osu!weekly #74

Our game is now 9 years old! Indeed, it would seem that a lot of the things happening recently are fitting to be called 9 years in the making. Want to know more about what's happening around the game? Read on!

The QAT blog has something new for us this week! This time, Kurokami graced us with his presence and an analysis on the current status of CTB spread. Since we didn't get to talk about it last week, there's also a previous piece by Tari with his take on how to create "Beginner Friendly" easy difficulties. If you need tips on how to make your maps more accessible to other players, head on over and check it out!

Once again, what we have come to understand as the limits of high level osu standard play has been completely shattered and rewritten by Cookiezi. Just a few weeks after an impressive show of skill and speed by AngeLMegumin, the record for the highest performance rated play has been broken once again. Cookiezi was known for setting the world's first 700+ pp play, and now he's known for showing us that 700pp is really no big deal for him. The resulting lack of words I am able to produce to describe this event forces me to leave the video for you to digest by yourself. Enjoy.

You may have noticed that there has been a brief plateau in the amount of tournament activity! That's because we're preparing for the biggest event of the year, the osu!standard World Cup 2016. We aren't quite ready to share more details about it just yet, but some quick glances behind the scenes tell me that there's definitely a lot to look forward to! A little birdie told me that flyte may have something in store for us, so look forward to a new and improved osu! World Cup experience.

The first ever osu!mascot contest has concluded! It would seem that the player's choice award has been decidedly given out already, but that doesn't spell the end for all the other entrants. The big man stepped in and made a statement on the decision for the mascot, and it would seem that we will have to wait a little longer to see which design actually makes it into the game. Nevertheless, thanks a lot to everyone who put in their time, effort, and expertise into making this contest a great success! We hope to see you participate in our future artist competitions as well.

Someone's been going out and making a point about mobile versions of osu! with impressive smartphone plays! Even though it seems that the outdated support we have for mobile platforms is showing it's age with the lack of updates and unrefined touchscreen play, it's encouraging to see people go out and try to do make do with what they have on various platforms. Hopefully, a better version of a mobile osu! will come soon, official or otherwise!

Unfortunately, we don't quite have anything for you guys yet in regards to our recent historical milestone. I was informed that we do in fact have something coming soon, so keep checking back on the front page for new and important updates coming your way in the near future! If you have any suggestions for what kind of news you'd like to see, as well as submissions for specific topics to cover, be sure to drop by our official development discord! Otherwise, if you have any feedback, drop us a comment below. The weekly itself, as well as its various outlets, will see more activity in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

—Nyquill