Learn The Story Of How Three Teenagers Helped Nintendo Create Star Fox In This Video

Though it hasn't held up as well as some other SNES titles, Star Fox is a notable part of Nintendo's history. It was one of the few 3D titles for the console, showcasing the power of the system many thought couldn't handle polygonal graphics. As it turns out, however, three young British programmers, none of whom worked at Nintendo at the time, were a major part in putting the title together.

Originally part of Argonaut Software, Dylan Cuthbert, Giles Goddard, and Krister Wombell were the three programmers responsible for bringing the game to life. Using the FX Chip (the on-cartridge tech that allowed SNES games to run in 3D in the first place), they crafted a demo of a game called an early demo of a 3D flight game. Nintendo then courted them and moved them over to Kyoto in order to work on the game fulltime. The video above catalogs the trio's abridged history of working with Nintendo.

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GTA Online Welcomes Nightclubs to Los Santos This July

GTA Online is always adding new and exciting features to its arsenal of fun things for players to do, and its latest excursion is no different. Starting this July, the nightlife scene in Los Santos is about to get funky, with the addition of Nightclubs. Sure, you can go dance in them and disco the night away (if you still disco), but you can also use them as a front for your other illegal activities.

Rockstar Games has confirmed that you'll be able to run your very own nightclub "from setup, design, staffing, and promotion," and reap the various financial rewards that come rolling in while you do so. If you manage your business effectively, you'll profit rather nicely, and you can even launder funds from your criminal activities as well. Sounds like a plan.

Real-world musicians Dixon, The Black Madonna, Tale of Us, and Solomun have also been recruited to help make some super groovy music for you, so they can perform for all the visitors you'll have flocking to your club. There may even be additional artists and music coming to Nightclubs soon, but Rockstar is being pretty mum about the whole thing as it is, promising additional details on how to get on the "Guest List" and how to reap rewards at a later date.

The expansion is launching next month, but we don't have a set date for when to expect it just yet. You might have to settle for dancing around in front of your mirror while you wait.

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Reader Discussion – Can You Come Up With A Better Name For The 'Metroidvania' Genre?

Naming things can be hard, and often, names develop as a utilitarian way of getting a concept across. Before they were called first-person shooters, they were called "Doom clones." When games started making death impactful by regressing all of your progress when you died, we started calling them "Roguelikes." But "Metroidvania" might be the worst ad-hoc genre name in the industry.

"Metroidvania," which describes games (usually two-dimensional ones), in which you explore are relatively large map with a limited number of skills, then slowly unlock new ones that let you explore larger parts of the map, really does not do the genre justice, and limits the way we think about many games which take after Metroid or later Castlevania games. So we want to know: Can you come up with a better moniker?

It's not entirely descriptive, but I think "open-world platformer" works pretty well most of them. While it's not 100-percent indicative of what you do in these games, it more or less describes what you can expect: Side-scrolling, platforming (some puzzle-solving is implied here, right?), and exploring. While "open-world" might conjure up images of larger worlds, when connected to the world "platformer" I think it properly encapsulates the expectations of the genre.

Can you come up with a better name than that (I'm sure you can!)? Let us know in the comments.

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Reader Discussion – Can You Come Up With A Better Name For The 'Metroidvania' Genre?

Naming things can be hard, and often, names develop as a utilitarian way of getting a concept across. Before they were called first-person shooters, they were called "Doom clones." When games started making death impactful by regressing all of your progress when you died, we started calling them "Roguelikes." But "Metroidvania" might be the worst ad-hoc genre name in the industry.

"Metroidvania," which describes games (usually two-dimensional ones), in which you explore are relatively large map with a limited number of skills, then slowly unlock new ones that let you explore larger parts of the map, really does not do the genre justice, and limits the way we think about many games which take after Metroid or later Castlevania games. So we want to know: Can you come up with a better moniker?

It's not entirely descriptive, but I think "open-world platformer" works pretty well most of them. While it's not 100-percent indicative of what you do in these games, it more or less describes what you can expect: Side-scrolling, platforming (some puzzle-solving is implied here, right?), and exploring. While "open-world" might conjure up images of larger worlds, when connected to the world "platformer" I think it properly encapsulates the expectations of the genre.

Can you come up with a better name than that (I'm sure you can!)? Let us know in the comments.

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10 best Material Design apps for Android

We first wrote this article back in 2014. We wanted to help people find Material Design apps back when there really weren’t that many. These days, Material Design is everywhere. Most popular apps use it in one form or another. Thus, we have redone the list to show some of the best examples of Material Design that you can find. These apps are colorful and gorgeous. Even if they aren’t the best or most useful, they really rock that Material Design. Here are the best Material Design apps for Android!

Here are some more app lists you might like!

10 best icon packs for Android (by developer)

Icon packs are on of the most popular methods of customization. Most mainstream third party launchers support them and they provide a cheap and unique way to customize your device. Plus, there are literally hundreds …

15 best Android launcher apps of 2018!

Android launcher apps have long been an integral part of the Android experience. If you don't like the way your home screens look or act, you can simply download an app to change all of …

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B&H Photo

Price: Free

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

B&H Photo is a popular online retailer. Their app is also beautiful. It uses Material Design pretty much wherever it can. The shopping experience, search, and even cart functions are all draped in it. The categories page is not only color coded for easy distinguishing by eye, but the design of the little icons are clear and flat. At no point does the design feel overblown or ridiculous. It's just a good design all around. We wish more shopping apps looked like this one.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Houzz Interior Design

Price: Free

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Houzz won an actual design award from Google Play. Who are we to argue that? The app is also pretty good It's a home design app. You can look around at decoration and design ideas for your home. You can also save ideas and check out some really unique stuff. It's almost like Pinterest but specifically for home design products. It covers a lot of bases in very little space. Its design lets you move about and view a lot of information in a very short period of time without feeling overwhelming. It just looks and works so well. Truly one of the better Material Design apps.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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LocalCast

Price: Free / Optional donation

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

LocalCast is a streaming app. It casts video, images, and pretty much whatever else to your Chromecast from your device. The app also has a good design. It uses Material Design to its strengths. However, it manages to keep from feeling bloated or unnecessary. The colors contrast nicely without being annoying. The controls look good as well. It also supports Roku, Amazon Fire Sticks, Apple TV, and a variety of smart TVs. It's really good for what it is.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Lyft

Price: Free (rides cost money)

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Lyft is still an up and coming transit service. However, its app design is probably the best in the transit apps space. It uses layers in Material Design effectively. Apps like this are very busy. Having a bunch of controls and a map can is a ton of information at once. Lyft does a great job of providing a lot of information without feeling uncomfortable to use. The color palette is consistent and good looking. It's already one of the better transit apps, but its design definitely makes it a little more appealing.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Material Design Demo

Price: Free / Up to $9.99

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Material Design Demo is a boon for developers. It allows you to easily and quickly check out Material Design. It shows use on a lot of the elements of Material Design. That includes transitions, page layouts, card views, the floating action button, the pull out menu drawer, and a lot more. Advanced programmers already know this stuff. However, it gives beginner's a good glimpse at how this stuff can work. It's free to download and use. It's a great app for making Material Design apps.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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We have some more app list recommendations for you!

15 best Android apps of 2018!

Here it is ladies and gentlemen. The crème de la crème. The Android apps that stand alone at the top of the pantheon. These apps have become ubiquitous with Android and if you're looking for …

10 best texting apps and SMS apps for Android

Text messaging is among the most popular ways to communicate in the whole world. It's quick, easy to do, and it doesn't require you pausing what you're doing like phone calls do. We do understand …

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Material Gallery

Price: Free

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Material Gallery is an app for developers. Developers upload their apps, UI framework, or other elements to the app. Other developers give feedback on that stuff. Developers can get critiques on their design and ideas on how to improve their stuff. It works pretty well for all of that. It also helps indie developers without huge design teams get the best feedback possible for the best design possible. It's not essential for generating good Material Design apps, but it definitely helps. It's also free.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Newton Email

Price: Free / $49.99 per year

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Newton Email is probably the best email app in terms of design. It's clean, the colors are useful for organization, and it has a lot of Material Design elements. It's a bit expensive, but this list isn't about price. The main view is simple. It lets you view lots of emails quickly without getting confusing. The slide out menu houses your multiple email accounts and the floating action button does the rest. You can also swipe emails for additional commands. It uses as much of the design as needed for functionality. The good part is that it does so without feeling ridiculous, confusing, or bloated. It's definitely among the best Material Design apps.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Robinhood

Price: Free

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Robinhood is another Google Play award winner for design. It's a stock trading app. You can view things like stock prices in real time. It also lets you make trades for free. That's all well and good, but the design is the real story here. It does a great job at giving you tons of information. The color scheme makes sense. It won't mess with your eyes and it looks good. The color schemes also change when the market opens and closes. That's so cool. More Material Design apps should do stuff like that. We guess Night Mode counts, kind of, but you know what we mean.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Solid Explorer

Price: Free / $1.99

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Solid Explorer is among the best file explorer apps. The design is also quite lovely. It features a floating action button that holds many of the more common file management commands. It uses colors to differentiate folders and files for easy organization. The slide out menu and various other design quirks all work together to create a very cohesive experience. That's difficult to do for something so utilitarian as a file browsing app. It's definitely among the best Material Design apps.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Textra SMS

Price: Free / $2.99

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

Many texting apps use Material Design. None of them do it quite as well as Textra. It uses basic elements like the floating action button and the pull out drawer for most things. However, its stand out feature is being fully customizable. You can choose between a light and dark background, the primary color, and the secondary color. That means you can make it look how you want. You can even change the icon. It also happens to work pretty well as a texting app.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Thank you for reading! Here are some final app lists to check out!

10 best Android themes

Android themes are changing. They have been over the last couple of years. Back in the day, the rage was all-encompassing theming. One theme would change how home screens, settings menus, keyboards, etc looked. These …

10 best calendar apps for Android for 2018

Calendars are useful tools. Even paper ones are great for remembering dates, taking out the trash, and keeping track of family birthdays. Some of the first mobile apps were datebooks and calendars. They're useful to …

If we missed any of the best Material Design apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!

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Xiaomi pulled the Mi A1’s Android 8.1 Oreo update

• Xiaomi released, then pulled, the Android 8.1 Oreo update for the Mi A1.
• Device owners complained of deleted text messages and tripped SafetyNet.

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Even though updates for the Xiaomi Mi A1 have been sporadic for months, the company’s first and only Android One smartphone received its Android 8.1 Oreo update. According to XDA Developers, however, the update also introduces a few headaches.

For starters, Android 8.1 introduces features like a battery icon for your Bluetooth devices, semi-transparent Quick Settings panel that also goes light or dark based on your wallpaper, refreshed Settings menu, fixed burger emoji, and more. The update also bumps the security patch level to June 5 and improves sound quality.

However, the update did not introduce Project Treble. Instead, it brought two nasty bugs that might give you reason to hold off for now.

Editor's Pick

Android One phones – what are your options?

Android One is Google's platform designed to bring affordable Android phones to the masses. Originally launched in 2014, with the goal of offering cheap smartphones to emerging markets, Google announced a revamp of the program …

The first bug is one that wipes your entire SMS history. This apparently happens when you swipe away the messages app from the recent apps screen, so make sure you backup your text messages if you are wary of this happening to you.

Another bug causes SafetyNet to fail, which is a bit worrying. SafetyNet provides APIs that allow developers to check whether a device was tampered with, runs a custom ROM, or infected with low-level malware.

Thankfully, Xiaomi pulled the OTA update for the Mi A1. We do not know when the company will issue the update again, though it might wait until it fixes the bugs. If you are a Mi A1 owner and downloaded the update, Xiaomi might release a smaller update to fix the bugs.

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Xiaomi pulled the Mi A1’s Android 8.1 Oreo update

• Xiaomi released, then pulled, the Android 8.1 Oreo update for the Mi A1.
• Device owners complained of deleted text messages and tripped SafetyNet.

---

Even though updates for the Xiaomi Mi A1 have been sporadic for months, the company’s first and only Android One smartphone received its Android 8.1 Oreo update. According to XDA Developers, however, the update also introduces a few headaches.

For starters, Android 8.1 introduces features like a battery icon for your Bluetooth devices, semi-transparent Quick Settings panel that also goes light or dark based on your wallpaper, refreshed Settings menu, fixed burger emoji, and more. The update also bumps the security patch level to June 5 and improves sound quality.

However, the update did not introduce Project Treble. Instead, it brought two nasty bugs that might give you reason to hold off for now.

Editor's Pick

Android One phones – what are your options?

Android One is Google's platform designed to bring affordable Android phones to the masses. Originally launched in 2014, with the goal of offering cheap smartphones to emerging markets, Google announced a revamp of the program …

The first bug is one that wipes your entire SMS history. This apparently happens when you swipe away the messages app from the recent apps screen, so make sure you backup your text messages if you are wary of this happening to you.

Another bug causes SafetyNet to fail, which is a bit worrying. SafetyNet provides APIs that allow developers to check whether a device was tampered with, runs a custom ROM, or infected with low-level malware.

Thankfully, Xiaomi pulled the OTA update for the Mi A1. We do not know when the company will issue the update again, though it might wait until it fixes the bugs. If you are a Mi A1 owner and downloaded the update, Xiaomi might release a smaller update to fix the bugs.

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