The Switch library has a great selection of top-quality fighting games, but one title you may have overlooked is Fantasy Strike. It was designed by David Sirlin, the lead designer of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and comes with cross-play support.

If you haven’t tried out yet, the good news is it’s now free-to-play on all platforms including the Nintendo Switch. There are also two new characters to try out. Here’s a brief rundown:

There is no paywall to practice offline and battle others in casual and ranked matches. The entire roster is available to everyone, including new challengers Sirus Quince, who confuse opponents with illusions, and General Onimaru, a powerful swordsman with an unblockable special attack.

Existing players retain the same access they previously had and receive 60 new costume colour sets as part of the Founders’ Pack. New players can unlock additional game modes with the Core Pack (priced at $19.99 USD ). A new Fantasy+ subscription ($4.99 USD for one month) option also provides benefits such as double XP and a replay theatre.

Will you be trying out this game now that it’s free-to-play? Tell us down below.

Nintendo is an odd company in many ways; deeply conservative in some respects, but also able to swing for the fences and invest money and resources in the pursuit of pure novelty. Time and again it puts out products that no other platform holder would have dreamed of, and more often than not those frivolities turn out to be delightfully entertaining. Not every idea can be a winner, though, and there are few more high profile failures in the Kyoto company’s back catalogue than the Virtual Boy.

An odd concept for a console that delivered rudimentary (and very red) autostereoscopic 3D gaming through a built-in viewer, its development was led by legendary Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi, the same man behind the Game & Watch handhelds and the all-conquering Game Boy. Virtual Boy launched in Japan on 21st July 1995, but performed very poorly, both at home and in North America. So poorly, in fact, that it never reached European shores at all; production was discontinued after only five months in its homeland.

With a catalogue of just 22 games released between both territories, it’s an infamous example of one of Nintendo’s more outlandish products completely missing the mark. But does it really deserve its reputation? Surely there are a couple of stone-cold classics in its library which would make tracking down a Virtual Boy worth it, no?

In honour of the console’s 25th anniversary, we’ve ranked all 22 games in order of merit below. To hear more about each game, check out our reviews for each and every one. That these games never found their way to 3DS feels like a real missed opportunity, that’s for sure – especially to poor Europeans for whom the Virtual Boy represents a tantilising missing piece of the Nintendo puzzle.

With the console now a quarter of a century old, perhaps it’s time to dig through the cupboard here at Nintendo Life HQ and fire up the ol’ Boy again…

Publisher: Ocean Software

Release Date: 21st Dec 1995 (USA)

And you thought the film was bad. Waterworld is an ugly, depressingly dull excuse for a game. The film might have been a box office bomb, but it really isn’t as awful as its repuation suggests. The VB game is irredeemably poor, though, and you have our permission to label your mint boxed Virtual Boy library ‘complete’ with this one missing.

Publisher: J-Wing / Developer: J-Wing

Release Date: TBA

A soupily slow game that made our ears bleed, falling block puzzler Virtual Lab threatens to become passably fun at times. They’re empty threats, though, and it never escapes its crushingly dull, repetitive loop. It’s not insultingly offensive, but if you’re after an excuse to splurge on a near-mint Virtual Boy on ebay, this ain’t it.

Publisher: KEMCO / Developer: KEMCO

Release Date: 11th Sep 1995 (USA)

Oh dear. Maybe we should have started at the top? Nestling at #20 we’ve got the first of several sports games available for the system. Some decent 3D effects can’t disguise a game only its mother could love, and unfortunately Virtual League Baseball can’t make up for its lacklustre looks with decent gameplay, either.

Publisher: Taito / Developer: Taito

Release Date: TBA

3D Space Invaders might seem like the draw, but actually it’s the 2D version included in this collection that captures the arcade original best. Still, there’s no shortage of ways to play Space Invaders these days, so while this isn’t terrible, it’s hardly worth giving yourself a headache for.

Publisher: Bandai / Developer: Bandai

Release Date: TBA

Well-designed characters and decent 3D can’t save this poorly-presented and repetitive Gundam game from the dusty depths of your wardrobe following its debut in your Virtual Boy’s cart slot. SD Gundam Dimension War could have been worse, but not much.

Publisher: Pack-In-Video

Release Date: TBA

A Japanese exclusive, Virtual Fishing is far from the worst game on the system, although you know you’re in trouble when that’s the highest compliment you can pay. It struggles to find the right balance between presenting a challenge and becoming boringly easy when it comes to landing a lunker. Again, not awful but also not worth flaring up your glaucoma to play.

Publisher: I’Max / Developer: Be Top

Release Date: TBA

A first-person horror game that suffers from similar issues of repetition as many of the console’s other titles, but at least it tried something different. It all feels a little old-hat by modern standards, but as a curio in the Virtual Boy catalogue, Insmouse no Yakata may be worth a look if you’re into old-school 3D dungeon exploration games.

Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Release Date: 14th Aug 1995 (USA)

Teleroboxer is the first of the Virtual Boy catalogue that could be legitimately, consistently labelled as ‘fun’. Unfortunately, the experience is extremely short-lived, but while it lasts this first-person fighter isn’t half-bad. Hardly a sterling recommendation, we know, but at this stage we’ll take what we can get.

Publisher: Nintendo / Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Release Date: 1st Oct 1995 (USA)

Okay, a Mario title – surely a harbinger of quality, no? Well, not quite. Playing much like an updated version of the original Mario Bros., Mario Clash is not exactly the killer platformer we want from the plumber, but it’s in a whole other league to some of the dross we’ve waded through to get here.

To reiterate, this is by no means essential, but it’s not bad. Our quest for the killer app continues.

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: 1st Nov 1995 (USA)

Perhaps it’s our affection for sports games with plain, unadorned titles, or perhaps it’s tough to make a bad golf game, but we quite like Golf. Its lack of multiplayer and ability to save your progress hurts, not to mention its single course and inevitably repetitive nature, but the base gameplay here is solid and, as we’ve seen, you could do a lot worse. We give this three headaches out of five.

Publisher: Bullet-Proof

Release Date: TBA

The first of Virtual Boy’s duo of Tetris titles, V-Tetris is Tetris and therefore hits a minimum level of quality almost by default. It’s not particularly special in any way, and not being able to save your high scores is a significant omission, but we can comfortably say without fear of contradiction that this is in the top two Tetris titles on the system.

After five years, Psyonix has revealed the next chapter of its popular “soccar” game, Rocket League.

Later this summer, it will be going free-to-play across all platforms. This will also line up with its release on the Epic Games Store. Psyonix says the core gameplay will remain the same, but it will refine the menus to make navigation easier, and revamp major features like tournaments and challenges.

Anyone who already owns Rocket League – across any platform – will still be able to “play and enjoy the game” with full support for future updates and features. As part of the free-to-play update, Rocket League is adding cross-platform progression. This will require an Epic Games account.

we’re introducing cross-platform progression with free to play, and you’ll be able to bring items, Rocket Pass progress, and your Competitive Rank to every platform where you play Rocket League, thanks to an Epic Games Account. There’s a lot more to share about that, so stay tuned in the coming months.

In addition to this, it’s been revealed the Steam version of Rocket League will no longer be available to download for new players:

Once Rocket League goes free to play, anyone who already owns Rocket League on any platform (including Steam) will be able to play and enjoy the game with full support for future updates and features. However, the Steam version will no longer be available to download for new players. To put it simply, wherever you play now (including Steam), you’ll still be able to play in the future.

Anyone who has played Rocket League online before the launch of the free-to-play version (this applies to existing owners) will be rewarded with a special Legacy status in the game. This Legacy status comes with the following content:

All Rocket League-branded DLC released before free-to-play, “Est. 20XX” title that displays the first year you played Rocket League, 200+ Common items upgraded to “Legacy” quality, Golden Cosmos Boost, Dieci-Oro Wheels, and a Huntress Player Banner. If you’ve played online before this announcement, you will also receive the Faded Cosmos Boost.

How do you feel about this decision to make Rocket League free-to-play? Leave a comment down below.

Attention, students: Spike Chunsoft, Inc. will take over publishing for the Danganronpa series.
Please look forward to an official statement once details are finalized.

— Spike Chunsoft, Inc. (@SpikeChunsoft_e) July 21, 2020

McKinsey Authors: James Manyika | San FranciscoSusan Lund | WashingtonJacques Bughin | BrusselsKelsey Robinson | San FranciscoJan Mischke | ZurichDeepa Mahajan | San Francisco

Download Link (PDF)

Anyone who has ever felt trapped in a cubicle, annoyed by a micromanaging boss, or fed up with office politics has probably dreamed of leaving it all behind and going it alone.

The powerful opening line from the 148 page report (published in 2014) sets the tone of the report and shows one of the underlying reasons the freelancer market has grown double-digits since then.

In this article, I’ll summarize the most important points and statistics of the report. I’ll also give some quotes. You can see the original document here. The report is based on 8000 participants of a McKinsey survey.

Statistics

The report states the following statistics (highlights by me):

• 20 to 30 percent of the working-age population in the United States and the EU-15, or up to 162 million individuals, engage in independent work
• At least 15 percent of workers use online platforms such as Uber and Upwork (in 2015)
• 30 percent are “free agents,” who actively choose independent work and derive their primary income from it.
• Approximately 40 percent are “casual earners,” who use independent work for supplemental income and do so by choice
• “Reluctants,” who make their primary living from independent work but would prefer traditional jobs, make up 14 percent.
• The “financially strapped,” who do supplemental independent work out of necessity, account for 16 percent.

Quotes

Interesting Nuggets

Unreal Engine is increasingly being used for virtual production in TV and Film, perhaps most famously in recent productions such as the Mandalorian.  This move to real-time tools in VFX development is only going to become more common and to encourage growth, Epic Games have launched the Unreal Fellowship program.

The Unreal Fellowship is a 30-day intensive online workshop during which experienced industry professionals can learn Unreal Engine, master state-of-the-art virtual production tools, and develop the skills to build teams proficient in the emerging field of real-time production.

The Fellowship provides $10,000 in financial assistance to each participant to ensure they are able to dedicate ample time to complete the rigorous curriculum.
Top VFX veterans will be joined by guest speakers in hands-on sessions that teach Unreal Engine fundamentals, model ingestion, animation, mocap integration, lookdev, lighting setups, and cinematic storytelling.

With a strong focus on practical work, participants will learn real-time workflows through the production of animated content and other projects. Fellows will have direct access to trainers with weekly team mentor sessions, a weekly four-hour open lab, and a dedicated Slack channel with specific hours for help.

Applications for the Fellowship are open until Monday, July 27 at 11:59 PM EDT. A minimum of five years of experience in commercial film and television production, immersive entertainment or game development is required, along with the ability to commit to the Fellowship full-time from August 21 to September 21. Don’t miss out—there are only 50 spaces available!

The application form and further details are available here.  You can learn more about the fellowship in the video below.

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Today only, Apple Authorized Reseller B&H Photo has issued a $39 discount on AirPods Pro bundled with AppleCare during its Deal Zone event.

Flash AirPods Pro deal

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Crytek has just released a half-hour video which shows Crysis Remastered running on Switch, and has also confirmed the resolutions that the game runs at in both docked and handheld modes.

According to the developers, the game hovers around the 720p-900p mark when played docked. In handheld mode, it’s hitting between 540p-720p. It was also noted that while the PS4 and Xbox One editions will have software-based ray tracing, that’s not going to be present on the Switch version.

Check out the video and let us know what you think of Crysis Remastered on Switch by leaving a comment below.

Crysis Remastered launches on Switch on July 23rd.