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Star Wars Battlefront 2 2017 Nintendo Switch update, multiplayer and Xbox Scorpio news

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Star Wars Battlefront 2 2017 Nintendo Switch and Xbox Scorpio news

Nintendo Switch games fans may have been disappointed to find that the big Star Wars Battlefront 2 2017 announcement did not include the new console.

There had been some speculation leading up to the reveal that the latest shooter from EA may skip the hybrid device, due to it lacking powerful enough hardware.

However, a new update has been released concerning the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2 on Nintendo Switch.

The new hybrid console was left out of the weekend’s big announcement, leading many to believe that it would only be available on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

However, since then a new interview has been released with Battlefront 2 director Mark Thompson, who gave a rather coy answer when it came to the Nintendo Switch.

When talking about a launch on the new console, he told Level Up, “that one is a question for another day,” leaving open the possibility of a new announcement in the future.

This means fans may see a version of Star Wars Battlefront 2 arrive on the Nintendo Switch following its release on other platforms, or more likely, see a separate tie-in game revealed at E3 in June.

On the subject of how Battlefront 2 may utilise the specs of the Xbox Scorpio, Thompson simply said: “It is a game made with Frostbite. It is a graphics engine which is always at the forefront of any hardware we have out there.

So while Star Wars Battlefront 2 will see a boost on the Xbox Scorpio due to the better hardware, DICE don’t appear ready to signal any other support, such as leaving the door open for more hardware acceleration.

It should also be noted that a marketing leak leading up to the official Xbox Scorpio specs reveal listed Star Wars Battlefront 2 as one of a number of games that will boast Scorpio 4K support.

While it’s unclear if EA are preparing to make the game further compatible with Microsoft’s next console, or if they will launch on Nintendo Switch, more details have been confirmed on multiplayer gameplay.

Battlefront 2 design director Dennis Brännvall answered a series of questions on Twitter, telling followers more about the server situation, weapon reloading and customisation.

Brännvall was asked by one player if the class system would offer the same freedom as the card system from the original Battlefront.

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Avril Lavigne is the internet’s most dangerous star – but that’s nothing new

by Loknath Das September 21, 2017

written by Loknath Das

Avril Lavigne in 2002, about a year before her supposed replacement by a lookalike. Photograph: Jim Cooper/AP

Not every article is written while wearing full hi-vis, Perspex goggles, hard hat and abseiling harness, with a police-quality Taser sleeping like a lazy boomslang next to the keyboard.

But this is one such story. That is because I have been tasked with reporting on Avril Lavigne, and “Avril Lavigne” has just been named the most dangerous celebrity search term on the internet.

Malware expert McAfee produces an annual poll, ranking the risk that searching for certain names will lead you to a malware-rich environment, leading to potentially mailicious websites and cybercriminals. This year, for Avril, the risk was 14.5%. It rose to 22.5% when users searched for “Avril Lavigne MP3s” (the fools don’t even know the MP3 format is low quality and now defunct).

In a crowded field, the Canadian tween-punk beat the likes of Bruno Mars, Carly Rae Jepsen, Zayn Malik and Sean Combs, who made up the rest of the top five.

Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, married to Lavigne in 2013. Photograph: Handout

This is not an in-with-a-bullet No 1 for Lavigne, who despite having done little of commercial interest in the past decade, sat at No 2 on last year’s list. Somewhere, for reasons known only to the vagaries of nostalgia and the dank breeding pods of web culture, Lavigne has become a kind of meme unto herself.

The internet already knows that Nickelback is the sound a comedy writer makes in their head when searching for a reference that means “bad music for numbskulls”. When Avril married lead singer Chad Kroeger in 2013, she was not only creating a twisted Canadian pop royal family, she was also marrying into a meme factory. She may have since divorced him, but when you marry memes, you marry for life.

Just as importantly, there is the ongoing attempt to expose her as a having died and being nothing more than a lookalike called Melissa. The theory, which began on a Brazilian fan site and seems to have spread to every corner of the internet, says that a young Avril, uncomfortable with her fame, began using a body double in certain situations. Then, at some point, the real Avril died. So her record label just kept going with the clone. After all, “Melissa” was written on her hand in a photo shoot – and who doesn’t write their own secret name on their hand in publicity shots? All of which was given credence by her near-fatal encounter with Lyme disease in 2015.

But perhaps Avril’s bad rep is merely about timing? She was peaking in popularity (with a very young Bebo-savvy crowd) at the exact point the internet itself was moving from a place of sinister coves and Pirate Bays into the glossy corporate content-engine we know and love today.

After all, as long ago as 2008, her video for Girlfriend became one of the first on YouTube to bust through the 100m views mark. This traffic, though, was itself allegedly driven mainly from a dodgy source – one fansite that encouraged users to follow a link which would keep the video open in their browsers, then refresh it every 15 seconds to spike the view-counter. The malware motherlode normally comes through similar shady sub-scripts – the saga continues.

Since you’re here …

… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.Thomasine F-R.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.

[“Source-theguardian”]

September 21, 2017 0 comment

Tech Update

Euro / Dollar Midweek Technical Update: Shooting Star

by Loknath Das August 31, 2017

written by Loknath Das

euro exchange rate 1

The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate has been in a strong uptrend since the start of the year and most recently it continued that trend up to a new high of 1.2069 on Monday, August 28.

The pair pulled sharply back from its intraday highs, however, and finished the day near its open and lows, describing in the process a bearish Japanese candlestick pattern called a shooting star.

Shooting stars often occur at turning points in the trend, however, on their own, they are not a sufficiently fail-safe sign to indicate a definite reversal of the trend.

If the subsequent day is also bearish, then that enhances the candlestick’s predictive power, so if today ends lower than it opened then risks will be skewed to further downside in the short-term.

EURUSDAug30b

The trend up has been strong and it is rare to see such a strong trend suddenly reverse.

What we think is more likely to happen is that the exchange rate will probably consolidate instead, by which we mean a move in a sideways range for a while.

That this could happen between the 1.2000 and 1.1800 levels, we think is quite likely.

There are several other factors which also suggest a pause in the uptrend.

The first of these is the diverging MACD, momentum indicator in the lower pane, which failed to match the recent high made in the price; this divergence is a bearish sign.

The second is the R1 monthly pivot situated at 1.2017, which is a level traders often use to trade counter to the prevailing trend, as is often associated with pauses and reversals.

Nevertheless, despite all these signs, the uptrend remains technically intact and therefore more likely to continue than not.

We would, however, be looking for confirmation of a continuation higher from a break above the 1.2069 highs with a target thereafter at 1.2200.

Technical analyst Richard Perry at Hantec Markets sees the 1.1909 level as key, and a break below as the beginning of the end of the uptrend.

He too notes yesterday’s ‘shooting star’ but defines it as a doji, which has less bearish connotations.

It may be that on his charting package the pattern was more like a neutral doji as different data providers can produce quite a wide variety of open, high, low and close prices.

Perry notes further:

“The bulls have held on to the breakout above $1.1909, however, the way that the market turned back from an intraday peak of $1.2069 suggests a little reticence. A doji candle (open and close at or very close to the same level) reflects uncertainty and coming with an intraday gain of over 90 pips, the reversal into the close poses some questions now.

“The market is flat this morning, however, the momentum indicators have lost some impetus in the breakout. The bulls will now need to hang on to the breakout support at $1.1909 otherwise the momentum in profit-taking could set in.”

Analyst Robin Wilkins at Lloyds Bank highlights the tough resistance levels in the 1.20-23 zone which makes it hard to break above.

“From a medium-term perspective, 1.20-1.23 is very strong resistance and with a number of USD rates reaching similar levels we see a greater risk of a pullback towards 1.15. However, despite one-day reversal patterns in the candle charts we still see the risk of further tests of the topside, especially while over today’s 1.1930-1.1875 support region,” says Wilkins.

Karen Jones, technical analyst at Commerzbank remains bullish on the Euro’s prospects, saying only a drop below 1.1662-35 would negate the bullish move.

She also describes the shooting star as a doji:

“We note the doji on the chart and may see it consolidate very near term, the market stays immediately bid above the early August high at 1.1910. Below 1.1910 lies the 1.1848 August 11 high. But only if an unexpected drop below the 1.1662/35 mid-August low, the late July low, and the five-month support line would negate the bull move.”

Source:-.poundsterlinglive

August 31, 2017 0 comment