Fortnite is getting around faster than mono in a college dorm. Everyone’s playing it—some nights you can catch Drake online, other days you can read about NBA All-Star Andre Drummond’s obsession with it. Your kid sister plays. My kid brother plays. Why shouldn’t they? Fortnite is free. It’s also fun—but maybe you don’t see how. Maybe you’re trying to understand. Maybe you have questions. Questions like: How do I get into Fortnite, Joshua? Glad you asked! The good news is, it’s not very hard, partly because the game is free, as I mentioned before. It’s also everywhere—on computers (with pretty reasonable system requirements), on Xbox One, on Playstation 4, and…
Author: Loknath Das
Part of Rare’s decision to build anti-toxicity measures directly into Sea of Thieves’ core design can be seen almost immediately upon playing. Players have a brig aboard their pirate ship, for example. Jerome Hagen, a user researcher at Microsoft, said that feature was one of many implemented to let players deal with others griefing their game. Hagen spoke about design strategy at GDC 2018 today in a panel on empowering players and combating multiplayer toxicity. The concept came down to giving players more control over their game-playing experience, while reinforcing the notion that disruptive behavior won’t be accepted by the Sea of Thieves community.…
Going into the Game Developers Conference this week, you could foresee some of the hot topics that would be consuming the world’s largest gathering of game makers: stuff like real-time raytraced graphics, fantastical blockchain-based business schemes, and how to design games for augmented reality. But another surprising issue has overtaken many of the discussions in the Moscone Center hallways this week: that of unionization. Labor organizing isn’t a new idea in the game industry—the first time I personally wrote about the issue was in Electronic Gaming Monthly more than a decade ago. There seems to be more momentum for the idea among the grassroots developers…
You’re never going to play Clunker Junker in your living room or on your desktop PC, no matter how many GPUs it has. Hardware is the issue here, but it’s not a matter of processing power — Clunker Junker requires two LED-adorned arm cranks, plus four crates with glowing lights and doors that come crashing down when they’re unlatched during gameplay. The game itself, to be fair, runs on a laptop, but that’s about as traditional as this thing gets. Clunker Junker is a cooperative space shooter for two players. Each crew member has a handheld, gun-like controller that stretches from palm to elbow; it’s made to…
A major new spending plan for buildings, roads and power supplies should be the number one priority for the U.S. administration this year, according to a new CNBC survey of global finance chiefs. The chief financial officers (CFO) from some of the world’s largest companies told CNBC that President Donald Trump should move ahead with his plans to shore up infrastructure across the country. The massive infrastructure plan, which could total $1.5 trillion according to Trump’s State of the Union speech this year, is currently stuck at the U.S. Congress stage as lawmakers cannot agree over the level of spending as well…
Bengaluru: Piramal Finance Ltd plans to invest around Rs10,000 crore in the hospitality sector in the next three years, a top company executive said, betting on growth prospects in a sector it entered earlier this year. The Mumbai-based firm, a unit of Piramal Enterprises Ltd, is also expanding investments in affordable housing, Khushru Jijina, managing director of Piramal Finance and Piramal Housing Finance Ltd said. It has already invested Rs520 crore—in structured debt and construction finance—in Bengaluru-based GM Infinite’s Global Techies Town project in Electronic City. After inking two deals totalling around Rs1,200 crore across four hospitality projects in 2018, Piramal…
The Guardian Higher Education Network is delighted to reveal the shortlist for the Inspiring Leader 2018 award. This award recognises a leader who has brought out the best in the people they work with to achieve exceptional results. They champion innovation and collaboration, deliver real change for their institution and the sector, and inspire the higher education community. The five names below were selected by our expert judging panel and shortlisted by the Guardian, but the winner will be chosen by you, the readers. The deadline for votes is Friday 6 April. The winner will be announced at the Guardian University…
School programs for children as young as three years have long been seen by many as little more than institutional babysitting. But recent research has offered renewed evidence that structured math and literacy practice in addition to regular parental involvement in school programs during the first eight years of life can have a major impact on a child’s future educational achievement. Now, a study that included more than 1,500 children in a Chicago-based program called Child-Parent Centers (CPC) shows kids reached a higher level of education by age 35 than did ones enrolled in other preschool programs: CPC participants completed more years of…
Apple surprised everyone when it announced an education-focused event about “creative new ideas for teachers and students” in Chicago on March 27th at 10am ET. But in traditional Apple form, the company isn’t giving many hints as to what to expect aside from the phrase “let’s take a field trip.” But even if Apple won’t give us any clues, we’ve still got a few ideas as to what could happen during the event on Tuesday. Here’s everything to expect: NEW IPAD(S) This seems like the most obvious bet, given Apple already pushes the iPad hard as an education device, especially…
Epic Games sent the first batch of Fortnite Battle RoyaleiOS invites last week. Now the developer is letting those playing Fortnite mobile bring their friends into the game to try it out. Existing Fortnite iOS players have received an email from the developer explaining that they can send out Fortnite Battle Royale friend invites. “You have new friend invites ready to send!” the email reads. “Share them with your friend to give them instant access to the Fortnite Invite Event on iOS.” How to use Fortnite invite codes To access Fortnite iOS friend invites, you will have to open the game on…