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Nintendo Unveils Exciting Line-Up Of Indie Games Coming To The Switch

In a new-look Indie World presentation live-streamed globally today, Nintendo highlighted an exciting selection of independent games that are coming to the Nintendo Switch system soon.

Source: YouTube – Nintendo UK – Indie World – 19.08.19 (Nintendo Switch)

Two games from the high-octane Hotline Miami series, SuperHot and Hotline Miami Collection, are available to purchase on Nintendo eShop today (19th August).

Other games coming to the Switch include; ‘Risk of Rain 2’ from Gearbox Publishing, ‘Northguard ’ from Shiro Games, and ‘Creature in the Well’ from Flight School Studio, are all available from today to pre-order.

In addition to this, action-platformer ‘Ori and the Blind Forest’ will be coming to Nintendo Switch on 27 of September as ‘Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition’.

“Since the system’s launch in 2017, Nintendo Switch has become a go-to platform for indie developers.”
“With the diverse lineup of upcoming indie content showcased today, Nintendo Switch owners can look forward to expanding their digital libraries even further with a variety of quality indie games to play at home or on the go.”
Kirk Scott, Nintendo of America’s Indie Partner Manager of Publisher and Developer Relations.

A host of other games were featured in Nintendo’s Indie World video, including a sneak peak to a handful of games that will be coming out before the year’s end.

PlayStation, 2K Unveil Limited-Edition Borderlands 3 Wallpapers

PlayStation has revealed a pair of limited-edition themed desktop and mobile wallpapers.

The new wallpapers, which are free to download on PlayStation Store, are to celebrate the impeding release of Borderlands 3.

The custom made, bandit-themed wallpapers were made by 2K, and will work on multiple devices.

Borderlands 3 is set to launch on 13th September.

Pokémon Company Gives Sword & Shield Update

The Pokémon Company International has announced that Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will be the official video games used for competitive play during the 2020 Play! Pokémon Season.

The company also shared new details about the game, which is due to launch November 15, 2019, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch system.

Battle Modes

The battling system remains mostly unchanged, from Casual to Ranked battles to Single or Double battles.

Features like Online Competitions and Rental Teams will also allow players to connect with other Trainers in different ways.

Online Competitions can battle in either Official Competitions or Friendly Competitions.

In Official Competitions, participants will take part in special battles with a variety of different rules and restrictions.

In Friendly Competitions, Trainers can join competitions hosted by other players or even host their own competitions. Regulations in Friendly Competitions are determined by the host.

Rental Teams enable Trainers to borrow Battle Teams by inputting IDs available online—or to make Battle Teams that they’ve put together available as Rental Teams to other Trainers all over the world.

Up to five teams can be rented at once, and they can even be used in Ranked Battles.

New Features

The Pokémon Company also went a little bit into Dynamaxing and Max Moves, though while not giving much new bits of information.

We know that the Dynamax phenomenon greatly increases a Pokémon’s size and power, and the ability to use Max Moves which appear quite powerful regardless of the additional effects they have.

However the company revealed that, while a Trainer’s Pokémon can only Dynamax if that Trainer has the Dynamax Band, Pokémon do not have to hold a special item to Dynamax.

Players can choose which one of their Pokémon to Dynamax depending on what’s happening in the battle, with each Pokémon free to hold an item which can further boost their Max Moves.

Abilities & Items

Many new Abilities have been discovered in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. One such Ability is Galarian Weezing’s Neutralising Gas, which neutralises the ongoing effects of other Pokémon’s Abilities and even prevents Abilities from being triggered.

Rare abilities (a.k.a ‘Hidden Abilities’) have a chance of appearing in Pokémon caught in Max Raid Battles.

New items that can be combined with specific moves to give Trainers an edge in battle will also be available in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.

One such item is the Eject Pack. If a Pokémon holding one has any of its stats lowered, it will immediately switch out so another Pokémon can be sent in.

NVIDIA, Microsoft, Mojang Partner To Bring Ray Tracing To PC Minecraft

NVIDIA and Mojang have announced that they have come together to offer real-time ray tracing for Minecraft on PC.

The move will grant Minecraft players with vivid visualisations of their worlds, with more realistic shadows, lighting and vibrant colours.

“Ray tracing sits at the centre of what we think is next for Minecraft,” said Saxs Persson, franchise creative director of Minecraft at Microsoft.

“GeForce RTX gives the Minecraft world a brand-new feel to it. In normal Minecraft, a block of gold just appears yellow, but with ray tracing turned on, you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it.”
Saxs Persson, Microsoft.

The two groups are adding a form of ray tracing known as path tracing for the Windows 10 version of the game.

Path tracing simulates the way light is transported throughout a scene, presenting a unified model for lighting calculations for many different types of effects that have traditionally been implemented separately.

Among these are:

Direct lighting from the sun, sky and various light sources, including emissive surfaces. such as glowstone and lava.
Realistic hard and soft shadows depending on the size, shape and distance of the light source.
Per-pixel emissive lighting.
Indirect diffuse illumination (diffuse global illumination).
Indirect specular illumination (reflections)
Transparent materials with reflection, refraction and scattering (stained glass, water, ice).
Atmospheric scattering and density (volumetric fog, light shafts, realistic sky).

Sony PlayStation Announces New PS Now ‘Collection’ Feature

PlayStation has introduced the newest feature to help players get better use of PS Now – Collections.

Collections will group together the entire PS Now catalogue into different collections based on platformers, genres and themes.

Sony said that the new feature is perfect if you’re struggling to decide how you’re going to spend your gaming time, or want to try something new in your favourite game genre.

The new ‘Collections’ feature can be found in the ‘Browse’ tab on PS Now’s main menu.

Ubisoft Reveals Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Ember Rise Details

Ubisoft has revealed details of the third season of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 content, including the introduction of a Battle Pass, some new characters, and a new map.

YouTube – Ubisoft: Rainbow Six Siege – Ember Rise : Gameplay and Tips

Rainbow Six Siege Year 4, Operation Ember Rise’s Battle Pass will start off with the Mini Battle Pass “Call Me Harry”, which will release later in season three.

It will set its focus on Dr. Harishva “Harry” Pandey, Director of Rainbow, and will allow players to use Battle Points, to unlock tiers, unique rewards, and they will get an exclusive Harry Chibi charm upon completion.

New Faces & Familiar Places

The third season also introduces Peruvian Attacker Amaru and Mexican Defender Goyo.

Amaru, a former archaeologist, is equipped with a G8A1 automatic rifle and a Supernova shotgun.

Amaru will also possess the ability to access any high position easily with her Garra hook, and finish with a Garra kick to instantly take out an opponent standing behind the window, making her an ideal flanker.

Amaru incidental helped to raise Goyo, a former member of the Mexican Fuerzas Especiales who uses the Volcán Shield, which provides cover and allows Defenders to block pathways.

The Volcán Shield also has an attached incendiary bomb and make it burst.

In addition to these two new Rainbow recruits, players will be able to explore a revamped ‘Kanal’ map, which was reworked to make it easier to navigate.

Other additional updates include:

An all new unranked playlist containing the same rules as Ranked without affecting players’ rank or MMR.
An all new Champions rank
Map rotations have been reworked in Ranked, Casual and Unranked
Player Behaviour updates to combat in-game toxicity
The Operators menu has been reworked
The shop interface has been improved

The Test Server for Operation Ember Rise will go live on 19th August.

Square Enix Cancels Gaming Event In Japan Over Death Threats

Square Enix has announced that it is cancelling its Starwing Paradox events across Japan.

The company released an official statement, revealing that it had received several death threats made against the Starwing team.

After consulting with the police, the company decided to prioritise customer and staff safety.

The event was due to take place on the weekend of 17 August and 24 August, taking place in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, and Fukuoka.

Square has already received similar threats this year, with Kotaku reporting that a man had been arrested following a threat where he asked if the studio would like a repeat of the Kyoto Animation incident.

Square Enix apologised to those looking forward to the show.

New Arena-Shooter Demon Pit Pays Homage To Classic FPS Games Of The 90s.

Indie publisher Digerati has announced a return to classic gaming with the launch of Demon Pit.

Demon Pit is an intense, arcade-style arena shooter launching later this year on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Digerati Youtube – Demon Pit | Announce Trailer | Steam, PS4, Xbox One & Switch

It is a return to the classic 90s FPS aesthetic, and tests your reflexes against endless waves of the demon horde in a constantly changing arena.

It combines retro-authentic low poly 3D graphics, with uncompromisingly hardcore skill-based gameplay.

The goal is simple – climb the leaderboard.

The game is a collaborative effort from two Irish-based developers, DoomCube and Psychic Software.

The two Galway-based developers worked with Thomas O’Boyle, who composed the games’ music.

“Creating Demon Pit has been an exercise in balancing speed, challenge, purity and chaos.”
“I want players to fight forward, experiencing its unrelenting pace as they progress through waves of enemies and grasp for their place on the leaderboard.”
DoomCube’s Paul Conway, artist and designer on Demon Pit.

Demon Pit is available to wish-list now on Steam.

Microsoft & 2K Join With LeBron James Family Foundation To Create Custom-Made Basketball Court

In partnership with 2K, the publisher of NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K20, and the LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF), Microsoft and Xbox has unveiled a one-of-a-kind basketball court at the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio.

The new court, which was built from the ground up, features a custom mural design – created by the LeBron James Family Foundation – LED double lights at half court, 72” and 60” basketball systems with poles and backboard pads for half courts, spectator benches and perimeter court fencing.

To celebrate the opening of the courts, Xbox created a custom Xbox One X console featuring a replica of the new I Promise School basketball court.

The console comes complete with six miniature basketballs and a basketball rack for the full game dynamic.

Xbox said that it gifted the custom-made console to the LeBron James Family Foundation.

The move is part of the 2K Foundation program, which was created by 2K to support underserved communities across the United States by refurbishing basketball courts and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education programming for youth.

Within its first year of operation, 2K Foundations and Microsoft have joined forces to renovate basketball courts and community learning centres across the country including Cincinnati, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Charlotte.

Epic Games & Factor 5 Open New Studio In Cologne

Epic Games has announced the opening of its newest studio located in Cologne, Germany.

The group will be joined by the founding members of Factor 5, who will serve as part of the company’s expanding focus on emerging forms of interactive media and streaming technologies.

Prior to joining Epic, the Factor 5 team, including Epic Games Director of Online Technology Julian Eggebrecht and Cologne Studio Director Achim Moller, has been working with Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.

He was also serving as technology partners for both Nintendo and Sony.

“At the core of Epic’s success are highly-skilled and passionate individuals.”
“Germany is a nation at the forefront of technology and we look forward to extending our local presence as we fill newly created roles and hire exceptional talent.”
Julian Eggebrecht, Director of Online Technology.