Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 10:43 AM - Forum: Lounge
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DayZ Update Adds New Location And Weapon, Full Patch Notes Revealed
Developer Bohemia Interactive has released a brand-new update for its survival game DayZ that addresses some bugs, adds a new weapon and ammunition, and more. We've compiled the full patch notes below.
The headlining feature of DayZ's 1.07 update is the inclusion of amusement parks, new locations within the game world replete with shooting ranges for target practice and structures to seek shelter from the zombie horde. If you would rather go on the offensive, though, Bohemia Interactive has added the new Repeater Carbine to help you take the scalps off your enemies. There are also two new ammunition types added in the 1.07 update: the Repeater Carbine's .357 rounds and 12ga Rubber Slugs that can be used with any shotgun.
DayZ's newest patch also addresses a number of bugs within the game, such as game and server crashes, problems around item duplication exploits, inaccessible items, unregistered bullet discharge, and more.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 05:46 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Destiny 2 Update 2.8.0
Combat Systems
Abilities
Armor
Increased the number of armor sets available from world drops to 11 sets, up from 3.
Several sets that were previously unavailable or extremely difficult to come by are now available as world drops.
Armor Energy
You can now change the energy type of any piece of armor to either of the other two energy types directly from the armor piece’s inspection screen by hovering the cursor over the armor’s energy icon.
The cost of changing the armor to another energy type at energy value 1 is 1 Upgrade Module.
You can also change the armor to another energy type at the equivalent energy value to its current energy value. The cost for doing so is 1 Upgrade Module + the aggregate cost of upgrading from energy value 1 to its current energy value.
Armor Stats
Prime Engrams will now more reliably drop armor with higher overall stat rolls and spikier distributions.
Exotic armor will now more reliably drop with higher overall stat rolls
Legendary armor now has an improved chance of receiving higher overall stat rolls, though low rolls will still be present
Armor Mods
The seasonal armor mod socket (i.e. Undying Mods, Dawn Mods) can now equip mods released during the season in which it was released, plus the previous season and the following season.
For example, armor with the Dawn Mod socket (from Season 9) can now equip Dawn Mods, Undying Mods (from Season 8), and Worthy Mods (from Season 10)
The Hands-On mod now provides energy on projectile melee kills (such as the hunter’s throwing knife)
Enhanced armor mods have been added to cover all weapon types for all armor mods that have an enhanced version.
Exotics
Hunter
Assassin’s Cowl
The invisibility and healing effect now triggers on powered melee (both against combatants and Guardians) and finishers
The duration of the invisibility granted by this exotic increases based on the tier of the enemy defeated
Arc Staff kills no longer activate this perk
FROST-EE5
Changed the ability regeneration so that it no longer stacks multiplicatively with other class ability energy generating perks.
Khepri’s Sting
All of your smoke bombs deal 150% damage while wearing this exotic
Orpheus Rigs
The maximum amount of Super you can regain from this exotic with a single use of Shadowshot is 50%.
Young Ahamkara’s Spine
Increases the explosion radius for tripmines by 14%.
Titan
Ashen Wake
Killing an enemy with a Fusion Grenade while wearing this exotic now refunds grenade energy. The amount of grenade energy refunded scales based on the tier of enemy killed.
Anteus Wards
The shield created during a slide no longer allows chip damage through
Doomfang Pauldrons
Fixed an issue where Doomfang Pauldrons would sometimes grant Super energy from melee kills while in your Super
Dunemarchers
Increase the radius of static charge to 20 meters, up from 12 meters.
Mk. 44 Stand Asides
Reduced the delay from the start of sprinting until the overshield comes in to 0.5 seconds, down from 1.25 seconds.
One-Eyed Mask
The target marking from this exotic has been replaced with target highlighting, eliminating the ability to detect targets through walls
No longer provides a damage bonus when defeating your marked target
Restored the previous overshield granted by defeating your marked target, which now has a duration of 6 seconds (down from 8)
Severance Enclosure
The explosion now triggers on powered melee (both against combatants and Guardians) and finishers
The radius and damage of the explosion created by this exotic increases based on the tier of the enemy defeated
Stronghold
Stronghold now maximizes sword defense stats, resulting in a high Defense guard that does not lose guard energy on taking hits or decay over time.
The armor retains its existing healing functionality.
Warlock
Apotheosis Veil
This exotic is now guaranteed to drop with a minimum +16 to Intellect.
Contraverse Hold
Reduced the damage reduction granted by this exotic to 20%, down from 40%
Sanguine Alchemy
Completely redesigned with a new perk, Blood Magic, that allows the wearer to pause the countdown timer of any rift they are standing in by getting weapon kills, extending the rift’s duration.
Ophidian Aspects
Now increases the lunge range of all Warlock melee attacks, even if the ability is on cooldown.
Verity’s Brow
The buff provided by this exotic now increases your grenade damage by 10% per stack
The buff to allies’ grenade recharge rates now kicks in when you cast your grenade
The wearer of this exotic now receives buff text notification indicating how many allies are currently benefiting from your increased grenade recharge
Weapons
Exotics
Izanagi’s Burden
Honed Edge’s animation is no longer affected by reload speed.
Outlaw has been replaced with No Distractions.
The Last Word
Fan Fire
Now adjusts the precision scalar of the weapon while hip-firing
Aiming down sights no longer provides additional effective range (damage falloff) for this weapon
Reduced stability for Mouse and Keyboard input
Adjusted the way target acquisition is handled for this weapon in hipfire to improve the experience
Reduced the effective range of this weapon
Fighting Lion
Due to backend changes with the grenade launcher archetype, Fighting Lion inherited minor adjustments
Rate of Fire increased from 72 RPM to 90 RPM
Direct hit damage in PvE is now 35 (Previously 27)
Devil’s Ruin
Fixed an bug that allowed Pyrogenesis to proc in unintended circumstances, allowing the laser to be fired repeatedly
Symmetry
Fixed an issue that caused the weapon to randomly stop firing.
Fixed an issue where this weapon could damage allies under some circumstances
Lord of Wolves
Release the Wolves now significantly reduces the accuracy of the weapon while active.
Reduced stability for Mouse and Keyboard input
Swords
Sword attacks for all sword types have been altered, generally increased in efficacy to account for the energy system.
Sword stats are now the following:
Impact
Swing Speed
Charge Rate
How fast this weapon recharges its energy.
Guard Resistance
Damage reduction while guarding with this weapon against most attacks.
Guard Efficiency
Reduces the amount of energy required to guard an attack.
Guard Endurance
How long you can maintain your guard with this weapon.
Ammo Capacity
Energy
Swords now replace your melee ability with the Sword’s energy meter while wielded. This energy recovers naturally on its own and is consumed by different Sword related actions.
Light attacks
Light attack strings can now be endlessly looped on all sword sub-archetypes.
Light attacks for all sub-archetypes can now cleave to hit multiple enemies.
Heavy attacks
Heavy attacks have consume your Sword’s energy when activated.
Note: Different swords can consume different amount of energy based on the attack used.
If your energy is full, your heavy attack is stronger. The reverse is also true.
Guard action
Guarding no longer consumes ammo, but instead uses the Sword’s energy while active.
Note: You still require a minimum of 1 available ammo to begin guarding.
Shield Bypass
A portion of damage from Sword attacks now bypass elemental shields to strike the target directly.
Note: There are exceptions to this rule, particularly for projectile based attacks that Swords generate.
Sword Perks
Whirlwind Blade
This effect will now also end if the player guards.
Multi-Hit attacks no longer count as more than one hit.
En Garde
Reduced the damage bonus from +50% to +30%
Shattering Blade
Reduced the damage bonus from 3x to ~1.67x
Energy Transfer
Reduced the amount of ability energy gained from this perk due to Guard no longer consuming ammunition
Counterattack
Changed the activation requirements:
Blocking an attack immediately after guarding increases damage for a short duration.
Duration is now 2 seconds (Previously 5)
Glide can no longer be activated during sword attacks or other full body melee attacks.
Grenade Launchers
Aggressive Frame grenade launchers are now Rapid-Fire Frame grenade launchers
Rapid-Fire Frame grenade launchers have had their damage reduced to account for their Rate of Fire (0.8x), but now also have increased reserves.
Previously, Aggressive Frame grenade launchers fired faster than Adaptive but had the same damage.
Damage to Major enemies and above by Power weapon grenade launchers reduced by ~10%
Sniper Rifles
Damage to Major enemies and above reduced to pre Shadowkeep values (~-20%)
Adaptive Snipers
Reduced precision multiplier from 3.25x to 2.95x
Rapid-Fire Snipers
Reduced base impact from 100 damage to 90 damage
Shotguns
Target acquisition for non slug shotguns has been adjusted to no longer account for precision locations.
Previously, target acquisition could actually cause the player’s spread to deviate from the intended aim vector, causing most of the spread to miss.
Cone angle is now adjusted on a per sub-archetype basis and is no longer adjusted by the Range stat.
Aiming down sights no longer adjusts effective range for this weapon archetype
Fusion Rifles
Target acquisition for fusion rifles has been adjusted to no longer account for precision locations.
Previously, target acquisition could actually cause the player’s volley to deviate from the intended aim vector, causing most of the volley to miss.
Damage falloff for this weapon archetype can now floor at 0.5x (Previously 0.75x)
Effective range and the impact of the optics stat for this weapon archetype has been reduced across the board.
Backup plan now adjusts impact to match the Rapid-Fire sub-archetype while active.
Charge time is now set to match the Rapid-Fire’s sub-archetype * 0.85 while active.
One-Two Punch
The effect now ends upon dealing melee damage or swapping weapons.
General
Fixed issue with emissive elements on the following weapons and ornaments
One Thousand Voices
Summer Storm for Riskrunner
Jade Countenance for Fighting Lion
Fixed an issue where Multikill Clip would remain active indefinitely.
Fixed an issue where killing Shanks with Lumina would not reliably generate a Remnant.
Fixed an issue where Wish-Ender would deal more damage than intended when shooting through certain objects.
Fixed an issue where large portions of the Packmaster’s Command ornament for Lord of Wolves would disappear when standing next to a wall.
Player Identity Systems
Emblems
Stat Trackers
Emblems now use an updated details screen to support Stat Trackers.
All Emblems now have Stat Trackers that can be equipped and unequipped
The Stat Trackers available on an emblem are related to the emblem’s source/category.
Stat Trackers are broken down into categories based on Activity and Time-span
Activity Categories are:
Seasons
Account
Crucible
Destination
Gambit
Raids
Strikes
Trials of Osiris
Time Span Categories are:
Weekly
Seasonal
Career*
*Note: Career stats respect pre-Season 10 data where possible but otherwise will begin tracking in Season 10
All of the Above
Stat Trackers can become Gilded when Stats reach certain thresholds
Stat Trackers now have their own dedicated section, which players can access through the Triumphs screen.
Stat Trackers are categorized into Seasonal, Weekly, Career and All.
Stat Trackers are sub-categorized by Stat Tracker type.
Feature Triumphs on the Triumphs overview have been reduced from displaying 3 to 1
Collections
The Emblem collection has been reorganized to reflect the Stat Trackers structure
Emblem Variants
Emblem Variants have been converted into their own Emblem items
Emblem Perks and Auras
Emblem Perks and Auras have been removed from Emblems.
Clans
Clan Banner Perks have been updated for Season 10
Accessories
Ships
Fixed an effects issue on Lost Legend’s engines
Ghosts
Fixed an animation issue with Sanctum Plate Shell
Sparrows
Updated thruster effects for Dawning sparrows Chill of Winter and Holiday Cheer
Fixed effects issues for Azure Azazyel and The Bronco
Investment
The season 9 Fond Memories Bright Engram has been retired, and in its place players can now obtain the new Season 10 Luminous Bright Engram
Bright Engrams are no longer available for purchase in the Eververse store, and instead can only be earned by leveling up the Season Pass
In place of the Bright Engram, the Eververse store now offers a Silver sale item that will refresh daily
The Gunsmith now has a chance of selling Season 9 seasonal armor mods
“Improved Crucible Scanner” Ghost Shell perk has been created and has a chance to roll on Crucible-themed Ghosts
Two new consumables are available in the Eververse store for Bright Dust, the Scavenger’s Boon and the Glimmershard (both 250 Bright Dust each)
Scavenger’s Boon:
When used, this item causes enemies killed with precision damage to have a chance to drop Planetary Materials when defeated
The effect lasts 4 hours
Note that only one Scavenger’s Boon can be active at a time
Glimmershard:
When used, this item causes bosses to have a chance to drop additional Glimmer when defeated
The effect lasts 4 hours
Note that only one Glimmershard can be active at a time
Multiple bugs fixed to ensure various Legendary Engram previews accurately represent their contents
Shadowkeep campaign reward exotic armor now has the proper source string in Collections
Eververse store bundles with prices that have been reduced due to owning some of the contents no longer are advertised as “Sale”, and instead read “Complete the Set”
Season 8 weapons acquired from the Season Pass now have a valid source string in Collections
Several multiplayer emotes that had an item type of “Emote” now have the correct item type on their tooltip, “Multiplayer Emote”
Year 3 exotic armor items in Xur’s inventory now properly require Shadowkeep instead of the Season Pass
Mod Components no longer dismantle as a stack
Power and Progression
Updated XP rewards from Mars ambient chests and public spaces to be consistent with Shadowkeep values.
Reduced the power of the incomplete version of ‘Legend of Acrius’ when purchased from a vendor.
Paid character boosts raise the player to the new soft cap of 950.
Note: Players cannot purchase a character boost until their first character has reached the soft cap.
User Interface
Fixed an issue where some items were not being properly displayed in Collections.
Fixed an issue where players don’t receive a “Fireteam Chat Not Available” message when Steam is down.
Fixed an issue where tracking a pursuit would dismiss the Release Icon.
Fixed an issue where incorrect icons were appearing during “The Other Side” mission.
Fixed an issue where Open Fireteam slots were being displayed after dismissing activity selection.
Fixed an issue where a placeholder tooltip could appear while in Orbit.
Fixed an issue that caused some Graphical Corruption when navigating to the Seasons screen.
Fixed an issue where the Rank 50 toast would display overlapping numbers.
Fixed an issue where we displayed a misalignment in the Post-Purchase Animation.
Fixed an issue where the Launch Overlay would not dismiss when navigating to the Quests Screen.
Console Settings UI screen layouts have changed to match the experience on PC, allowing for future updates.
Settings that use the carousel selection method can now be navigated using d-pad input when focused.
Added a Favorite augment over the Finisher icon to easily determine which Finishers are currently the player’s favorites.
Added game hints during loading screens.
Added the ability to change the color of the Reticle on Consoles.
Players can choose from 7 different colors, matching PC.
Added a Completion State to Seasons Pass Bonuses.
Added Categories to the Quests Screen.
Quest Items will now be automatically filtered to any of the seven categories:
New Light
Note: This category will hide if there are no active New Light quests in the character’s inventory.
All Quests
Shadowkeep
Seasonal
Playlists
Exotics
The Past
The Quest tab will now display a sheen animation when there are new quest items available.
The sheen is dismissed by hovering over the new quest item.
Added comma separators to the Glimmer count in the loot stream.
No longer keeps me awake at night.
Changing fireteams on the PVP Private Matches Launch Screen now uses Left/Right buttons.
Players can now see which Seasons they own by looking at the Season Rank tooltip in the Seasons Screen.
Frontline – General Bug Fixes / Quality of Life
(Frontline is a team dedicated to fixing an assortment of issues, no matter their area. Say hello!)
Combat
Changes were made to Cabal Psion’s Psionic Rupture ground attack to improve client performance during heated engagements.
Elite, Mini-Boss, and Boss nameplates will now correctly display as “friendly” when invading during Gambit matches.
The Hunter Tempest strike melee ability can now be performed when using PC controls where Sprint is set to “Hold”.
Titan Sunbreaker melee ability “Mortar Blast” will now more consistently deliver its detonation damage in Crucible.
Friendly projectiles that travel along the ground will pass through ally Titan Banner Shields. Burning Maul and Voidwall Grenade are examples of abilities that generate ground follow projectiles.
Hunter exotic “Liar’s Handshake” Cross Counter melee damage buff will now expire as intended after picking up a carry object (such as a Forge Battery)
Fixed an issue where Hunter’s would remain off radar for too long when coming out of invisibility while crouched.
Getting killed by “The Cut and Run” scout rifle now properly displays an Obituary icon in the battle feed.
Character Sub-Classes with ranged melee abilities will now count towards Melee Kill bounties and Triumphs. (These include Titan Hammer Throw, Hunter Throwing Knives and Corrosive Smoke Bomb, and Warlock Celestial Fire and Ball Lightning.)
Weekly Strike Bounties for Hive and Vex boss kills will now award progress to players for killing Savathun’s Song (Shrieker Boss), Xol (Hive Worm God), and the Garden World strike’s Vex Cyclops Boss.
The Inspect Player function for the PS4 “Jumper” button layout will now properly trigger off of holding L1+R1 as indicated.
Hunters should no longer be able to get into an “immune to damage” state using a Sword and the Card Shuffle emote.
Player Identity
Crucible Triumph Challenge Accepted now requires 10 Weekly Challenges to complete.
The “Additional Bounties” from Vanguard, Crucible and Gambit vendors will now progress their corresponding Daily Bounty Triumphs; Vanguard Agent, Mercenary and Daily Bounty.
The Fastidious Miser Triumph will now be correctly progressed and completed for Players who’ve found all 30 Ascendant Chests across the three Curse Weeks in the Dreaming City, and have claimed those corresponding Triumphs.
The “Earned while leveling” mods will now properly show as unlocked in Collections across all categories. (Ex. Chest: Unflinching Light Arms Aim mod)
Removed a duplicate Worldline Zero Catalyst Triumph entry.
The Black Talon Catalyst Triumph will now correctly progress and complete from Black Talon kills, instead of Lord of Wolves.
The Forsaken Triumph ‘WANTED: The Rifleman’ can now be obtained from either killing the Rifleman or upon completion the corresponding Adventure mission.
This addresses a rare issue where a player may not receive credit for killing the Rifleman before the mission ended.
Rewards
The Sound effects from Warlock exotic “Transversive Steps” will now trigger only when a player has reserve ammo to refill their current weapon’s magazine.
Black Armory Schematics can now be dismantled. Dismantling will delete a single Schematic from the stack.
Obtaining the MIDA Catalyst is no longer impeded by playing with Clanmates. Drop rates were adjusted and now properly scale with the Clan “Catalyst Seeker” Perk bonus.
Added drop chance for wins at Glory Rank 3 Fabled (5% without Clan bonus, 10% with Clan bonus)
Increased drop chance for wins at Glory Rank 4 Mythic (5% > 10% without Clan bonus, 10% > 30% with Clan bonus)
Now guaranteed drop for any win at Glory Rank 5 Legend.
The Well Well Well Gambit Invasion Medal Triumph now has an icon.
The Prime Attunement buff will now appear for any new characters upon reaching 900 Power, even if previous character was deleted.
Tess will no longer present the player with an empty Solstice of Heroes Gift screen.
World
The Rifleman will no longer occasionally disappear during the boss fight, prematurely ending the mission.
Crucible quest step “Forging the Broadsword – The constant” now specifically points players to complete Crucible Daily bounties.
The Malfeasance exotic quest no longer requires owning the Forsaken expansion. Players who pick-up the New Light Malfeasance Intro quest will now be awarded the “Darkness In the Light” quest step upon killing the Ascendant Servitor Primeval boss.
Addressed an issue with placing the tribute banner to open the Tribute Hall doors. New Players, as well as any Players who were previously unable to, can now correctly place the banner, completing “The Tribute Hall” introduction quest.
Improved Performance during the final boss fight of Garden of Salvation Raid.
Players should no longer be able to cause players to be kicked to Orbit during Crucible matches by repeatedly performing Titan Bubbles and Warlock Wells of Radiance.
Fixed and issue where players were having to wait for others to load in when traveling to the Tower.
Steam
Music volume is applied immediately instead of after the Bungie splash screen.
PC Client: fixed an issue that could slow load times for some users when the game wasn’t in focus(Alt-tabbed to another window).
General
The Pigeon and the Phoenix lore book pages are now visible for players who earned them. Acquiring the Bastion Exotic Weapon will unlock all pages.
Dawning 2019 Gifts were well past their expiration date and can now be safely discarded.
Dawning Exotic Sparrow pursuit can no longer be acquired from Eva’s abandoned quests section during other events.
Gambit and Crucible melee kills bounties will now properly count projectile melee abilities like Celestial Fire, Ball Lightning, and Throwing Knife.
Crucible
Trials of Osiris returns at last!
Talk to Saint-14 in the Tower Hangar to begin your Trials journey. The Trials playlist will first become available on Friday, 3\13.
The Anomaly, Cauldron, and Exodus Blue have been added to the Crucible map rotation. These maps will now appear in most playlists.
Fixed a large number of out-of-environment bugs on Distant Shore.
Fixed a large number of out-of-environment bugs on Fragment.
Performance
Fixed UI stuttering and framerate drops when loading or applying mods
Improved framerate in Gambit and Gambit Prime
Fixed framerate issues during the Sanctified Mind encounter of the Garden of Salvation Raid
Fixed framerate issues in the Pit of Heresy Dungeon, specifically in tunnel encounters
Fixed stutter at high framerate on PC
General improvements to performance on PC when a lot of debris is on the ground
We are proud to welcome three new Xbox most valuable professionals (MVPs) awardees: Dhayana Sena, Courtney Craven, and Matt Armstrong. Everything from creating a welcoming community to creating awareness of game accessibility, these leaders go above and beyond in the gaming community. Read on to find out more about them and how they impact the gaming community.
Feeling alone and cast aside due to her
love for pop culture and geekdom, Dhayana created her own, community hub, a
website called Attack On Geek. After adding game
reviews and content to her new site, she became aware that several women around
the world often hid their genders/identities in order to be taken seriously
when playing games online. This discovery inspired her to take a stand against
discrimination and create awareness for inclusivity and accessibility in
gaming.
“I’ve always felt that true change comes
from within, so by starting a community that focuses on content for everyone —
regardless of background, level of experience, and such – I hope that others
will feel inspired to do the same,” explains Dhayana.
Overtime Attack on Geek evolved from a
personal blog to a platform that shares all voices and varied content including
writing and streaming. Now, the community has grown beyond Attack on Geek.
Today, there is Women of Xbox Twitter and
Discord accounts to empower female gamers, strengthen community ties, and share
the love of Xbox gaming.
Now for a quick Q & A to learn more
about Dhayana
Anika: If you could talk to girls growing up who love gaming, what
would you tell them?
Dhayana: My advice to girls
who love games and feel alone, is that you’re never really alone. Gaming
connects us all globally and just when you think you’re all alone, you’ll find
someone who may share in your experiences, love the same things you do, and
someone who you might form strong bonds with. So, don’t fret if you feel as if
there’s no one out there who understands you. Trust me, there are plenty!
Anika: What do you like to do in your free time?
Dhayana: Free time? What’s
that? (Laughs). Beyond working on Attack On Geek, Xbox content and Women of
Xbox, I really enjoy keeping up my health and fitness, collectible shopping (I love
anime and comic book statues), and watching anime.
Anika: What is your favorite game of all time?
Dhayana: “Tough pick but if I have to pick just one, I’ve always loved Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.”
Two years ago, Courtney, along with her partner, Susan Banks, created Can I Play That? (CIPT)A website dedicated to sharing content about gaming accessibility authored by gamers who have disabilities.
“We wanted to use our platform and
success to pass the microphone to gamers with disabilities and allow them to
speak on the accessibility areas in which they are the experts,” Courtney
explains.
CIPT includes accessibility game reviews,
features why and how contributors play, as well as accessibility reference
guides for game creators and developers.
“We’ve grown massively in our first year
and every so often, I’ll get an email from someone noting that they’d never
even considered the accessibility of games and after visitingCIPT,
learned so much and came away with a new perspective,” notes Courtney, “I’d
like to continue to spread that sort of awareness and I’d also like for us to
help standardize accessibility.”
In addition to all the impactful
information and stories on the site, CIPT Awarded several developers for
accessibility in their games — including Gears 5 for Best Overall
Accessible Game and Apex Legends for Most Accessible Multiplayer Chat. You
can view the full list here.
Now for a quick Q & A to learn more
about Courtney
Anika: What do you want
those who work in the gaming industry to know about the importance of gaming
accessibility?
Courtney: One of our new
contributors wrote our “Blind and
Low-Vision Accessibility Guide” recently and something she said in it really
stuck with me: Know that blind people want to play your game. I think that’s
the thing that may not be something enough people are aware of. Not just blind
players, but disabled players of all kinds. Know that there is a massive desire
from the disabled community to play your amazing game, so do what you can to
allow them.”
Anika: What do you like to do in your free time?
Courtney: I have a
one-year-old Cattle Dog mix who I’m continually trying to tire out and keep
entertained. She keeps me from spending all my free time sitting in front of my
TV, playing a game. I’m also a fiction writer and I’m hoping to have the
manuscript I wrote for my MFA thesis published.
Anika: What is your favorite game of all time?
Courtney: It’s a tie between the Mass Effect trilogy and the Dragon Age series.
Matt has been an active Xbox community member and fan for many years. His passion for Xbox led him to becoming a moderator for the XboxOne subreddit, a title he has held for three years. Since then, he has become a moderator for the Xbox Insiders subreddit and is involved with early access discussions on Reddit, “Having an engineer directly respond to issues is a great way to show gamers that you’re listening and working to resolve issues,” explains Matt, “Having that interaction with the community makes for a very positive experience.”
In addition to moderating two subreddits,
Matt is also part of an indie developer studio based in Washington state. Over
the last summer, they released their first game on Xbox called Masked Memories.
In this game, Matt was both the narrator and audio director of the game.
Now for a quick Q & A to learn more
about Matt
Anika: What
do you like to do in your free time?
Matt: When I’m not moderating Reddit, I spend time with my 2 girls who are
growing up to be gamers as well. I’m also a voice actor and have been in a few
small YouTube animations, as well as a few indie games. My first role was the
character I (eye) in a Fallout 4 mod called The Code. I’m also the
narrator for the game Masked Memories, and a news reporter in the RPG Exospace.
Outside of that, I’ve starred in a few fanfic dubs and audio dramas. I also
narrate audiobooks for Learning Ally. Outside of that, I’m usually sailing the
treacherous waters in Sea of Thieves or playing one of the countless
games on my Switch.
Anika: What is your favorite game of all time?
Matt: This is a tough one. I’ve been gaming since the dawn of the NES. Looking back through all the games I’ve played I’d have to say my absolute favorite is Super Mario World. In this current gen though, Sea of Thieves is really taking the top spot for me on Xbox and even though it hasn’t dropped yet, I’m confident Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be my favorite on Switch.
More Than an Award
The Xbox MVP award is given to community
leaders and professionals who are committed to helping others through their
passion, knowledge, and expertise in all things Xbox. MVPs spearhead many projects
that impact the gaming community. Everything from starting their own charity
groups to building fun, welcoming communities, MVPs are leaders who go above
and beyond in the gaming community.
For more information about the MVP
program or if you would like to nominate someone check out https://mvp.xbox.com/.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 05:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
- No Replies
Nintendo staff working from home after employee tests positive for coronavirus
Nintendo of America is the latest game company to urge employees to work from home, this time after an employee working in its Redmond offices tested positive for the coronavirus.
Notably, Nintendo is allowing staff in Washington and California (two U.S. states that have been hit especially hard by the outbreak) to work from home as a “precautionary step” following the test.
“We have determined that the individual had contact with other employees and we have notified those employees to the situation,” a Nintendo rep told The Hollywood Reporter. “All impacted employees are now self-quarantining, whether they are experiencing symptoms or not.”
This comes more than a week after fellow Washington-based game companies Bungie and Microsoft made a show of rolling out remote work infrastructures and allowing their staff to work from home for an extended period. Around the same time, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that while he wasn’t a big believer in staff working from home, “one unexpected consequence [of the coronavirus outbreak] is a lot of us who are skeptical about remote work are gonna be less skeptical about it.”
Update: An earlier version of this story mistakenly implied that Nintendo of America had instituted this work from home policy in response to the positive coronavirus test, when in fact the company announced it last week.
First of all, thanks to all backers’ love right from the beginning. A few days ago we got a little problem with Nintendo copyright. Our company highly respects intellectual property protection, and we were unintentional to infringe on Nintendo’s copyright by using the Nintendo game scene in the introduction of product function. But it just showed in the product’s use cases, we never intended to use the games character’s image to promote our products. We apologize to the copyright party and will resolve it properly. Our team will be more careful with the copyright-protected content and provide better services for you in the future. And we have submitted our own product’s patent. We highly valued intellectual property protection and product innovation and want to build a good community with all of you.
As we all know, Kickstarter always advocates and encourages innovation. It is a fair platform and helps tons of outstanding products to get support and moving the development of technology forward. I believe this is also how all backers think about Kickstarter. We highly value each of your precise options. Our production is still ongoing to deliver the prime output for all of our backers after the campaign end. We really appreciate the early backers’ support and trust and we have prepared an exquisite gift for every backer who still supports us until now. Your support and trust is our motivation.
Thanks,
CEO of Better DiGi Team
Update #2 [Mon 9th Mar, 2020 11:40 GMT]: Bigger Digi has told us why the Kickstarter was pulled – it was due to the use of a Nintendo copyright-protected game in the materials used for the campaign. The Kickstarter is coming back ‘soon’, along with a more detailed statement from the company’s CEO.
Update #1 [Fri 6th Mar, 2020 14:00 GMT]: Since the feature was written, the Kickstarter campaign has been taken down due to an “intellectual property dispute”. When the campaign launched, a second campaign – branded as ‘fake’ by Better Digi – also went live. Whether or not this is related, we’ll no doubt find out soon. We’ve reached out to Better Digi and will update this piece with its response when we have it.
Yesterday, we announced the news that Better Digi’s Dongii – a Switch dock that’s small enough to fit in your pocket – had hit crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. We’ve actually had one of these units at the Nintendo Life office for a few weeks now, and have been putting it through its paces to see what all the fuss is about. The good news? This tiny little device is something of a game-changer, not only giving Switch owners a cheap alternative to the expensive and hard-to-find official dock, but also a wonderfully portable option which can easily be transported with the console if you’re visiting a friend and fancy some docked action.
The Dongii joins Human Things’ Genki Convert Dock in the category of teeny, tiny Switch docks and has a single male USB-C on one side, which plugs into the power supply (more on that in a second). On the other, it offers three ports: HDMI, USB-C and USB-A. The first two are pretty self-explanatory; they connect the Dongii to your TV and Switch respectively. The latter is for connecting physical devices, such as wired controllers. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 capability so you can connect the unit to wireless audio devices like headphones, with pairing handled by a physical button on the Dongii itself (it’s worth noting that the cheapest version of the Dongii lacks Bluetooth support).
However, the Dongii itself is only part of the picture – it needs to be connected to a USB-C charger to work properly, and even then, it has to be a charger that will supply the required juice. When fully assembled, the unit is significantly smaller than the original Switch dock, which, lest we forget, also needs a bulky power supply to operate. The final unit will ship with its own 65W GaN charger, but this wasn’t ready when our review unit was sent to us, so we’ve used a standard 45W USB-C power block.
While this powers the Dongii just fine, it doesn’t provide the fast-charging capability of the more potent 65W dock. It’s also not as nice to look at as it obviously hasn’t been designed with the Dongii in mind, but the final product will look a lot more appealing. Another plus to the Dongii’s charger being detachable is that you can plug it directly into any portable power bank that supports USB-C PD and supplied the correct amount of power – combine this setup with a portable screen, like the C-Force CF016XT, and you’re taking your ‘on-the-road’ setup to a whole new level.
Of course, when it comes to third-party docks, the question of safety is always present. We’ve had reports of docks bricking Switch consoles in the past, with some suggesting that, in the early days of USB-C, the protocol wasn’t standard across all products. However, according to Better Digi, the Dongii benefits from “years of optimisation” and “countless rounds of testing”, which means it “delivers the proper voltage and amperage to the Switch based on its battery level and ensures the best and safest performance”.
While we can’t categorically say this is totally true, we didn’t experience any issues using the Dongii over the past few weeks, even when running it through the aforementioned third-party charger. Better Digi also claims that because the Switch isn’t actually ‘docked’ during use, heat build-up is less of an issue. We’ve all heard the anecdotal reports of consoles ‘warping’ as they get hot inside the dock, but we’re not sure it’s as widespread a problem as Better Digi might have you believe.
Dongii is a great accessory for your Switch, then, but that’s not the end of its usefulness; because it supports the USB-C standard, it can also be used with devices other than your Switch, such as laptops. The USB-A port allows you to plug in flash drives and other accessories, and you can even use the device to connect your smartphone to a monitor, turning it into a computer you can carry in your pocket (assuming it has the functionality that is, like Samsung’s phones). It’s capable of outputting up to 4K resolution for this purpose.
Starting at just $29 via its crowdfunding campaign (it then rises to $65), the Dongii is likely to become a must-have device for Switch owners. It has already doubled its initial Kickstarter target of $10,000, and if you’re currently on the fence about supporting this crowdfunding campaign, we’d recommend you give it a shot – especially if you’re a keen traveller or are simply in the market for a second dock in your home.
Ring Fit Adventure Is So Popular It Keeps Selling Out
Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch is in-demand big time. In an update earlier this week, a Nintendo spokesperson told Polygon the company’s latest fitness video game was “selling out” across North America.
the Ring Fit Adventure game is selling out at various retail locations in the Americas. We are working to provide more units as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.
This small update for this region follows on from the news last month that sales for the exercise game had rapidly increased in China due to the coronavirus outbreak. At the time, Chinese resellers were buying out any stock they could get their hands on in huge quantities and then selling it well above the retail price. It probably didn’t help that it wasn’t officially available in the country at the time, either.
Ring Fit Adventure stock shortages have also been reported elsewhere since COVID-19 has swept the globe. At the company’s most recent financial results briefing in January, president Shuntaro Furukawa formally apologised for the worldwide shortages and inconvenience. As of 31st January 2020, Ring Fit Adventure’s cumulative sellthrough has exceeded 1.7 million units.
Have you had any luck purchasing this game in recent times? Tell us below.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 02:29 AM - Forum: Lounge
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How To Clean Your Phone, Controllers, Keyboards, And Other Tech
The recent events around the world have caused a lot of people to be more diligent in washing their hands, but it's also paramount that you keep all of your most-used devices clean as well. That means our phones, keyboards, and controllers among other things. Of course, one of the scariest things can be not knowing what is safe to use and how exactly to clean each gadget. There are a lot of different cleaning and sanitizing products out there, each of which is good at a specific thing--and some products aren't safe for cleaning fragile devices at all.
To demystify the process, we've put together this quick-and-easy guide to how to sanitize your phone, keyboard, and other common tech, including the best cleaning products we've tried and recommend.
How to clean your cell phone
In the age of smartphones basically just being big screens, it's easier than ever to keep your iPhone or Android device clean. However, it's also very easy to damage your phone if you don't choose the right products or methods to clean it with. And since it's likely the device that comes with you everywhere you go, it's important to sanitize your phone regularly.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-16-2020, 07:59 PM - Forum: Windows
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Educators: Our team is here to help you and your students
As we continue to see educators around the world transition to distance learning our team is here to help, listen, and support you and your students.
To make it easier to connect with each other, and to answer your questions, we’ve created a new remote learning community. It’s a great resource for best practices, tips & tricks, and sharing personal experiences about how to enable distance learning for schools. We are inspired by the way this community has come together to support each other and share ideas, during this challenging time.
To join this team, get help and share ideas with other educators and our experts, please fill out this form. We’ll add you to the Remote Learning Team after we’ve received your submission.
Building community
In addition, we are in awe of all the incredible resources and ideas our community is sharing, like the tweet and ideas for remote learning from the eTwinz here.
#RemoteLearning | We just want to use this last tweet to tell everyone who is transitioning to this new model due the #coronavirus that you are not alone. This community got your back!
We’ve also set up a new support site to help you get started launching remote learning that includes training resources, practical guides on how to get up and running on Teams, and tools and programs to keep your students engaged.
And, listed below, are additional Microsoft Education resources we have compiled so far to support remote learning.
Guidance on remote learning with Office 365 can be found here. This is a great source of information for using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Teams – all rich resources for successfully navigating remote learning.
Get ideas for using Flipgrid, a powerful video-based discussion tool, here. You’ll find webinars, resources for getting started with Flipgrid, and be able to connect with our team through Flipgrid here.
We’re making Minecraft: Education Edition available for free to teachers and students with O365 Education accounts to support remote learning during school closures. Please fill out this form to request access. And download a remote learning toolkit for Minecraft: Education Edition here. Minecraft: Education Edition is a great tool to explore coding, social emotional learning skills development, and more, so if you haven’t tried it yet, now might be the time.
The Microsoft Educator Center is home to a wealth of educator-created professional development resources, and we’ve made new remote learning materials available right on the MEC site, so be sure to check those out.
And we’ve put together a Wakelet that curates all of the current Microsoft Education resources and stories on Remote Learning here. We’ll have more resources there in the coming days too, so please keep an eye on that site.
We’re here to support you
Teaching is among the most challenging professions in ordinary times, and these are anything but ordinary times. Thank you for the work you do on behalf of students each day, and especially now.
You’re not alone in this. Our team is here to help. We’ll continue to share updates, resources and information as those become available here on the Microsoft Education blog. So, stay tuned and keep in touch. One way to send feedback is through Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU.
Welcome back to Box Art Brawl, the weekly vote where you decide which retro regional box art variant wins in the beauty stakes according to sophisticated modern tastes. Oh yes.
Last week Castlevania for the N64 entered the ring in a third appearance for the series and one of the closest fought brawls to date. In the end Europe just edged a victory over Japan by a mere 3% while North America trailed far behind with just a tenth of the overall vote. We guess you weren’t fans of Reinhardt’s bushy eyebrows. Congratulations to Europe, but we’re certain we haven’t seen the last of Castlevania round these parts.
This week is a real gimme; possibly the biggest foregone conclusion in the history of democracy, but we’ve delayed it long enough. Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 was given a different cover in each region, an interesting story in itself which we delved into last year by talking to former Rare Art Director Kev Bayliss. However, today ours is not to reason why. Today, we’re just voting for our favourite.
C’mon then. Let’s get on with it.
North America
North America got a close-up of Joanna Dark’s CG face with Elvis, her alien chum, reflected in her right eye. Strands of hair flick down over her brow and we like the lighting that suggests she’s hidden in the shadows, waiting to strike. The gun barrel looks particularly clean as it breaks into the frame and who doesn’t love a sexy red laser beam? It makes us think of Arnie’s gun in the first Terminator movie. That’s a good in our books.
The game was compatible with most every ‘Pak’ made for the N64, as you can see from the red strip down the right side. The slick logo sits prominently against the darkness at the top and that little gold Rareware logo gives us the feels, too. It’s dark but still colourful. Not bad, not bad.
Europe
Looking absolutely nothing like the in-game model for the character, here we get the more sultry CG version of Joanna Dark (essentially Lara Croft moonlighting as a secret agent) and the bottom half of the gun we saw on the North American cover. It’s still dark, but the face fades as several images are layered behind ol’ Jo showing various structures and what looks like level geometry. None of it is particularly easy to make out, although you can see Elvis and one of his Maian mates.
The usual black border common to Nintendo’s N64 output in Europe is gone here with the info displayed over the main image. Same logo as the North American variant. Again, it sets the scene nicely. Not bad, but it’s all a bit immaterial, isn’t it…
Japan
Game over, man. Where’s a gif of Homer Simpson dribbling when you need one?
If you really wanted to nitpick you could argue that the game cover inside the big box which contains the game and Expansion Pak is rubbish, but in our experience gamers don’t like to be pedantic like that. Here it is all the same, though:
Ah, there you are Agent Dark! Just in time to click ‘Japan’ below and hit the vote button:
There will be people who don’t like the Japanese one – that’s absolutely fine! Everyone is entitled to their opinion and we welcome all to Box Art Brawl! There’s only one right answer, though…We joke! Ha!
So, tell us why you voted for Japan below and we’ll see you next time. Stay safe, lovely people!
