reach the level cap, Bright Engrams will once again be awarded at the same rate as they are in the current game
General
Silver transaction history is now displayed on bungie.net
Bundles that have not been opened can be refunded for seven days after purchase
Gleaming Boons of the Vanguard and Crucible have been updated to drop the current season’s items
To make room for bounties, Bright Dust offerings have been moved to the second page of Eververse
Clans
General
The Season 3 Clan Staff reward has been granted to all clans who hit max rank this season
Gambit now offers a clan engram when a fireteam from your clan wins a Gambit match
Season 4 Clan Progression
Clan experience is now earned by completing clan bounties available from Hawthorne
When a player reaches level 50, three new clan bounties become available
Guided Games
General
Players have the option reconnect to Guided Game activities if they encounter a disconnection from an active Guided Game
Technical
Audio
Adjusted ambient audio in the Tower
UI
Fixed an issue where having a certain number of unique items in the vault was causing items to not load
Fixed an issue where text would hitch on multiple screens when players are playing on a PlayStation Pro
How to Use the Netplan Network Configuration Tool on Linux
For years Linux admins and users have configured their network interfaces in the same way. For instance, if you’re a Ubuntu user, you could either configure the network connection via the desktop GUI or from within the /etc/network/interfaces file. The configuration was incredibly easy and never failed to work. The configuration within that file looked something like this:
Save and close that file. Restart networking with the command:
sudo systemctl restart networking
Or, if you’re not using a non-systemd distribution, you could restart networking the old fashioned way like so:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
Your network will restart and the newly configured interface is good to go.
That’s how it’s been done for years. Until now. With certain distributions (such as Ubuntu Linux 18.04), the configuration and control of networking has changed considerably. Instead of that interfaces file and using the /etc/init.d/networking script, we now turn to Netplan. Netplan is a command line utility for the configuration of networking on certain Linux distributions. Netplan uses YAML description files to configure network interfaces and, from those descriptions, will generate the necessary configuration options for any given renderer tool.
I want to show you how to use Netplan on Linux, to configure a static IP address and a DHCP address. I’ll be demonstrating on Ubuntu Server 18.04. I will give you one word of warning, the .yaml files you create for Netplan must be consistent in spacing, otherwise they’ll fail to work. You don’t have to use a specific spacing for each line, it just has to remain consistent.
The new configuration files
Open a terminal window (or log into your Ubuntu Server via SSH). You will find the new configuration files for Netplan in the /etc/netplan directory. Change into that directory with the command cd /etc/netplan. Once in that directory, you will probably only see a single file:
01-netcfg.yaml
You can create a new file or edit the default. If you opt to edit the default, I suggest making a copy with the command:
With your backup in place, you’re ready to configure.
Network Device Name
Before you configure your static IP address, you’ll need to know the name of device to be configured. To do that, you can issue the command ip a and find out which device is to be used (Figure 1).
I’ll be configuring ens5 for a static IP address.
Configuring a Static IP Address
Open the original .yaml file for editing with the command:
sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml
The layout of the file looks like this:
network:
Version: 2
Renderer: networkd
ethernets:
DEVICE_NAME:
Dhcp4: yes/no
Addresses: [IP/NETMASK]
Gateway: GATEWAY
Nameservers:
Addresses: [NAMESERVER, NAMESERVER]
Where:
DEVICE_NAME is the actual device name to be configured.
yes/no is an option to enable or disable dhcp4.
IP is the IP address for the device.
NETMASK is the netmask for the IP address.
GATEWAY is the address for your gateway.
NAMESERVER is the comma-separated list of DNS nameservers.
Edit the above to fit your networking needs. Save and close that file.
Notice the netmask is no longer configured in the form 255.255.255.0. Instead, the netmask is added to the IP address.
Testing the Configuration
Before we apply the change, let’s test the configuration. To do that, issue the command:
sudo netplan try
The above command will validate the configuration before applying it. If it succeeds, you will see Configuration accepted. In other words, Netplan will attempt to apply the new settings to a running system. Should the new configuration file fail, Netplan will automatically revert to the previous working configuration. Should the new configuration work, it will be applied.
Applying the New Configuration
If you are certain of your configuration file, you can skip the try option and go directly to applying the new options. The command for this is:
sudo netplan apply
At this point, you can issue the command ip a to see that your new address configurations are in place.
Configuring DHCP
Although you probably won’t be configuring your server for DHCP, it’s always good to know how to do this. For example, you might not know what static IP addresses are currently available on your network. You could configure the device for DHCP, get an IP address, and then reconfigure that address as static.
To use DHCP with Netplan, the configuration file would look something like this:
Netplan should succeed and apply the DHCP configuration. You could then issue theip a command, get the dynamically assigned address, and then reconfigure a static address. Or, you could leave it set to use DHCP (but seeing as how this is a server, you probably won’t want to do that).
Should you have more than one interface, you could name the second .yaml configuration file 02-netcfg.yaml. Netplan will apply the configuration files in numerical order, so 01 will be applied before 02. Create as many configuration files as needed for your server.
That’s All There Is
Believe it or not, that’s all there is to using Netplan. Although it is a significant change to how we’re accustomed to configuring network addresses, it’s not all that hard to get used to. But this style of configuration is here to stay… so you will need to get used to it.
Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 09-07-2018, 02:51 PM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
Video: Back to school for the first time at Wilburton Elementary
For students and educators around the world now heading back to school, it’s a time filled with emotions and opportunities to make new friends, connect with old ones, and embark on new learning opportunities.
For one school in Bellevue, Washington, it’s been a momentous week: Wilburton Elementary opened its doors to a new community of students, parents, and educators, for the very first time. Over the past year we’ve been sharing this school’s journey, from its earliest planning stages to partnering with Wilburton to bring the Microsoft Education Transformation Framework to life every step of the way.
More than 400 Wilburton Wolves are in for an amazing year ahead, and I couldn’t be prouder of what the teams have accomplished in creating a holistically impactful environment for these students to dream big, expect more, and give back.
A framework for leadership
For Bellevue School District Superintendent Dr. Ivan Duran, the new school represents a big step forward in the transformation of learning. “Wilburton Elementary is the first school we’ve built from the ground up in over 25 years, in order to serve a fast-growing and diverse area in our district,” Superintendent Duran tells us. “The state-of-the-art campus reflects the district’s commitment to creating innovative approaches for equitable and inclusive learning, enabled by Microsoft technology. Working in partnership with Microsoft Education, we’ve created a learning environment that will give students the skills and opportunities they need to be affirmed and inspired as creators of their future world.”
What I’ve learned over the years, through our Showcase School program, is that amazing schools are the output of an incredible leader. Beth Hamilton, Wilburton’s passionate and energetic principal, is a testament to turning a vision into a real-life, fully functioning school. Hamilton has been a leading light throughout the entire project, ensuring that every detail – from the building construction, the design of the learning environments, through to the learning approach – has placed students at the heart of every decision.
“We’re going to help each other, take risks, get things wrong,” Hamilton says. “We’re going to laugh and cry, but it’s all to make sure that we have a relevant, adaptive, and rigorous learning experience for all of our kids.”
It’s been a privilege to work alongside Beth and listen and learn along the way. And what we’ve learned throughout the journey will help inspire and educate the next generation of new schools.
The Microsoft Education Transformation Framework (ETF) has been instrumental in helping Hamilton to consider every aspect of learning and design. Across Leading and Policy, Modern Teaching and Learning, Intelligent Environments, and Technology Blueprint, we’ve trialed and tested various approaches and options to best craft this amazing new place to learn.
And the new teachers at Wilburton couldn’t be more excited.
From day one to the first day
“On day one, the teachers were excited, but tentative,” Hamilton says. “Today, they’re excited and full of energy – all because of the relationships and trust they’ve built with each other. They believe in each other; it’s the mindset we’ve created.”
Wilburton’s educators, some of them brand new, spent the summer getting their classrooms ready and investing in their own development. Leveraging the Teaching and Learning component in the ETF, along with resources like the Microsoft Educator Community, these educators participated in over 100 hours of professional development, with a focus on connecting as a team and going deep with the innovative technologies designed to take student learning and experience to the next level.
First-grade teacher Mandy Sin says, “Coming in as a first-year teacher, I’m nervous about this whole new chapter in my life, but after our PD there’s a sense of togetherness. We’re a wolf pack – a family – and it feels like whatever I do, say, or try – it’s ok.”
And all of Wilburton’s staff is looking forward to the new resources they can access – including their partnership with nearby Bellevue Botanical Garden and the school’s learning terrace, which is an indoor/outdoor environment connected to their Maker Space. It’s an area for raised gardens, creativity, community building, with all the resources of a classroom. The school is also designed with pods that create open spaces, for students in different classes to connect as a community.
Built for today, built for everyone
From the very beginning, the school was designed to consider opportunities for technology to play a key role in driving digital transformation in both the learning environments and the efficiency and effectiveness of the school and facility itself. Using the Microsoft Education Transformation Framework, they executed on a plan that identified the tools their students and educators need today, and the systems and solutions the school needs to be more productive, efficient, and secure.
Wilburton Elementary provides every student with access to a device while they are at school, where they will use Office 365 with digital inking and a stylus to support their ability to collaborate with each other and be more productive. Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Forms and more will be used throughout the school to enable learning, improve feedback and assessment, and provide more personalized learning to every student.
The school is also taking a holistic approach to accessibility and inclusion, using Microsoft Learning Tools to support every student, regardless of learning differences. STEM is considered fundamental in the curriculum, with the Maker Space leading to hands-on experiences, Minecraft and MakeCode introducing coding and creative thinking, and computer science serving as core.
Technology leads the way
Katherine Gorin, a 2nd grade teacher, is most excited about using technology to differentiate learning and make her classroom more inclusive and equitable. “When technology wasn’t as integrated in the classroom, it was a lot more difficult to make all the materials accessible,” she tells us, “but with technology that we’re extremely lucky to have, it’s so much easier to make sure all students have the opportunity to access what they need to be successful.”
Physical Education teacher Marnie Kazarian looks forward to bridging the connection from the classroom into the gym with technology. “I need to assess and check for understanding, and technology creates that environment where classroom teachers and I can connect to talk about health and skill concepts outside of the 40-minute class period,” she explains. “We’ll know what’s happening in both worlds and can make that connection visible to students so that they come into the gym with a focus.”
Lessons learned
Building a new school – and a new community – from the ground up has presented its share of challenges. The lessons Hamilton and her team have learned in the process apply not only to new schools, but to any school seeking to transform learning:
Relationships, relationships, relationships. According to Hamilton, leading any school is all about building relationships, both within the broader school community and between teachers. “You can have all the procedures and routines figured out, but if you don’t have the relationships, it’s never going to work,” she says. “It’s the culture, climate, and relationships that staff, families, and students are creating with each other that will make the school amazing.”
Less is more. The work of leading a new school requires Hamilton to wear many hats. “My Type A personality wants me to have everything in order and done,” Hamilton shares. “I’ve learned this year to focus what’s the most important – what we need to do right now – because an overwhelmed teacher is never going to be at their best.”
Model the technology. Hamilton stresses that school leaders can’t just tell teachers about technology tools, they have to use them. “If you want teachers to use technology in an innovative way that is intentional and purposeful, you have to show them and model how it can be done,” says Hamilton. “And if they use it as a student, they have a better understanding of it’s potential, and they can pass that on to their students.”
Throughout the journey, Wilburton leaned on the advice and support of many partners and stakeholders in the process, including Microsoft, ISTE, NPDL, Sam Labs, ST Math, Steelcase and local community partners.
Wilburton’s journey has been a learning experience for Microsoft, too. Putting innovation into practice continues to inform our products and our relationships with schools, educators, and students. We’re also excited to share the Wilburton story with the many education officials, school leaders, and educators, who visit the Microsoft Redmond campus every year. As part of our collaboration, Wilburton has a dedicated space for Microsoft to welcome those who want to learn more about the school from both students and educators.
As this part of the journey ends, another one (this time, with students!) begins, and we’ll be there every step of the way to provide support. Congratulations and best of luck to the entire Wilburton Elementary community! Thank you for an amazing journey. I am humbled that you chose Microsoft be a part of it.
