Apple partners with Malala Fund on education for Brazilian girls
By Roger Fingas Friday, July 13, 2018, 01:02 pm PT (04:02 pm ET)
Apple on Friday announced a partnership between its Brazilian Developer Academies and the Malala Fund, which will launch projects intended to “empower girls, teachers and policymakers through skills development, school enrollment efforts and education advocacy.”
Students and alumni of the Developer Academies are being challenged to work with the Malala Fund, named after Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, to create apps that “enhance education opportunities for girls,” Apple said. Yousafzai was invited to the company’s academy in Rio de Janeiro on Friday to meet students and explain the new initiative.
“Whether she wants to be a developer, a pilot, a dancer or a politician, education is the best path to a brighter future,” she said in a prepared statement. “By tapping into Apple’s network of student developers, Malala Fund will gain access to new tools to support our mission of free, safe, quality education. The students in Apple’s Developer Academy program share my passion for improving the world around us, and I am eager to see their innovative ideas to help girls in Brazil and across the globe.”
The company notes that it became the Malala Fund’s first Laureate partner in January, allowing the Fund to double the number of grants handed out by its Gulmakai Network, while also sponsoring new programs in India and Latin America. The goal was to extend secondary education to over 100,000 girls.
Under current CEO Tim Cook, Apple has become increasingly involved in both education initiatives and social causes. The former are often fairly self-serving, such as its Swift initiatives in schools. While the language does have other uses, and is relatively easy to learn, Swift is almost exclusively intended for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
Cook has championed causes in which the company has no direct financial incentive, such as gender and racial diversity in the workplace, and LGBT rights.
The Weekender: Oh Look Here’s Battleheart 2 Edition
Welcome to the Weekender, your weekly look at the best new games, sales, and updates. We’ve got a few new releases to go over and a whole lot of sales. Let’s get to it!
Out Now
Battleheart 2 (iOS Universal) – Full Review Coming Soon!
Battleheart was one of the first real-time strategy gems in the App Store, and remains a fun game, if a bit dated. It’s seven years later and Mika Mobile just released a sequel on iOS and…well, not much has changed. Battleheart 2 definitely took the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach and features the same real-time, squad-based combat of the original. While it is true Battleheart wasn’t broken, it definitely needed some freshening up. Unfortunately, there’s no advancement of game mechanics or a new, compelling story within which the action takes place. In fact, there’s not much of a story to speak of, and combat consists of cycling through a few repetitive fights until you’re ready to take on a boss. Once you beat him it’s off to a new area on the world map to rinse and repeat.
Combat that felt fresh seven years ago will leave many feeling a bit bored these days. Characters and enemies still sedately trot from place to place in Battleheart 2, which makes micro-managing four characters easier, but is far from the pace of today’s RTS titles. The graphics, sounds, and effects are also about the same as they were seven years ago in the original game, and while reusing some assets is certainly to be expected Battleheart 2 lacks the polish and pizazz of many of its contemporaries.
The biggest change in the sequel is supposed to be the inclusion of a cooperative multiplayer mode. Mika Mobile cites the ability to split your party among up to four players, each controlling their own hero. This sounds really cool and lots of ways to make use of this spring to mind, but I can’t figure out how it works. You pick a region and are asked to select a room name and once you’ve done that, nothing really happens. Maybe if two or more players enter the same room name something happens but I wasn’t able to test it and I shouldn’t have to guess as to how it works.
The bottom line is that Battleheart 2 is a new game with more of the same. This will appeal to many fans of the original, and there’s certainly something to be said for nostalgia, but for the rest of us there are better options out there.
Fighting Fantasy Legends Portal (iOS Universal and Android) – Full Review Coming Soon!
Fighting Fantasy Legends’ Portal brings three more books from the legendary writing duo Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone to mobile life. It covers the Deathtrap Dungeon trilogy—Deathtrap Dungeon, Trial of Champions, and Armies of Death—three adventures full of choices, tests of luck and skill, cards to collect, and of course combat. The gameplay is similar to the previous Fighting Fantasy Legends adventures by Nomad Games. You move through the adventure making decisions about which way to go and what to do at certain points.
There are a number of event locations throughout where you stop and draw a card from a deck full of monsters to fight, treasures to claim, traps to bypass, and other events. Fighting monsters and surviving traps and other trials are all dice dependent. You have a bunch of six-sided skill dice and luck dice. You start out with one success on each die and are able to improve them over time. When you’re faced with a challenge you have to get a certain number of successes out of your dice which varies based on difficulty. It’s a fun system but obviously prone to chance, both positive and negative, so keep that in mind if you’re not a fan of big luck swings. Fighting Fantasy Legends’ Portal is a lot of fun and Nomad Games has once again done a great job evoking the feel of the old-school books. If you’re a fan of those books, the first game, or the RPG/Adventure genre definitely check it out.
Nightmarium (iPad and Android) – Full Review Coming Soon!
Nightmarium is a tabletop game about bringing nightmares to life in the form of creepily combined monsters. You assemble head, torso, and legs from four different fearful genres and unleash them upon your foes. The first player to Frankenstein up five creatures of doom wins. The game is fast and simple to understand with some relatively simple tactics. It’s good for those easy-breezy gaming needs but won’t satisfy a hard-core strategizing itch. It also only offers pass-and-play multiplayer, no online action, so it’s more of a tabletop-game replacement at this point.
The App Store turned 10 years-old this week and Trism launched on its very first day. It became a star on the fledgling store with its bright colors, easy touch controls, and intuitive gameplay. It’s sequel, Trism II, launched this week into a vastly different App Store, one overflowing with puzzlers and games in general. It’s much tougher to stand out so Trism II introduces weird RPG/adventure-like wrapper with walking and talking triangle people, the trisms. You pick a hero and adventure through a world rescuing trisms and defeating bad guys through beating levels of the puzzle. The puzzle gameplay is a bit different as well, rather than sliding rows of the triangles you tap to add new ones to blank spaces and attempt to match up three adjacent same-colored triangles in order to remove them. I found the early game pretty easy and the adventure story a bit distracting, but then I prefer my puzzlers to be largely unhybridized. If you’re into puzzle/adventure mash ups Trism II may be right for you.
Warbands: Bushido is a digital collectable card and miniatures game with a look, feel, and play style that evokes tabletop miniature war gaming. It’s also free right now on iOS, though it does have in-app-purchases.
Hanseatic League trading sim Medieval Merchants has been around since 2013 and is hitting a mere $.99 for the first time ever. It’s only been on sale one other time, so act now if you’re interested!
Text-based adventure, turn-based combat…Dust and Salt just came out last May, looks quite intriguing, and is on sale for the first time for a mere $1. That’s probably worth checking out, right?
Old-school meta-RPG Knights of Pen & Paper is down to its lowest price in four years, just a buck.
Asmodee Digital Sale
A large selection of Asmodee Digital games are on sale this week. We’ve only linked to the iOS store below, but the discounts are also on Android as well.
Act as GM and coach and lead your favorite baseball team to success in MLB Manager 2018, on sale for the first time for $2.
The Quest Games
Classic role-playing game The Quest and the Islands of Ice and Fire expansion are both on sale. Check out our five-star review of The Quest and then get going with some old-school adventuring.
To pieces of news in one post! First off, today CopperCube 6 was just released. Second, it is now also available for free! If you are interested in learning more about this 3D game engine aimed at creating games with little to no programming, be sure to check out our CopperCube 5 hands-on video available here.
Of course, there has to be a catch… how are they going to make money to support continued development? Well, there are upgraded versions available:
So basically the Free tier lacks post processing effects, video playback and a command line interface while requiring a splash screen. The Studio version is the same as the pro version, except comes with the game client source code.
As to what is actually new in CopperCube 6, here is the feature list from the forum announcement:
– Post-Processing Effects – Full FBX import with Animation – New lighting system – Unified colors and lighting – DDS support – WebGL 2 support – Loading screen image – Multi Selection – WebGL automatic pointer lock – Freeze Scale command – Better Wireframe mode – Automatic DirectX installer – Scene Metrics tool – Nicer User Interface – More terrain generation options – Lots of performance improvements – Updated Lightmapper – Improved OpenGL renderer – Improved WebGL font rendering – Automatic clip prevention for FPS camera children – Preview of new D3D 11 renderer (alpha, not public yet) – and many more smaller new features
Full change log available here. CopperCube is already available for download on Steam, weighing in at just under 100mb. CopperCube is available on MacOS and Windows, sorry Linux users.
The Linux Foundation Transforms the Energy Industry with New Initiative: LF Energy
We are thrilled to introduce the new LF Energy initiative to support and promote open source in the energy and electricity sectors. LF Energy is focused on accelerating the energy transition, including the move to renewable energy, electric mobility, demand response and more.
Open source has transformed industries as vast and different as telecommunications, financial services, automobiles, healthcare, and consumer products. Now we are excited to bring the same level of open collaboration and shared innovation to the power systems industry.
We are also honored that several global, highly influential energy leaders and research institutions are supporting The Linux Foundation including RTE (Europe’s biggest transmission system provider), the European Network of Transmission System Operators, Vanderbilt University and The Electric Power Research Institute.
LF Energy is welcoming four new projects as part of the initiative, and we plan to host numerous information and communication technologies (ICT) that will advance everything from smart assistants for system operators to advanced grid controls, analytics, and planning software.
PS4's Free PS Plus Games Are Available For July 2018
We're now well into July 2018, and with a new month comes another batch of free titles for PlayStation Plus subscribers. As per usual, July's PS Plus lineup consists of six games divided up across PS4, PS3, and Vita, all of which are available to download at no charge through the end of the month.
Headlining PS4's selection of freebies is Heavy Rain, the narrative-driven game from Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream. Heavy Rain originally launched for PS3 back in 2010 and was re-released on Sony's current-gen console in 2016. Joining it is Absolver, a unique and flexible third-person adventure/fighting game in which players can fully customize their fighting style.
On the PS3 side, Plus subscribers can now download the classic 3D platformer Rayman 3 HD, as well as Extreme Exorcism, a retro-style platformer in which players hunt their own ghosts. Extreme Exorcism is available in place of Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess, which was initially announced to be one of this month's free PS Plus titles. The game is also playable on PS4 via Cross-Buy.
Finally, Vita owners can download the acclaimed adventure game Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma and the action game Space Overlords for free this month. Like Extreme Exorcism, the latter also supports Cross-Buy with PS4, getting you four possible freebies on that platform in July.
All of the aforementioned games will remain free to download for PS Plus members until next month, when they'll return to their regular prices. You can see the full list of July's free PS Plus games below.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-13-2018, 11:41 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
Marvel's Black Widow Movie Finally Has A Director
After searching for over half a year and meeting with more than 70 directors in order to find its ideal candidate, Marvel's standalone Black Widow movie has finally found its director, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cate Shortland, the Australian director responsible for movies like 2004's Somersault and 2012's Lore, has signed on to direct Marvel’s action-adventure romp led by Scarlett Johansson.
According to the report, "A female filmmaker was the priority even as the search stalled at one point and the studio looked at male directors." However, the hunt for a director finally narrowed in June of this year, as the studio landed on three candidates: Amma Asante (A Way of Life, Belle), Maggie Betts (Engram, Novitiate), and the aforementioned winner, Cate Shortland. Two others were also up for consideration: Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds, Enemy) and Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry, The L Word).
With the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio has said that it's finally moving forward with the Black Widow movie. Earlier in May, Marvel president Kevin Feige said, "I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow." He also called the character a "lead Avenger [that] has amazing stories in her own right to tell that we think would be fun to turn into a standalone franchise." Simultaneously, the studio found a screenwriter in Jac Schaeffer (TiMER, The Hustle). Though it's still unconfirmed and unannounced, Marvel's Black Widow is getting closer to becoming a reality.
Clear Linux Makes a Strong Case for Your Next Cloud Platform
There are so many Linux distributions available, some of which are all-purpose and some that have a more singular focus. Truth be told, you can take most general distributions and turn them into purpose-driven platforms. But, when it comes to things like cloud and IoT, most prefer distributions built with that specific use in mind. That’s where the likes of Clear Linux comes in. This particular flavor of Linux was designed for the cloud, and it lets you install either an incredibly bare OS or one with exactly what you need to start developing for cloud and/or IoT.
What is Clear Linux?
Clear Linux comes from Intel’s Open Source Technology Center, which focuses primarily on the cloud. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Clear Linux was designed specifically for the cloud while best leveraging Intel hardware. Because Clear Linux focuses primarily on Intel hardware, it can make best use of power management features and performance optimizations. Clear Linux also features:
FUSE file system debugging tool (for complete debug info)
Automatic feedback-directed optimizer
Function multi-versioning (to assist in developing platforms that can run anywhere)
Autoproxy (no need to manually configure proxies)
Telemetry (detect and respond to quality issues)
Mixer tool (for composing a specific use-case OS)
Software Update
Stateless (separates the OS configuration, per-system configuration, and VT user-data)
Supported hardware
Clear Linux can run on very minimal hardware (e.g., a single core CPU with 128MB of RAM and 600MB of storage). But it should be known (as you might already suspect), Clear Linux can only run on Intel 64-bit architecture and the hardware must support UEFI (otherwise it won’t boot). The following processor families have been verified to run Clear Linux:
2nd Generation, or later, Intel® Core™ processor family.
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7
Intel® Atom™ processor C2000 product family for servers – Q3 2013 version or later.
Intel® Atom™ processor E3800 series – Q4 2013 version or later.
Beyond Intel architecture, the minimum system requirements are:
I want to show you how to get Clear Linux up and running. I’ll be demonstrating on a VirtualBox VM. The installation isn’t terribly difficult, but there are certain things you need to know.
Installation
If you are going the route of VirtualBox virtual machine, create the VM as per normal, but you must enable EFI. To do this, open the Settings for the VM and click on the System tab. In this tab (Figure 1), click the checkbox for Enable EFI (special OSes only).
Once you have the VM setup, download the clear-23550-installer.iso.xz file. You will then need to uncompress the file with the command:
unxz clear-23550-installer.iso.xz
Once the file is uncompressed, you’ll see the clear-23550-installer.iso file. If you are going to use this as a virtual machine, you can attach that to the VM. If you’re installing on bare metal, burn that file to either a CD/DVD or USB flash drive as a bootable media. Boot the media or start the VirtualBox VM to be greeted by the text-based installer (Figure 2).
The installer is fairly straightforward. However, you do need to know that if you don’t go the Manual/Advanced route, you’ll wind up with a very bare system. Most of the questions asked during the installation are self explanatory. Just make sure when you reach the Choose Installation Type screen to select Manual (Figure 3).
If you go with the default (Automatic), you cannot select any additional packages. Chances are, you will want to go the Manual route (Figure 4).
Another task you are able to take care of in the Manual installation is the ability to create an admin user. If you don’t do that, the only user available is root. Of course, even if you go with the minimal installation, you can add users manually with the useradd command.
Post installation
After the installation completes, reboot and login. If you didn’t install the graphical environment (which probably will be the case, as this is geared toward the cloud), you might want to install more applications. This is done via bundles, using the swupd command. Say you want to run container applications with Docker. For this, you’d add the containers-basic bundle (for a list of all available bundles, see this page). To install the containers-basic bundle, the command is:
sudo swupd bundle-add containers-basic
After that command runs, you can now deploy container applications from Dockerhub. There are quite a large amount of bundles you can add. You can even install the GNOME desktop with the command:
sudo swupd bundle-add desktop-autostart
In fact, using bundles, you can pretty much define exactly how Clear Linux is going to function. Just remember, the base install is pretty empty, so you’ll want to go through the list of bundles and install everything you’ll need to make Clear Linux serve your specific purpose.
It should also be noted that the swupdcommand also takes care of the updating of bundles. This process is handled automatically. The autoupdate process can be enabled and disabled with the following two commands:
You can also force a manual update with the command:
sudo swupd update
Once you have everything installed and updated, you can start developing for the cloud and/or IoT; Clear Linux will serve you well in that regard.
Make it yours
If you want a cloud/IoT-specific Linux distribution that lets you build a distribution for a very specific need, Clear Linux might be just what you’re looking for. Give it a go for yourself.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-13-2018, 03:30 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
Best Pre-Amazon Prime Day 2018 Deals Available Now
Amazon's Prime Day doesn't start until July 16, but the online retailer is already offering a number of deals to spark interest and get people talking about the retail holiday. The only hitch is that, like the deals on Prime Day, you need to be an Amazon Prime member to get the sale prices. You can sign up for Prime here, with a free one-month trial for first-time subscribers. With that out of the way, let's look at what pre-Prime Day deals are available to Amazon Prime members right now.
Free PC Games
Amazon owns the streaming platform Twitch, and each month Amazon/Twitch Prime members get free PC games. The difference this month is that Prime Day is coming up. To celebrate, Twitch Prime members will get 21 free games in July, including Brutal Legend and Tacoma. You can find the full details here.
Amazon Echo owners know how convenient it is to ask Alexa to play a song or inquire what the weather will be like on a given day. The Echo Show is an Alexa-enabled device with one big difference--it has a screen. It can do everything a standard Echo can do (including playing Skyrim), while also allowing you to view Amazon Video content, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, and make video calls to others with an Echo Show.
Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's subscription service that offers unlimited access to over a million books. It also comes with a rotating selection of magazines and thousands of books with Audible narration. You can access all the Kindle Unlimited content on any device with the Kindle app. The service normally costs $30 for three months, but Prime members can get it now for just $1.
You can also enter to win a number of prizes without spending any money at all. The prizes include $50,000 in cash, a 2019 Lexus ES with Alexa, a trip for two to Seattle, and more. To enter, you can visit this page and click links to find out more about Amazon's offerings. Alternatively, if you have an Alexa-enabled device, you can ask the AI assistant a number of questions that count as entries as well. Questions like, "Alexa, what is the news?" and "Alexa, what is Prime Day?" qualify.
More deals are coming for Prime members in the lead-up to Prime Day. We'll continue covering the best deals, so be sure to check back later.
The latest Nintendo Download update for North America has arrived, and it’s bringing new games, fresh DLC and discounts galore to an eShop in your region. Have a read down below and you’re bound to find something that’ll get your bank balance shaking with fear. Enjoy!
Nintendo Switch retail
Octopath Traveler (Square Enix) – Eight travelers. Eight adventures. Eight roles to play in a new world brought to life by Square Enix. And now, you can enjoy all of them in the new demo. Step into the shoes and live the stories of each of the eight travelers and freely explore the world of Orsterra. Then, carry your choices and adventure into the main game with save data transfer.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo) – Captain Toad stars in his own puzzling quest on the Nintendo Switch system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Our stubby hero must dodge dangers and track treasures across many trap-filled courses. Survive smoldering volcanoes, hazardous steam engines, haunted houses and even new courses based on the Super Mario Odyssey game. Luckily, in the Nintendo Switch version, a second player can join in to help toss turnips at enemies.
Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion (Outright Games, $39.99) – The Land of Ooo is underwater and it’s up to Finn and Jake to find out why. Join our heroes as they explore the high seas, search for hidden clues, interrogate shady suspects and fight pirates to solve the mystery and save their waterlogged world! Available July 17.
Nintendo Switch eShop
Fortnite (Season 5) (Epic Games, Free) – WORLDS COLLIDE! Drop into Season 5 of the Fortnite game on the Nintendo Switch system, where we’re introducing all kinds of changes to the map! A Viking ship, desert outpost, and ancient statues have appeared on the island, changing the world of Fortnite as we know it. The all-new Battle Pass can help you level up faster by completing Weekly Challenges, and unlock additional rewards like progressive outfits, sprays and exclusive cosmetics. Play the new Season of Fortnite from anywhere. Earn Gold Coins when purchasing V-Bucks in-game on Nintendo Switch. Read our review.
ACA NEO GEO THE SUPER SPY (HAMSTER, $7.99) – “THE SUPER SPY” is an action game released by SNK in 1990. Punch, kick, and use guns to fight off terrorists as you make your way through the building to rescue their captives. Defeating enemies earns experience, which can be used in a Role-Playing Game-like feature to level up.
ASSAULT GUNNERS HD EDITION (Marvelous Entertainment, $9.99) – ASSAULT GUNNERS HD EDITION puts you in control of the Peace Keeping Force known as DAT and along with your three allied Battle Mechs, you must attempt to save Earth’s Migrants and the Mars Colonies as a whole from the threat of the ANTS uprising. Who or what could be leading this threat against Mars, and the new planned perfect utopia for humanity? Read our review.
Darts Up (EnjoyUp Games) – Darts Up is a fun game of darts in which you will have complete control over aiming thanks to the motion sensor. You can play with your friends and family, up to a maximum of 4 Players. Available July 13.
Epic Loon (Ukuza, $14.99) – They were locked away in stasis, hidden from the human world, in an antiquated piece of obsolete entertainment tech known as a VHS cleaner tape. Their restful prison, where they would remain until the end of time, was foolproof. Available July 13.
Fill-a-Pix: Phil’s Epic Adventure (Lightwood Games, $7.99) – Create beautiful pixel art as you reveal 120 amazing photographs from Phil’s epic trip around the world! Fill-a-Pix is a new picture logic puzzle from the makers of Pic-a-Pix Deluxe, but with huge, scrollable puzzles up to 100 squares wide, you’ll reveal pictures much larger and more detailed than ever before!
Hand of Fate 2 (Defiant Development, $29.99) – Hand of Fate 2 is a dungeon crawler set in a world of dark fantasy. Master a living boardgame where every stage of the adventure is drawn from a deck of legendary encounters chosen by you! Choose wisely – your opponent, the enigmatic Dealer, will pull no punches as he shapes you into the instrument of his revenge. Available July 17.
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! (Rising Star Games, $14.99) – A hero isn’t a hero at all without the right weapon… or a shop to buy one from! Become the man (sorry, potato) behind the heroes, forging amazing weapons and selling them on for tasty profits in Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!, a hilarious mash-up of management and simulation.
Hunting Simulator (Bigben Interactive, $39.99) – A true simulation of hunting, Hunting Simulator offers players hours and hours of immersion in the open wild with single and multiplayer modes, a multitude of hunting areas, and hundreds of objectives to accomplish. Developed using the Unreal 4 Engine, the game presents some of the most well-known hunting regions such as the mountains of Colorado, the oak forests of France, and the snowy plains of Alaska. Each hunting area is populated by numerous different and realistic looking animals, each possessing an authentic set of behaviours.
Let’s Sing 2018 (Plug In Digital, $39.99) – Warm up those vocal chords, enter the virtual stage and experience the best Let’s Sing ever made! Available July 17.
Mugsters (Team17 Digital) – Mugsters is a physics-based, supercharged, action-packed puzzler with sandbox levels where you must outrun, out-manoeuvre and outsmart your enemies by experimenting with different vehicles, environmental traps and explosives. Available July 17.
Radio Hammer Station (Arc System Works, $6.99) – A popular radio station spreading its love of groove with some the best DJs in the world. Providing tunes to groove to throughout the day. Its true purpose is to serve as the radio station of justice, beating evil down with a ginormous hammer! To ensure peace and harmony, RADIO HAMMER continues to go live with style!
Red Hot Ricochet (Everook, $9.99) – It’s high noon in this barren wasteland, and only one of you is making it out alive. Sure, you could try and shoot them right between the eyes – but where’s the fun in that? Red Hot Ricochet is an intense game of ricochet duels, and you’ll need wise shooting, lucky bounces, and a bit of triggernometry to win.
Super Destronaut DX (Ratalaika Games) – Inspired by an arcade classic, Super Destronaut DX is retro space shooter that pits you against an enemy more dreaded than a UFO, a scoreboard. Available July 13.
Super Volley Blast (Unfinished Pixel, $8.99 normally $9.99) – Are you ready to have a blast and become the best volleyball player in the world? Super Volley Blast is an over the top beach volley game that provides plenty of fun for you and your friends.
Star Story: The Horizon Escape (Forever Entertainment, $9.99) – The archaeological research mission faced some unexpected difficulties. Your spaceship crashed. Can you escape from this planet? But how? No one can help you. You are here all alone. Or not? Do you have a plan? Will you find what it takes to be a hero?
The Mooseman (Sometimes You, $6.29) – You are the Mooseman and you have the ability to see all that is hidden to the mortal eye. Available July 18.
Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded (NIS America) – Set out on an all-new adventure with Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, and more of your favorite Touhou characters! The land of Gensokyo once again plunges into darkness as a new mystery unfolds. What mysteries await in the Tower of Desire? Available July 17. Read our review.
VERTICAL STRIKE ENDLESS CHALLENGE (Active Gaming Media, $4.49 normally $4.99) – A flight-based action game designed to be easy to pick up and enjoy right away, and playable over short timeframes. Available July 18.
3DS retail
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo, $39.99) – Captain Toad stars in his own puzzling quest on the Nintendo Switch system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Our stubby hero must dodge dangers and track treasures across many trap-filled courses. Survive smoldering volcanoes, hazardous steam engines, haunted houses and even new courses based on the Super Mario Odyssey game. Luckily, in the Nintendo Switch version, a second player can join in to help toss turnips at enemies. The Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker game will be available for both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS on July 13. A free demo version is also available for download now. Read our review.
