Taking the digital gold
Has your mother ever told you that playing Fortnite all day would amount to nothing? Well, she was probably right. But for the few that have achieved Fortnite excellence, they’re being given a chance to show off their skills at the upcoming Olympic Esports Finals taking place in June of 2023. That’s because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently added the shooter to the Finals line-up.
The twelve participants from the Fortnite Champion Series will compete in an International Shooting Sport Federation-backed sharpshooting competition that does away with any battle royale elements, instead competing in “a specially designed Fortnite Creative Island, made to reflect sport shooting competition, will put the target-aiming accuracy of sharp shooters to the test and see them navigate the in-game environment as they compete to become an Olympic Esports Series winner,” according to the IOC’s announcement.
In addition to Fortnite’s own addition, the IOC has opened ticket sales for the event, which is running from 22 June to 25 June, making it the first in-person finals of the event of the 2023 competition. If you’d like to see the competition in-person, you’ll need to make your way to Singapore’s Suntec Centre before tickets are sold out. If not, you can always stream the entirety of the event on the official Olympics website – where you can see the rest of the games in the competition.
Entering the realm of Goo (on mobile)
Netflix continues to bolster its staggering array of mobile games, this time with the announcement that the popular indie game World of Goo is being given new life in the form of a remaster from its original developer 2D Boy. Anyone with a Netflix subscription – no matter the tier – will be able to download the game, free of charge (that includes no ads or in-app purchases), from 23 May.
For the uninitiated, winning a level in World of Goo is easy. At least, at first. It requires players to build structures of goo to get around any obstacles that stand in their way using the game’s amazing physics engine. In terms of changes, don’t get your hopes up for new levels or species of Goo. This is purely a graphical upgrade, with 2D Boy managing to double the resolution of the original game and optimizing it to look great on pretty much any screen, no matter the size. Considering that Netflix’s games are all locked to mobile, this is a rather telling addition, possibly confirming the rumour that Netflix’s library could be playable on TVs before long.
Goodbye Skyline, you will be missed
Nintendo has once again flexed its legal capabilities on the world, this time stopping the development of one of the most impressive Switch emulators around – Skyline. The team behind Skyline announced that Nintendo had hit the company with a DMCA takedown notice and that development would immediately cease.
While the concern was less about the emulator’s existence – which is legal to operate on its own – Nintendo’s DMCA notice took issue with the Skyline’s use of Lockpick – a software that allows security keys to be dumped from a Switch to use in the emulator.
“We find ourselves in a position where we are potentially violating their copyright by continuing to develop our project, Skyline, by dumping keys from our own Switches,” said the team’s announcement over on Discord.
While the team mentioned that it would not be taking down Skyline’s repository or software builds – effectively allowing players to continue using it as they please – the lack of development means that it’ll eventually stop working on future Android updates down the line and that no improvements would be coming in the way of updates.
And if you thought this was bad, it’s nothing compared to Nintendo’s recent barrage of takedowns and legal battles. We’d like to list them all, but we’d be here all day.
Source: Android Authority
Afraid of Spiders?
Our latest patch for #HogwartsLegacy includes Arachnophobia Mode, making venturing into spider-infested areas significantly less intimidating!
Full notes: https://t.co/9Cods9n1G5 pic.twitter.com/nDck8b6SH1— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) May 4, 2023
Are you afraid of spiders? Do you love Hogwarts Legacy? Well, good. In the most recent update to the game, Avalanche Studios announced that an ‘Arachnophobia Mode’ had been added, effectively turning any in-game spiders into… whatever it is you see above. The update (build 1140773) was released on Thursday, just in time for the game’s last-gen release on Friday.
Specifically, the new updates “removes small spider ground effect spawners”, “makes static spider corpses in the world invisible” and “reduces and removes spider skitters and screeches.” If you’re still wary of a spider jumpscare, steer clear of the game’s Field Guide, which, for whatever reason, still has an image of the hairy, eight-legged beast. Why? Who knows. Whether this will be changed in a future update is still a mystery.
You’ll find the option to flick the switch on Arachnophobia Mode in the game’s accessibility menu.