As long-time readers of this very site will be aware, Chris Scullionreally knows his stuff. That’s why we get him to fill these hallowed pages with lovely words; he’s something of a boffin when it comes to the world of Nintendo, having worked at Official Nintendo Magazine during its heyday.
Scullion has been putting his massive gaming-focused noggin to good use in other ways, too – he penned the utterly superb NES Encyclopedia a while back, and has returned in 2020 with a follow-up tome which performs the same trick, this time looking at every game released on the massively popular Super Nintendo (in the west, at least). Including all of the Japanese titles would have been nice – especially as there are a great many amazing titles which never made it to the west – but given that most people will have only played North American and European titles back in the day, it’s not a deal-breaker.
Even without Japanese releases, the book covers a whopping 780 games, each one with its own description, screenshot and fun factoid. Some of the bigger releases have box art, too, and there’s a bonus Virtual Boy section at the back which details the 22 games released for that ill-fated console.
Like the NES book, this proves to be an exhaustive reference when it comes to picking out the very best SNES titles, so if you’re a newcomer to the format, then leafing through its 264 pages is going to be a revelatory experience – as well as highly entertaining, as Scullion’s writing is infused with plenty of humour.
However, unlike a lot of gaming writers who trade laughs for knowledge, Scullion clearly knows his stuff and does an excellent job of summing up precisely why you should (or shouldn’t) seek out a particular game. While we all have fond memories of titles such as Super Mario World, Zelda: Link to the Past and Secret of Mana, there are a shocking number of duds on Nintendo’s 16-bit powerhouse, so Scullion’s book should help you pick out the gems and avoid the duffers.
Just like its predecessor, the SNES Encyclopedia comes in hardback format and is printed on high-quality, glossy paper stock, making it the ideal coffee-table tome for anyone who is even remotely interested in video games or Nintendo consoles. Scullion’s next project tackles the SNES’ rival, the Mega Drive / Genesis, and we can’t wait to get our hands on that.
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-27-2020, 04:41 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Twitch Continues To Get Criticized By Music Industry
In the past months, Twitch has struggled with onslaughts of DMCA takedown notices and the use of non-licensed music on the platform. The company recently set up a Twitch Soundtrack service to offer licensed music to streamers, but some music organizations aren't convinced that Twitch is taking the necessary steps to address the issues.
According to Variety, Twitch and its parent company Amazon received a letter signed by major US music institutions, including RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America. It accuses the platform of letting streamers ignore copyright laws and failing to secure the proper copyright licenses for the Soundtrack tool.
The letter claims that Twitch did not get synch (audio-only use) and mechanical (video use) licenses for Soundtrack. It also asserts that Twitch "allow[s] and enabl[es] its streamers to use our respective members' music without authorization, in violation of Twitch's music guidelines." The letter elaborates, "Twitch appears to do nothing in response to the thousands of notices of music infringement that it has received nor does it currently even acknowledge that it received them, as it has done in the past."
How to Install PIL/Pillow in Python? A Helpful Illustrated Guide
PIL is an abbreviation of Python Imaging Library and it adds image processing to Python. In 2011, PIL has been discontinued—its unofficial successor framework Pillow for image processing is an actively maintained and user-friendly alternative for Python 3.
pip install Pillow
Let’s dive into the installation guides for the different operating systems and environments!
How to Install Pillow on Windows?
To install the updated Pillow framework on your Windows machine, run the following code in your command line or Powershell:
The simplest way to install Pillow in PyCharm is to open the terminal tab and run the following command:
pip install Pillow
Here’s a screenshot with the two steps:
Open Terminal tab in Pycharm
Run pip install Pillow in the terminal to install Pillow in a virtual environment.
As an alternative, you can also search for Pillow in the package manager. However, this is usually an inferior way to install packages because it involves more steps.
How to Install Pillow in Anaconda?
You can install the Pillow package with Conda using the following command in your shell:
conda install -c anaconda pillow
This assumes you’ve already installed conda on your computer. If you haven’t check out the installation steps on the official page.
Where to Go From Here?
Enough theory, let’s get some practice!
To become successful in coding, you need to get out there and solve real problems for real people. That’s how you can become a six-figure earner easily. And that’s how you polish the skills you really need in practice. After all, what’s the use of learning theory that nobody ever needs?
Practice projects is how you sharpen your saw in coding!
Do you want to become a code master by focusing on practical code projects that actually earn you money and solve problems for people?
Then become a Python freelance developer! It’s the best way of approaching the task of improving your Python skills—even if you are a complete beginner.
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Movie Trivia Quiz Event: Cinematic Universes
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Earlier this week the first beta of Godot 3.2.4 was released bringing several fixes and improvements as well as a few new features.
The primary features of the first Godot 3.2.4 beta from the Godot blog include:
Android App Bundle and subview embedding support.
2D batching for GLES3 (remember that we added it for GLES2 in 3.2.2), and improvements to GLES2’s batching.
A new software skinning for MeshInstance to replace the slow GPU skinning on devices that don’t support the fast GPU skinning (especially mobile).
Several smaller fixes and improvements
Downloads for all major platforms are available for download here. The major new feature of most interest to me is the new sprite batching, an optimization trick to improve 2D rendering speeds. In the video below we run the popular Bunnymark test on Godot 3.2.3 and the new Godot 3.2.4 and we saw respectable improvements.
During the video, you’ll get a closer look at how we’ve made it faster than ever to get into your games, how games on the next generation of Xbox look better and play better than ever before, and how the Xbox app keeps you connected to your console and friends, even when you’re not home. From the new dashboard experience and our new Xbox Wireless Controller to next-gen game optimizations and storage solutions, this video will give you a look at everything you can expect from Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
My Time At Portia Sequel Confirmed For Nintendo Switch, Coming 2022
If you’re a fan of Pathea Games’ My Time at Portia, then you’ll be pleased to learn that the developer has just announced a sequel named My Time at Sandrock – and it’s coming to Switch.
Similarly to its forerunner, My Time at Sandrock takes place in “perhaps the only wholesome post-apocalyptic world in the gaming industry right now” and places you in the role of “a fledgling builder being sent to a wild and rugged townscape on the brink of collapse.”
“My Time At Portia is an ambitious game that actually delivers on what it sets out to do,” is what we said in our review of the first game. “The crafting can be extremely overwhelming at first and the presence of some in-game timers can be a mild annoyance, but get your head around its detailed multi-step building missions and you’ll end up with a game that could end up racking hundreds of hours on your Switch.”
Sandrock will benefit from a revamped combat system, a deeper story, more complex characters and co-op multiplayer. To make all of this happen, Pathea is asking for $100,000 in funding via Kickstarter, which means the studio can complete the game and self-publish it.
My Time at Sandrock is planned as a Steam Early Access title and will launch in March next year. A full launch is expected in Spring 2022, while the Switch version should be with us by Summer 2022.
Mandalorian Monday Reveals New Baby Yoda Toy You Can Control
With Season 2 of the Star Wars series The Mandalorian dropping on Friday, October 30 on Disney+, many fans of the show are probably what's coming next for The Child--also known as Baby Yoda. Sure, the 50-year-old infant isn't the star of the show, but it's easily the most talked-about character on the show. And now, The Child has a brand-new toy coming to stores this fall.
Star Wars The Mandalorian The Child Real Moves Plush is an upcoming toy that is just as cute as its television counterpart. Yes, the title of the toy is a mouthful, but Mattel's latest toy seems to be everything you'd want from a companion. Check out the new toy below.
The new toy has realistic motions, moving its head, ears, arms, and it's able to shuffle across the floor. There are four different play modes, which you control with a remote, and The Child makes authentic sounds from the Mandalorian TV show. It comes with the controller and Mandalorian pendant as well. If you pick up the $60 USD toy at Disney Parks or Stores, you'll get a lithograph as well.
Apple TV+ ‘Becoming You’ trailer debuts on YouTube
The trailer for “Becoming You” is a quick preview of the upcoming six-part Apple TV+ docuseries, which takes an intimate look at how children develop all across the globe.
In the trailer, viewers are introduced to some of the children who will be followed in the series. It also presents the premise — follow children during their first 2,000 days on the planet as they learn to talk, think, and love.
“Becoming You” shows how different our journeys can be while highlighting our shared humanity. The series showcases over 100 kids from across the world, from Nepal to Japan and Borneo. The series is set to premiere on November 13.
The series is narrated by Olivia Colman, produced by Wall to Wall Media, and is executive produced by Leanne Klein and Hamo Forsyth.
Review: HyperBrawl Tournament – A Fun And Frantic Arcade Handbrawler
Milky Tea’s HyperBrawl Tournament sees teams of futuristic handbrawlers compete in chaotic 2v2 matches where they duke it out — literally kicking, punching, stabbing and hammering each other into submission — in order to stick a great big metal ball into each other’s neon nets for a GOOOOOOOAL! It’s Speedball blitzed with Rocket League, a cartoonish arcade sports effort whose quick, action-packed matches feel like a perfect fit for Switch and, while it may not quite reach the dizzy heights of its most obvious influences due to a couple of niggles here and there, it’s a fun and frantic good time nonetheless.
The story here, such as it is, sees future heroes from across the galaxy sought out by ancient protectors of the universe in order to prove themselves in the ultimate tournament, outscoring, outwitting and out-brawling each other in order to become masters of the Hyperforce. Rightio! Choosing from a roster comprised of eight brawlers divided into three classes — core, swift and tank — you’ll need to team up and get to grips with punching, kicking, hypercurving your shots, activating a hyperforce special to power up attacks and making use of a variety of weapons and tools in order to subvert the flow of a match in your favour.
Booting up HyperBrawl Tournament for the first time runs you through a brief tutorial that summarizes all of your moves but, as it does so, it neglects to mention one very, very important point; you can hold the shoot button here to build up your shot power and unleash a vicious blast capable of K.O.’ing your foes and rebounding the ball off every surface of the game’s shifting arenas. It’s a discovery you’ll no doubt make very quickly on your own but, for us, it’s one that should have been screamed from the rooftops ASAP because knocking out your opponents and blasting the ball off walls, around barriers and through portals in this game never grows old.
Hold up. Did we say “shifting arenas”? Why yes, we did. In order to spice matches up a bit, Milky Tea has peppered play areas with rotating floors, columns, sliding walls and portals that can be used to teleport the ball which you’ll need to navigate by dodging, fighting, passing and, more importantly, utilising your hypercurve skill. Upon taking a shot at your opponent’s goal (or head) here you can use your right thumbstick to swerve the ball around in an exaggerated manner in order to avoid obstacles or hit your target in a spectacular fashion. It’s a neat little gameplay wrinkle that, alongside all of the other moving parts and offensive options on offer, means matches are capable of striking a sweet balance between straight-up smashing and smart strategizing.
There’s definitely room here for dedicated players to formulate plans that enable them to absolutely dominate their opponents and these plans are aided immensely by the plethora of weapons and gadgets each combatant has at their disposal. Upon selecting your team’s two heroes before kicking off you’ll be given a choice of equipment ranging from great big slam hammers that charge up for an earth-shattering shock, cyclone swords that see your player spin around while shredding everything in their path, mag beams that pull the ball towards you, deployable shields, turbo boosts that can be lined up to flatten foes and more besides. Combining these offensive and defensive tools with your hypercurve ability, hypercharged attacks and those moving arenas gives matches here a real sense of chaotic arcade fun that nails that “just one more go” vibe and leads to some pretty excellent action, especially online where human foes do a much better job tactically than the game’s bots.
In terms of modes, besides that online element where you’ll climb the global leaderboards as you kick off against teams composed of one human opponent and an AI buddy, there’s also an arcade offering allowing for local multiplayer and bot-based combat and a campaign that sees you face off against AI teams to win the Galaxy League and Cosmic Cup tournaments. We would have loved to see an online component that facilitated groups of four human players but, overall, there’s enough here to keep you busy and it’s all backed up by the usual system of loot boxes containing all-manner of cosmetic unlocks and an in-game currency that you’ll earn by simply playing matches.
Where HyperBrawl Tournament does skew a few of its shots slightly wide is with regards to a system of respawning that sees your enemies reanimate in front of their own goal in pretty short order, meaning you have precious little time after K.O.’ing them to score before you’ve got a defensive wall in front of you once more. We can see why Milky Tea have gone with this option — things would get pretty high-scoring if you respawned away from your goal — but it can get a little infuriating once in a while. Elsewhere, the action in handheld can sometimes get a little too chaotic to make out perfectly clearly, although the more you become accustomed to proceedings the less this is a factor, and matches can feel a little bit sluggish at times in docked mode. There’s also the issue of the game’s bots which, while doing a reasonable enough job, are no match for human players and, as we mentioned, it’s a real shame the online doesn’t allow for proper 2v2 action.
Overall though, what’s here is a healthy dose of arcade fun that’s got more than enough about its core mechanics to make for a surprisingly strategic and chaotic good time, especially when you take things online where, for now, there seems to be plenty of human opponents to pit yourself against. It may not hit the heights of classics like Rocket League or Laser League, but HyperBrawl Tournament has got its neon hooks into us regardless with its quick knockabout matches ensuring we’re always up for just one more round.
Conclusion
HyperBrawl Tournament is a fun and addictive futuristic handbrawling effort that arms its players with a wealth of weapons, tools and attacks and unleashes them on a variety of obstacle-filled arenas that make for chaotic and surprisingly strategic matches. Things can get a little muddled in handheld mode from time to time, docked games can feel a little sluggish here and there and we’d love to have seen proper 2v2 human matches facilitated online but, overall, this one’s a decent offering that scratches that Rocket League, arcade sports itch.
