Author: Trafficblast

Nintendo has partnered up with Levi’s to create an entire line of Mario themed clothing, including some very stylish blue overalls.

These Mario-themed overalls feature a range of motifs from the popular series, including a special golden coin design over the back pocket. The clothing line ranges from subtle to over the top–the Super Mario Levi’s Jeans, for instance, only feature Mario branding on the inseam and inside the waistband. At the other end of the scale are the Super Mario All-Over Print pants, every inch of which is covered with Super Mario characters.

Check out some lifestyle shots of the Super Mario Levi’s range below.

The collection includes apparel featuring Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Bowser, and Princess Peach, on a variety of t-shirts, hoodies, and denim items. The line doesn’t just include clothing, with tote bags, banana slings, print bandanas, and billfolds all included in the collection.

Nintendo’s partnership with Levi’s is just the latest licensing deal that Nintendo has made with gigantic brands. Just recently, Nintendo and Lego teamed up for new Lego sets. Nintendo also has a Super Mario movie in the works with Universal and construction is still continuing on the Super Mario Land parks in both Japan and Orlando.

Between the subtle homages and the over-the-top items, there is something for any Mario fan. Head over to the site on April 9 to grab these limited clothing items before they sell out.

Stardew Valley is getting a new fruit in its next update, and it’s all thanks to a Twitter user poll. The beloved indie farming game will add banana trees soon, meaning you’ll be able to grow and harvest the fruit in-game.

Bananas beat out mangoes, avocadoes, and passionfruit, although developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone noted that mangoes were the runner-up on Twitter in a way that suggests that they, too, could come to the game eventually. It’s not yet clear when this update will launch, or what else it might contain.

We know that a big 1.5 update for Stardew Valley is being planned, but bananas could be added in a smaller, incremental update.

This update comes in the wake of the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game where harvesting fruit is a huge part of the experience. Notably, New Horizons features none of the fruit in Barone’s poll. Fruits in Stardew Valley can be sold, or turned into preserves or wine.

Barone is currently working on some new projects too, but a Stardew Valley 2 is not planned, even though he is planning games set within the same universe.

The ONLY thing Marvel asked me to include was a Thanos cameo and said maybe I could create an origin for the Infinity Stones. Other than that they were up for whatever and weren’t set on any one way to handle the characters. #QuarantineWatchParty #GotG https://t.co/zZtcXF2ftw

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 8, 2020

As part of The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red’s latest earnings report, the company shared some insight into its workforce. Specifically, the company provided an update on how many people it employs, their gender, and more.

“CD Projekt embraces diversity in the belief that a workplace which respect diversity is the cornerstone of openness and trust. This enables us to fully unlock the creative potential of our employees, which, in turn, translates into increased depth, innovation, and appeal of our products,” the Polish developer said. “We also believe that diversity reinforces and enriches our organizational culture.”

Factors like gender are “irrelevant” at CDPR when it comes to filling executive and managerial positions, the company said.

In regards to specific numbers at the highest levels, the CPDR management board of directors was comprised solely of men in 2019 and 2018. The Supervisory board of directors, however, included one woman.

Overall, CDPR employed 1,044 people at the end of 2019, which is up 18 percent from 2018. 84 percent of people worked for the CD Projekt Red game development groups, and the remaining 16 percent worked for GOG.com. Of the 872 people who worked for CDPR at the end of 2019, 640 were men and 232 were women. The bulk of male and female developers were between the ages of 30 and 50. GOG, meanwhile, employed 130 men and 42 women at the end of 2019.

Overall, women make up 26 percent of CDPR’s total staff, which is an increase from 2018. CDPR also pointed out that it’s much higher than the Polish game industry average of 15.5 percent. The number of female developers working for CDPR has grown every year since 2017, and the percentage compared to men has stayed around the same, fluctuating between 24 percent and 27 percent.

In 2019, CDPR hired 195 men and 82 women, while GOG hired 38 men and 11 women. Most of the new hires, across gender and business division between CDPR and GOG, were under the age of 30.

CDPR also shared some location-based details, revealing that the majority of all developers (713 CDPR staff and 172 GOG staff) worked from the company’s office in Warsaw. The Krakow branch had 108 people, while the Wroclaw office had 38 people. All of these numbers are up year-over-year. CDPR also has offices in Los Angeles, Shanghai, Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul, but these are non-development offices that handle local marketing and sales. Employee numbers for these satellite offices were not disclosed. In total, 66 percent of CDPR’s workforce consists of game developers.

In terms of the age of employees, CDPR said 51 percent of its workforce is between the ages of 30 and 39. The second-largest group is the bracket of people aged 20-29, which makes up 42 percent of its workforce. The overall average age for an employee at CDPR in 2019 was 31.

CDPR also announced that 21 percent of its employees are foreign nationals, which seems to demonstrate that people are very enthusiastic about joining the developer. That makes sense, given The Witcher is one of the biggest and most acclaimed franchises in gaming, and Cyberpunk 2077 also has a lot of hype behind it. At the end of 2019, CDPR employed people from 44 different foreign countries, including Ukraine (28 people), Russia (22 people), Spain (17 people), Canada (17 people), the United States (16 people), the United Kingdom (15 people), France (15 people), Italy (14 people), and Germany (14 people).

Additionally, the developer confirmed that it employs four people with disabilities, noting that it has undertaken “every effort” to adapt its workplace setup to suit their needs.

The full CDPR report includes many more fascinating details and datapoints regarding the company’s workforce and policies, including its dog-friendly stance. Go read the report here.

CDPR’s next game is Cyberpunk 2077, which is slated to launch in September for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

There are few tunes in gaming more iconic than Final Fantasy VII‘s “The Prelude,” and the new Final Fantasy VII Remake, which speaks to the immense and difficult task of adapting the soundtrack for modern audiences. Episode 4 of the excellent Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake video series is all about the soundtrack, explaining how Nobuo Uematsu’s music has been reworked for the Remake.

Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake

When work on the remake began, producer Yoshinori Kitase put together a video of all the events in the game, set to the music from the original PlayStation release. It outlined his vision for the game, but co-director Motomu Toriyama decided that a modern approach was called for. The game thus has a dynamic soundtrack, where the music dynamically shifts.

Keiji Kawamori talks about how the music on the soundtrack needed to be repurposed for different scenarios, depending on the tensions and intent of each scene, and composer Mitsuto Suzuki talks about how interactive music is becoming more popular, and how it works in this new game. In some scenes, three versions of a track are playing in parallel, and the game crossfades between them depending on what the action calls for. “It’s like a really top-class DJ performance,” Suzuki says.

Aerith’s theme used multiple times in different ways throughout the game now, and its sound changes a bit depending on context. There was a lot of pressure in adding new music because the original soundtrack was so good, the teams say, and because there’s dialog in cutscenes to consider now.

Uematsu wrote a single track for the game, too–it’s called Hollow, and it’s the game’s theme. Beyond this, the composers did not want to copy his original score too much with their new arrangements.

The video also delves into some cool behind-the-scenes insights into how AI generates sound effects, and you can see Cloud running around with a bunch of code spilling out of him that dictates the sounds he makes. It’s a cool, unusual insight into the making of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

According to GameSpot’s 10/10 review of Final Fantasy VII Remake–only the 18th 10/10 in the site’s history–Tamoor Hussain wrote: “The wait for its release was a long one, but in gameplay, story, characters, and music, it delivers–the wait was worth it.” Final Fantasy VII Remake releases April 10, and is exclusive to PlayStation 4 for one year.