Video games can be serious business–people’s lives and livelihoods can depend on them, and they can harm or help people to a huge extent. It’s the latter effect that Ubisoft is most interested in with two of its newly announced projects. The Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry publisher has revealed two new games–one titled Rabbids Coding and the other temporarily known as Project Oikos–focused on educating children.

The first is a Rabbids game that aims to teach kids how to code. You’re faced with puzzles based around moving in the right direction and in the right order. You might, for example, need to pick up a Rabbid on one side of the level and drop it off on the other, requiring the correctly ordered instructions for your robot player-character to make the journey. The PC game is simple, but it quickly gets more complex, all the while teaching the basics of coding syntax in a more welcoming way than simply bombarding you with lines of code. Best of all, it’s free, with a release date being announced “soon.”

Project Oikos, meanwhile, is a prototype that’s only been in development for around six months. It’s a two-player co-op title in which each player controls an animal of one of four species: a lilypad, a fish, a worm, or a bird. Together, you need to maintain the populations of each species by reproducing and eating the other species. As well as the obvious themes of ecosystems and food chains, Oikos is also a useful tool to demonstrate how working together and communicating helps make complex problems much easier to solve. Ubisoft said it’s too early to say what form Oikos will take if and when it eventually comes out, but I hope it sees a similar free release as Rabbids Coding, as it could prove to be a great learning tool.

Finally, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece mode is out now, allowing you to take an educational tour around–you guessed it–Ancient Greece. The mode allows you to wander around the game’s locations without fear of interruption from the main game’s enemies, as well as supplying actual in-game guided tours. The mode is available now as a free update on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and is also available to buy separately on PC.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-ubisoft-games-trying-to-change-the-world-for-g/1100-6470193/

October 1 is a big day for Destiny 2. The game’s next big expansion, Shadowkeep, launches on October 1 alongside the new free-to-play version, New Light.

Just ahead of launch, developer Bungie has published a list of important information and known issues to be aware of. The developer shared these in a Twitter thread, and some of them sound quite serious and significant.

For example, Bungie said one of the issues is that for some players who started Destiny 2 “right before” the September 30 maintenance will see their character in the game on October 1 with 0 Power. To resolve this error, players must delete their character, Bungie said.

This is just one of the “top issues” that Bungie is investigating currently. You can see the rest of these issues, along with important information to know below, as written by Bungie.

With Shadowkeep and New Light on the way, there has been some amount of confusion over which version of the game you might want to pick up. You can check out GameSpot’s video above to see a breakdown of what’s included in each version and what’s aimed at new, returning, and veteran players.

Destiny 2 Shadowkeep And New Light Things To Know:

• Season Passes will be applied to the first set of characters that signs in. If you plan to Cross Save but will use other characters later, it’s recommended to set up Cross Save before logging in.
• Pre-order and bonus items can be found on Eris Morn after completing the first Moon mission. Forsaken subclasses are only available with a Forsaken or Shadowkeep game license. Pulling Legendary armor from Collections will always give Armor 1.0.
• Certain achievements/trophies can only be unlocked by owning Forsaken. The Premonition Legendary Pulse Rifle incorrectly states that it’s “Found by exploring the Moon” but the source is actually from the new dungeon, which will become available soon.

Destiny 2 Shadowkeep And New Light Known Issues:

• Players have to wait a week if the “Firewall” quest step is dismantled after completing Eris’ weekly bounty. If the “Luna’s Calling” weekly quest is deleted before collecting rewards, and the bounty is reclaimed, player have to wait a week.
• Some players who started Destiny 2 for the first time right before maintenance on 9/30 will be at 0 Power when logging in. To resolve this, players will need to delete that character.
• The “Show Me What You Got” achievement/trophy can’t be unlocked by veteran players with three characters. Only Crucible daily bounties will count towards the Redrix’s Broadsword quest step, “The Constant.”
• Strike Playlist completions will count toward certain exotic quests, but Strikes selected on Destinations won’t. The “Enhance!” EDZ quest is no longer available to veteran characters. The Exodus Black Nessus quest can’t be reclaimed if abandoned.
• Reviewing Crucible Engrams will incorrectly state that Forsaken is required to earn them. Certain warnings will appear for Nightfalls that require players to have certain mods equipped, but won’t account for teammate loadouts.
• The Scan Patrol Triumph won’t gain progress if scans are completed in the Moon’s Chasm area. Lunafaction Boots incorrectly state that using them in Rifts will automatically reload weapons, but they will actually increase weapon reload speed.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-shadowkeep-all-the-known-issues-and-impo/1100-6470230/

The newest Nintendo Switch update has arrived, but do not expect much from it. Version 9.0.1 is very basic, as it’s focused on improving general system stability and simple bug fixes.

Specifically, the 9.0.1. update fixes an unspecified “issue” that could lead to errors in gameplay. It also fixes a bug that caused the system to tell people to remove the Joy-Con when setting up their Switch Lite for the first time.

This is the first new Switch firmware update since 9.0.0 earlier in September. That update was far more substantial, as it introduced a number of new features, tweaks, changes, and fixes. One of its biggest fixes was for a Fire Emblem: Three Houses bug that prevented the game from booting.

You can see the full 9.0.1 update notes below, as posted on Nintendo’s website.

Nintendo Switch 9.0.1 Update:

• Resolved an issue that may have triggered errors during game play.
• Resolved an issue that may display an instruction to remove the Joy-Con during the initial setup of Nintendo Switch Lite.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-nintendo-switch-update-out-now-heres-what-it-d/1100-6470225/

When looking at the recent trailer for The Last of Us Part II, it’s clear that Ellie is in for a tough fight against the new threat coming from the Wolves. Add Clickers on top and there’s certainly a lot for her to deal with. But she won’t always be alone in her struggle as, just like in the original game, Ellie will encounter a variety of characters who will join her on her journey.

Unique characters are part of what made The Last of Us such a stellar game from a storytelling perspective. However, it was a common occurrence during combat situations that companion characters weren’t as helpful as they could have been. In The Last of Us Part II, the developers at Naughty Dog wanted to address this concern from the original. Speaking with The Last of Us Part II co-director Anthony Newman, he explained why allies would have a more significant impact during combat in the sequel.

“I can’t get too much into the exact ratio of time you spend alone. I’d say the game is definitely a blend of being by yourself as you were in the second part of the demo, and being with an ally,” he said. “Allies are at the core of Naughty Dog games. We get a lot of great stuff out of them in terms of this back and forth as you were pointing out.

“I think, as you may have noticed in the first part of the demo interacting with Dina, our allies can do a lot of pretty exciting new stuff where they can get stealth kills independently. They have their own pretty nuanced melee system where they can interact with enemies in melee and also help you out and rescue as they did in the first game. They’re a little bit more flexible and nuanced this time around.”

In our recent hands-on impressions of The Last of Us Part II, editor Phil Hornshaw talked about how handy the companions were during the many fights he got himself into. In one instance, he noticed that shots from companions posed a more tangible threat to enemies. In these cases, he’d rely on their shots landing, which allowed him to finish off the weakened enemies with his attacks. There seems to be a lot more nuance to how the companions operate, which is undoubtedly appreciated this time around.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-of-us-2s-companions-can-do-much-more-this/1100-6470120/

343 Industries has released new videos that show how the audio team captured some of sounds in the upcoming Xbox One and PC game Halo Infinite. The videos are fantastic and offer an illuminating look into the way sounds for creatures, weapons, and vehicles are captured.

The star of the show is Gyoza. That’s the little pug that 343 brought into the studio to sniff and scruff and make all kinds of guttural noises. We can only imagine what these noises will be turned into in Halo Infinite. “Meet our favorite pug, Gyoza,” reads a post from 343 on Instagram. The best friend of our studio’s Technical Art Director, his grunts, breaths, and excitement are sure to make for some… interesting sounds in Halo Infinite.”

The videos, which originally date back to August and were reposted on YouTube by AI, also show the team firing all kinds of weapons, including high-power automatic rifles and shotguns. Additionally, we get a peek at some of the stranger sounds made with various torches, buckets, and baking pans.

The Halo Infinite audio team also fired rockets and drove vehicles around test tracks to capture additional audio for the game.

Halo Infinite releases in Holiday 2020 as a launch title for Microsoft’s next-generation console, Scarlett. The game will also be playable on Xbox One.

A beta for Halo Infinite will be held prior to launch through a “flighting” program. In other news, 343 described Halo Infinite’s microtransactions as a “AAA player investment experience,” while Halo Infinite’s creative director left 343 in August.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-infinite-microsoft-used-this-very-cute-dog-na/1100-6470220/