The latest patch for Destiny 2, bringing the game up to version 1.06 is now live across all platforms – PS4, Xbox One and PC. One of the big changes included in this update is an increase in a number of Faction Points that Guardians can earn per activity completed. Strikes and Nightfalls will now dole out more Faction Tokens while Heroic Events have had their amount of Faction Tokens nerfed. Destroying enemy resources also no longer rewards Faction Tokens at all.
Crucible matches have had their win conditions adjusted, with a number of modes having the total # of points required for victory reduced.
What do you think of this patch? Full notes are included below:
Destiny 2 Update 1.0.6 Patch Notes
General
Fixed an issue with collision detection on the Bureaucratic Walk Emote
Fixed an issue causing players to encounter empty public spaces too often in free roam
Fixed an issue causing players to be kicked to Orbit
Faction Rallies
Strikes now reward Faction Tokens at a range of 5 to 9 Faction Tokens per completion (up from 3 to 7)
Nightfall now rewards 10 to 18 Faction Tokens on first completion per character
Completing Heroic Public Events now rewards 5 Faction Tokens (down from 8)
Destroying enemy resources no longer rewards Faction Tokens
Opening Lost Sector chests now rewards 3 Faction Tokens for each fireteam member
Crucible
Updated Mercy Rule settings to allow Mercy to activate slightly later in the match, allowing a wider range of scores to trigger it
Clash
Reduced score limit to 50 (was 75)
Control
Reduced score limit to 90 (was 100)
Reduced influence that enemy-controlled zones exert over the spawning system
Survival
Reduced round time limit to 2 mins (down from 3)
Reduced life count to 6 (down from 8)
Supremacy
Increased score-to-win to 70 (up from 50)
We now grant one point for defeating an enemy Guardian
Adjusted the influence enemy crests have on the spawning system
Companion
Android
Improved performance across the app and particularly on the Gear and Progress sections
Improved screen state preservation after rotation
Added the ability to look up Clans by name (exact matches only)
Added suggested Clans to the ‘Browse Clans’ screen
iOS
Added suggested Clans to the ‘Browse Clans’ screen
Destiny 2 Update 1.0.6.1 (PC Hotfix) Patch Notes
Fixed an issue where Clan rosters were not showing properly
Fixed an issue causing gradual performance degradation over time
Chibi versions of some of our favorite Final Fantasy characters will migrate onto a brand new platform, Windows PC, with the re-release of World of Final Fantasy on Steam later this month.
Exploring the world of Grymoire as twins Reynn & Lann as they aim to capture classic FF monsters is an enjoyable and light-hearted romp, in my experience. While I have yet to finish World of Final Fantasy on either PS4 or PS Vita yet, the time I did spend with the game was not only enjoyable but the writing (and generous amount of puns) left me with a smile on my face.
Players who purchase the Day One edition on November 21st will get access to an exclusive soundtrack sampler, a digital wallpaper and the chance to catch a number of previously unavailable mirages. These exclusive monsters include:
Sephiroth summon
White Chocobo
Glow Moogle
Red Bonnetberry
Sky Dragon
Kaguya Flan
Nidhogg
2P Serafie
Iris
Dark Behemoth
Astraea
Kobold Mimic
Topaz Carbuncle
2P Tama
Balthier
Boko
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7 64bit Processor: Intel Core i3 2.0GHz or above Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB or higher, Radeon HD 5770 1GB or higher DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 15 GB available space Sound Card: Sound device that supports DirectX 11
RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 8/8.1 64bit and Windows 10 64 bit Processor: Intel Core i3 2.4GHz or above Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB or higher, Radeon HD 7850 2GB or higher DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 15 GB available space Sound Card: Sound device that supports DirectX 11
First marketed as a unique crossover between Minecraft’s base building & resource collection and Gears of War’s Horde Mode, Fortnite has been in the news recently for the success (and controversy) of its Free 2 Play Battle Royale mode. After spending countless hours playing the “Survive The Storm” Player Vs Environment mode on two different platforms I’m ready to give my detailed impressions of Fortnite’s PVE experience as it currently exists.
Early Access Disclaimer: A copy of “Fortnite: Founder’s Edition Standard” was provided by Epic Games for the purpose of this review. No other loot pinatas or other Microtransactions were provided by the publisher. This review reflects the state of Fortnite’s Player Vs Environment experience as it existed in Late September / Early October 2017.
Gameplay: Some Assembly Required
As I sat down trying to summarize Fortnite’s gameplay into a digestible description, I found the game almost indescribable. This isn’t because Fortnite is a bad game – far from it, Fortnite has quickly become one of my daily “go to” game alongside Overwatch and Final Fantasy XIV when I want a multiplayer fix. It is just that there are so many interlinking systems to be found within the game that it is easy to imagine the unsuspecting player being overwhelmed at first blush.
For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to refer to the on-foot, in-engine 3rd person matchmaking multiplayer missions as Mission Gameplay and the menu driven, statistic management and item management portions of Fortnite as Housekeeping to keep things straightforward.
Mission Gameplay
Activities within Fortnite are divided into numerous mission types where the player must work alongside a team of up to 3 other survivors to secure an objective/survivor / x # of items within a large open chunk of the map and build a well-protected fort before initiating a horde mode-like defense sequence. If this sounds formulaic, it is, but the amount of creative freedom Fortnite affords players when it comes to base construction, strategy and bonus objectives allow each match of Fortnite to feel unique.
The opening segments of any mission within Fortnite can be thought of as pure chaos – an entire team of people working towards a common goal but each with their own needs. Player A might find the objective before anyone else is ready to begin the Horde mode defense section while Player B is searching for Server Racks to finish their Daily Quest and Player C is saving survivors to bolster their ranks (more on that in the next section). Uncoordinated teams or those with poor communication are often doomed to failure – especially during limited timed events and higher tier missions.
When it comes time for a team to construct their fort to defend their objective what is the best choice? Iron walls with protected by a constructor’s Forcefield? Cheaper wooden walls defended by all four Heroes with Melee weapons? The open-ended nature of HOW teams come to achieve their common goal is one of the beauties of Fortnite. I’ve played the same mission four times and had a different outcome every time: In one instance an entire team built a Zombie funnel with wooden walls lined with spike traps and on the same mission in another team we lined the front of our fort with jump pads which would cause the Zombies to fly into the air and land to their deaths.
Forts can be broken down into 4 basic components: Floors, Walls, Roofs, and Traps (which can be placed on either the Walls or Floor). Every Hero shares the same four basic kinds of Floors Walls and Roofs – Iron, Wood, and Stone but a team has to consider how much of each resource they have on hand. Each player can carry a maximum of 999 of each resource and the inventory for these is persistent between matches but when you begin reinforcing a well-constructed fort with Tier 2 or 3 defenses, individual resource pools can dry up rather quickly. I lost more than a few missions simply because our team hadn’t brought enough resources to secure our entire Fort design and the back of the Fort was nothing more than a couple of timber pieces nailed to the wall. Just as communication is key to WHEN an objective should be claimed, it is also just as important when it comes to fort design, which portions to upgrade and the team’s defense strategy.
Managing Statistics Is A Game In of Itself In Fortnite
Housekeeping
Once the action has calmed down, the heroes have saved the day and completed their mission what is there left to do in Fortnite? It turns out quite a bit, as long as you don’t mind managing and manipulating various statistics. When not in a combat scenario players are encouraged to level up their playable heroes, manage groups of survivors who provide party wide buffs and additional boosts and spend their skill points. This probably sounds a lot like the back-end busy work of managing a party within an RPG, and not a shooter, yup, one of the most difficult things about Fortnite can come from deciding what type of build you’re going for and not the terrifying monstrosities of the storm.
Leveling Up Heroes– Fornite’s heroes don’t just have a unique look and personality too them. All of them can be divided amongst four key categories: Constructor, Soldier, Outlander, and Ninja. Each class has its own strengths, for example, Soldiers can lob explosive grenades and have a buff to ranged weapon damage while Ninja’s gain a double jump and bonus to melee weapon damage. It is possible to pull two identical heroes with the same rarity (more on that in a bit), name, type & level yet still have them be different thanks to the randomization of the passive abilities that each Hero possesses. As you level up your playable heroes using XP from Llamas & missions you’ll gain an assortment of randomly tiered passive & active abilities.
Managing Survivor Squads – Survivors are non-playable “characters” that can be thought of more as collectible baseball cards than characters you’ll see in the game world. Sometimes after completing a mission, you’ll be rewarded with a handful of “survivor cards” & they can also be obtained from the Llamas for real-world cash as well. Each survivor has a “personality type” and “profession” and it is up to the player to slot these survivors into the appropriate squad (Tech, EMT, Firearms, Base Defense etc) to maximize their potential stats boosts. The higher the levels on your particular squads, the larger the passive boost from that squad and just like Heroes, Survivors are leveled up with their own unique form of XP points.
Spending Skill Points / Research Points – Skill points are accumulated passively regardless of whether or not you are playing Fortnite. Spending Skill Points on one of the four research trees allows you to gain purely passive buffs such as a small addition to your party’s fortitude, damage or build time or increasing a number of total items that you can carry.
Recycling Duplicate or Fully Maxed Out “Cards” – Heroes, Weapons, Traps, and Survivors all come packaged as “Cards” complete with statistics, an independent level and Rarity. It may not seem important when you first start playing the game but the rarity of a card essentially determines how far into the overall progress that you can use it. After several dozen hours I’ve reached account level 25 and am doing missions that are rated for Heroes at power level 40. From my experience, it seems that Green (or uncommon) weapons and heroes max out around this point and I’ve started recycling them into the few blue (rare) drops that have the same type. Once a particular card has reached its maximum level and is no longer useful to you, or you have a duplicate, you can recycle individual cards into the various XP types and feed that gained XP into newer items.
Epic Game’s Fortnite isn’t one to be left out on the Holiday festivities. With just 5 days to go until All Hollow’s Eve, this large & spooky update is ready to scare up some fun for both Battle Royale players and those of us who prefer to Save The World.
New additions to Battle Royale include a brand new baseline item called the “Slurp Juice” which is a 25-second heal over time which will heal 1 health and 1 shield per second and then go on cooldown. Cosmetic items have also been added to BR mode, with two character skins – Skull Tropper & Ghoul Trooper available for purchase with real-world money. Console players on Xbox One & PS4 can look forward to the addition of voice chat on each of those platforms as well.
Save The World players can venture into a special time-limited zone to explore the horrors of Vlad’s Castle. Explore the crypts of a large castle and reinforce placeable sensors along with other familiar objectives to earn special event candies for a brand-new orange & black Llama. Even the Husks have got into the Holiday festivities with Pumpkin Head Husks and Vampire Takers.
Check out these screenshots of the two Event Weapons: The Pumpkin Launcher & Husk Slayer Assualt Rifle:
Eight different Halloween Heroes are available featuring some awesome unlockable like Ghoul Ramirez, Black Cat Ears Constructor Penny and the mummy themed Sarah Hotep. Personally I am hoping that I can unlock either the event only Sarah or Penny.. They both look absolutely purrrrfect.
Players can earn 12 loads of 50 candies towards an event Llama (each of which cost 500 candies or 100 V-Bucks for real-world money) by completing Halloween Quests. Some limited time missions (denoted by a small clock next to them) can also give out a small amount of candies. Realistically this means that players can earn 8 event Llamas without putting in any cash over the course of the event if they complete their daily Halloween quests. Daily Quest llamas for regular Fortnite dailies will also drop 100 candies as well.
I played one round of Vlad’s Castle this afternoon and found it enjoyable – both to have a different aesthetic for once and I was also pleasantly surprised by the short length of the missions. Last month’s Horde Bash was criticized by the community for the length of its 10 rounds: sometimes taking up to 90 minutes to complete and only rewarding 50 tickets. This meant that players had to grind upwards of 10 hours to get a single Horde Bash Llama. Vlad’s castle is much more generous – rewarding a Llama after about 4 hours of game time.
Epic Games has released a brand new patch for both Fortnite – Save The World and Fortnite – Battle Royale modes that bring the game up to version 1.7.1. Important additions in this patch include the Battle Eye anti-cheat system for PVP, player statistics for Battle Royale, an adjustment to both monster & hero damage in PVE and changes to the Horde Bash PVE special event.
Here is Epic Games’ description of their inclusion of Battle Eye:
“What are we doing about cheaters?
In this release, we’ve added a report button in-game which will allow players to swiftly report cheaters. What’s more, we released a blog last week detailing our current and future anti-cheat plans”
Horde Bash is a co-op multi-base defense mode where four players party up to defend against ten waves of Husks. What is unique about Horde Bash is that each player has a prebuilt base and there is no resource collection on the map (unlike Survive The Storm from a few weeks back). One of the problems with the new mode has been that players of all levels are required to unlock the difficulties one at a time. Matches could last upwards of an hour and many users complained that this slow progression for storm tickets was just not worth it.
In response, Epic Games has made it so that Tiers 1 through 3 of challenge mode will be unlocked by default. Also depending on where you are in campaign progression, you’ll unlock Horde Bash fights in different campaign zones.
Challenge the Horde
Progression is now determined by the players progress in the Save the World campaign
If the player has finished Plankerton Outpost 3 in the Save the World campaign, then all of Stonewood and the first three Plankerton zones will be unlocked in Challenge the Horde mode.
Quests now have a minimum difficulty rather than a required one.
If a quests states: Complete “Challenge 3 in a rating 9 zone,” the challenge can now be completed in any zone 9 or higher rather than in a zone with 9 difficulty specifically.
When entering a Tier 1, 2 or 3 zone, all challenges within that zone are now unlocked by default.
This will make progressing through the mode quicker.
The last large noteworthy addition in this patch is a general buff to Hero health and damage dealt alongside a smaller buff to Monster health as well. Extra damage & health for heroes will scale higher during end game content and high-level challenges – so this adjustment is aimed more so at players looking for the hardest content in the game rather than those just starting out.
Here’s an outline of the Hero changes for higher level play:
Increased ability damage, health, and shield values on all heroes.
All of these values increase depending on the on rarity of hero
Increased by 10% every 5 levels, to a maximum of 30% for Uncommon up to 60% for Legendary
These values were previously scaling relative to weapons without alterations and were falling well behind the curve at high levels as a result.
No change at low levels, gradually scaling up with difficulty.
Hero abilities and gadgets will have greater impact on monsters at higher levels.
You can find the full patch notes here – they include small details like specific weapon buffs to PVP weapons and the fact that the bus at the begining of Battle Royale has had its speed increased by 30%.
Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja will unleash their brutal samurai action title Nioh on PC this fall with the release of Nioh: Complete Edition on November 7th. Taking the role of a lone samurai players must fight their way through challenging enemies and supernatural Yokai in order to complete their quest. After a lengthy development process that lasted for 13 years Nioh finally saw release on PS4 this past February.
Nioh: Complete Edition will include the base game along with 3 already released DLC expansions: Dragon of the North, Defiant Honor and Bloodshed’s End. Here is a description of each expansion DLC as detailed on the game’s Steam page:
Dragon of the North
This expansion opens up the Tohoku region, where the “one-eyed dragon” Date Masamune is secretly gathering spirit stones.
Defiant Honor
Fight your way through the Siege of Osaka’s winter campaign as you follow the story of one of Japan’s greatest generals from the Warring States period, the brave Sanada Yukimura.
Bloodshed’s End
Join the summer campaign of the Siege of Osaka as the Warring States period draws to a close in this, the final chapter of William’s tale.
A special steam exclusive “Dharmachakra Kabuto” helmet is also included in the Steam release of the Complete Edition.
Nioh: Complete Editions minimum requirements aren’t too strenuous – with the 4 generations old i5 4770 being the recommended processor. The same goes with graphics cards: with the 4 year old Geforce 780 being the minimum to run the game. That 3GB Vram recommendation might be a challenge for someone who has one of the many 2GB Radeon cards that would otherwise meet the requirements.
MINIMUM: OS: Windows® 10 64bit, Windows® 8.1 64bit, Windows® 7 64bit Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 3550 or over Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780 VRAM 3GB or over AMD Radeon™ R9 280 VRAM 3GB or over DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 100 GB available space Sound Card: 16 bit stereo, 48KHz WAVE file can be played
RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows® 10 64bit, Windows® 8.1 64bit, Windows® 7 64bit Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 4770K or over Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 VRAM 6GB or over AMD Radeon™ R9 380X VRAM 4GB or over DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 100 GB available space Sound Card: 16 bit stereo, 48KHz WAVE file can be played
A fan lead project to remake Sonic 2 in HD complete with a brand-new vector based art style has released their first demo in over 5 years. Unlike the alpha demo of Sonic 2 HD that was released way back in 2012, version 2.0’s demo includes multiple stages and boss battles alongside a remastered soundtrack.
According to the project’s F.A.Q section, this fan game has been in development for 9 years – worked started in 2008!
“The idea of creating a high-definition version of SEGA’s classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 first appeared on the website Alchemist Defined around 2007. An artist named “Billy” had drawn a detailed piece of artwork depicting Sonic about to fight the final boss in Death Egg Zone. The low-resolution sprites were brought to life in this recreation; both the background and the characters had been completely remastered. A number of video game websites quickly discovered the image and shared it with their readers. The question had been posed: “What would Sonic 2 look like in high definition?”
With this idea planted in the community’s mind and “Vincent” stepping forward to take the helm, the Sonic 2 HD project officially began in 2008.”
Here are the recommended specs for the 2.0 demo:
OS Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64bit
CPU Intel Core i5 2500
GeForce GTX 650 1GB
4GB RAM
400MB of disk space
Vincenzo Mastrorosato and his team are to be commended for their persistence and passion to keep this project alive and going for almost a decade. When so many promising fan remakes, sequels or tributes come to end due to burn out, project abandonment or legal issues it is refreshing when something like the Sonic 2 HD demo comes along.
Today is a big day for Overwatch fans as the mid-September patch bringing additional damage to the Starcraft playing D.VA, a major rework for the German doctor Mercy and our first playable glimpse of post-apocalyptic Australia with the Junkertown map.
Junkertown
We previously covered this brand-new escort map which introduced us to one of the fandom’s favorite new (off-screen) characters – the Queen of Junkertown. Junkrat’s former home also played host to the last Overwatch animated short ‘the plan’ which hilariously featured Junkrat and Roadhog scheming to gain re-entry into this locked down settlement, only to fail spectacularly. You too can now escort an adorable Pachimari with a golden crown to the goal.
Here is Blizzard’s official description of the map:
Junkertown is located in the harsh and unforgiving Australian Outback. Constructed from the remains of a destroyed omnium, it’s now the home to a band of lawless scavengers known as the Junkers, led by their cutthroat Queen. When they aren’t pillaging the omnium’s skeleton for anything of value, the Junkers blow off steam in the Scrapyard—a massive gladiatorial arena whose combatants fight for glory, riches… and to survive.
D.VA Changes
Our favorite pro gamer has her damage mitigation nerfed in favor of additional DPS thanks to the addition of a brand new ‘micro missile’ ability. This new ability fires a volley of missiles in a straight line towards the center of D.VA’s vision. According to the patch notes Blizzard’s developers felt that Defense Matrix was too strong and reducing its up time without compensating would make D.VA too weak. This rectified with the addition of micro missiles and the fact that D.VA can now continue to fire her canons while using her boosters.
D.va is ready to get her enemies in her sights. – Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Micro Missiles (New Ability)
D.Va fires a barrage of small rockets that detonate on impact, dealing damage in a limited radius around each explosion. These can be fired while D.Va is using any other ability or firing her Fusion Cannons
Defense Matrix
Defense Matrix’s resource meter will now deplete twice as quickly
Energy regeneration per second has been increased to 12.5% (formerly 10%)
Boosters
Fusion Cannons can now be fired while flying
Mercy Changes
Probably the most striking in change in this update is the rework to Mercy – instead of her ultimate resurrecting an entire team she has a new ultimate called “Valkyrie”, she does, however, retain the ability to resurrect players with that ability becoming a single person rez every 30 seconds. While in Valkyrie mode Mercy can fly in 3 dimensions for the duration of the Ulti, she does additional damage with her blaster pistol and both her damage boost beam and healing beam chain from one teammate to another if they are within proximity. Will her new ulti be enough to clinch a last-minute overtime victory? Time will tell.
Resurrect (Formerly Mercy’s Ultimate ability)
Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius
Radius reduced to 5 meters
Ability cooldown is 30 seconds
Mercy is no longer granted invulnerability while Resurrect is active
Valkyrie (New Ultimate Ability)
Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds
Caduceus Staff: Mercy’s healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staff’s effective range has been extended
Caduceus Blaster: Now has infinite ammo and increased projectile speed
Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed
Resurrect: Cooldown is instantly reset when Valkyrie is activated and reduced to 10s after the initial cast
Hover: Mercy gains the ability to fly freely, at increased movement speed
Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage
Wrapping Things Up
It is going to take some time for these major changes to two of Overwatch’s mainstays to work its way into the meta and for the community to adjust to them. While I’ve played a few games as both the damage dealing D.VA and reworked Mercy but I’m going to leave my impressions unwritten for a few days while I let the changes sink in.
Let me know your thoughts on this latest Overwatch patch in the comments section below.
Gearbox Software’s FPS / MOBA mash-up Battleborn will see its final update released later this fall and while the servers will remain online “for the foreseeable future” the game will not receive any new content or patches. Pretty sad for a game that went Free to Play less than three months ago – but remember in Gearbox’s own words, Battleborn was never F2P but simply an “unlimited demo”.
You might remember the short-lived Overwatch Vs. Battleborn “rivalry” that sprung up in May 2016 after both games were slotted for release that same month. Both games had a few similarities – a roster of hero characters with unique abilities, FPS gameplay with different objective types and while both games focused on co-operative teamplay, Battleborn took a lot more from the MOBA playbook when compared with Overwatch – with A.I minions and defensive structures that could be bolstered by players.
Battleborn got absolutely trounced by Blizzard’s behemoth of a game – eventually ceding so much market share to other titles that the game had only a couple of hundred players online at any given time before the “unlimited” trial was released this past June. Gearbox’s changes would bring in a strong population boost with an all-time peak of 12,000 players – sadly today this is down to less than 120 players according to Steam Chars.
For the few that hung around for the long haul Gearbox will release a final patch with brand new skins before closing this chapter of their history to work on an “unannounced title”.
Here is, in part, a statement from the game’s Creative Director:
“As of this week, there will be no more Battleplans and there is currently no planned content after the Fall Update. Details of any future changes or news will be made on our forums or through social media, so keep your radars on.
Never fear! Battleborn is here to stay. Nothing is changing with Battleborn, and the servers will be up and active for the foreseeable future. We announced the Fall Update for the game at PAX including some new skins, themed around some of your favorite Borderlands characters! That update will also include some updated title art (more full bar titles!) for the more significant challenges in the game, as well as some additional Finisher Boosts and Taunts. Also, there are minor balance changes in that patch.
If you’ve been paying attention to recent news from the Gearbox Panel at PAX West, you’ll have heard that many folks at Gearbox are working on a highly anticipated project. Although I’m sad my time on Battlebornis coming to a close, I’m happy to announce that I will play a significant role on this highly anticipated but unannounced game, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing some from me again in the future regarding Gearbox games.”
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is out on Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This standalone sequel to last year’s Dishonored II also provides Billie Lurk with the starring role as the playable protagonist for this entry in the Dishonored franchise.
Billie does not have “the mark of the outsider”, instead she has her own unique set of abilities allowing her to plan a bank heist, enter underground fight clubs and ultimately take down the Outsider and bring a close to the plotline of Dishonored II.
Content Warning: Bethesda’s recently released launch trailer does mature content including graphic violence and at least one beheading.
The battle royale formula should be pretty familiar to anyone who has watched/played popular games like Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, H1Z1 or even the most recent Grand Theft Auto V online expansion. 100 players parachute down onto a small section of the map and must scavenge for supplies and be the last person standing before a toxic cloud or plague wipes them from the face of this earth. It is a successful formula and can lead to moments of tensions almost unrivaled from other action sub-genres.
Epic Game’s currently buy-to-play survival/tower defense hybrid Fortnite joins in on battle royale fun with an upcoming addition – ‘Battle Royale PVP’. Hoping to stand out from the rest of the pack with its unique building mechanics – surviving in Fortnite’s best of 100 player matches might just come down to building the right structures along with a little bit of luck and picking the right supplies.
Anyone who owns Fortnite can try out the Battle Royale PVP mode for themselves thanks to the Public Test which runs from today until the mode officially drops on September 26th. In addition to the Public Test, both the Standard and Founders package is 25% off. That means that the Standard package is $29.99 USD, Rare Starter Pack (with 8 heroes) is $44.99 USD and the Legendary Edition is $149.99 USD.
Multiplayer space survival title Osiris: New Dawn received the substantial ‘Architect’ update today alongside a 33% discount on Steam for the next week. To celebrate the release developer Fenix Fire released a brand-new trailer, a list of major features for this update and a screenshot gallery.
In the new ‘Creative Mode’ players are not constrained by the need for building materials, the bodily needs for survival or filling out tech trees. Gameplay sliders allow the host of a game session to adjust individual values like Structure Decay, Fall Duration, and many others. The introduction of Stackable Habitable Spaces provides fledgling architects with new dwellings to add to their favorite base designs.
Here is a full feature list provided by Fenix Fire’s PR representatives:
Creative Mode – Players can now enjoy a near-limitless sandbox game mode to build all sorts of amazing structures. Huge highways, large walled buildings, and massive landmarks are just some of the custom structures that can be made.
New Base Defenses and Utilities – Gamers can make use of different wall materials to reinforce their base of operations and take advantage of new electric fences, sling turrets, and electro-dome defenses.
Stackable Habitat Structures – Increase the colony’s livable space with stackable habitat structures connected with automated elevators.
Better Starting Equipment – A new beginning point as well as better starting equipment will ease new space adventurers into the harsh alien environment.
New Weapon: Bolt Rifle – The update introduces the powerful Bolt Rifle, a higher-powered, single shot weapon with tremendous range.
Batch Crafting and Auto Mining – Automate multiple crafting needs with Batch Crafting and never worry about searching for excavated minerals with the new Auto Mining option.
Rebalanced Skill Trees – Skill trees for every class have been rebalanced for better overall player progression.
New Gameplay Sliders – Customize the game with a huge assortment of slider options including Structure Decay Speed, Hover Duration, Fall Damage and much more.
If you’d like to check out the trailer here it is:
Osiris New Dawn launched in Steam Early Access almost a year ago in September 2016. It holds an overall “Mostly Positive” rating according to Steam User Reviews and received the “Best New Survival” award at the 2016 Penny Arcade Expo West. Until September 18th it is available for the discounted price of $18.75 CDN.
New Screenshots:
This post contains images and copy-text that were provided by either this game’s developer or PR agency, editorial comments by our staff are not the viewers of the game’s developers and vice versa.
ZeniMax Online Studios has announced an in-game event celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the release of the Imperial City DLC. Running from now until September 18th champions who venture into the overrun city in the heart of Cyrodil can earn double the amount of rare drops. This is a great opportunity if you own the Imperial City DLC to get some of the unique armor/weapon pieces that the DLC brought to ESO.
Here are the specific items and currencies that have a double drop rate:
Double the amount of Tel Var Stones dropped from all monsters
Double the chance of picking up the Stonefire Scamp pet and Soul-Shriven Skin
Double the amount of Key Fragments
Double the amount of sacks dropped by the Tel Var Scamp and Treasure Scamps
Imperial City adds the following to The Elder Scrolls Online:
A brand new PVE / PVP quest line.
Six major wards that comprise the large open city environment.
One public PVE dungeon – The Imperial Sewers.
Two four person private dungeons available via Activity Finder – The White Tower and Imperial City Prison.
A DLC Unique Crafting Style.
New collectibles.
Imperial City is available as part of an ESO Plus monthly subscription or as a separate purchase for 25 000 Crowns in the Crowns Store.
Square Enix is bringing the world of Gran Pulse to their collectible card game Final Fantasy Mobius with a brand new cross over event. Packed with cameos from Lightning, Snow, and Hope from XIII as job cards and entirely new story content in the form of the “Lightning Resurrection Region” – there appears to be a bit of heft to this crossover.
From now until September 14th Lightning will be available as an in-game job card when she will be replaced by both Snow and Hope on the 15th.
Here are the details from the Mobius Final Fantasy website about Lightning’s availability:
FFXIII Collaboration Region Lightning Resurrection: From 8:00 p.m. 9/5 PDT (UTC-7) FFXIII Boosted Greater Summon: From 8:00 p.m. 9/5 PDT (UTC-7)
In order to begin the XIII themed event players will be able to select a special “Final Fantasy XIII” region from the world map. Once the event begins players will be able to use the famous Paradigm and Crystarium systems from Final Fantasy XIII which has been adapted for Mobius.
For more information about the Mobius, X FXIII event make sure to check out the official dev blog.
Microsoft may have no public plans to mark the upcoming 10th anniversary of Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 but that hasn’t stopped a group of dedicated fans from working on a project that Microsoft themselves abandoned. For the first time in several years, the first major update to Halo Online will be made available before the end of September 2017.
Halo Onlinewas short lived free to play adaptation of Halo 3’s multiplayer component ported to modern x64 Windows operating systems and updated with original content and Sabre Interactive’s own proprietary online technology. The game was never publicly available and Microsoft only ever tested the game in a limited alpha state and beta tests in Russia between Spring 2015 and August 2016.
Fans got their hands on a leaked build of the Halo Online game client shortly after one of the initial Alpha tests in Spring 2015and quickly built the Eldewrito client/server that provided Halo 3 veterans a chance to relive the iconic multiplayer from 2007 on a brand new platform. While development slowed down and eventually splintered into two separate teams: Eldewrito and Project Anvil, things seem to have culminated behind the scenes in the first major update to the game just in time to commemorate a decade since Master Chief’s initial jump to the Xbox 360.
Eldewrito 0.60 can be expected to have three major pillars of new content and adjustments with this new patch. Dual Wielding was missing from the leaked alpha build that Eldewrito was based upon but it looks like the development team has added their own take on this Halo 3 mainstay. Another addition new to the Halo franchise that debuted in Halo 3 but has been missing from Halo Online is deployable equipment and now that alongside brand-new server settings, server browser adjustments and customization options are coming. The other two major categories for version 0.6.0 are Forge Additions and Quality of Life updates.
It would be disingenuous to write about Halo Online without acknowledging that Microsoft eventually ported Halo 5’s Forge and Multiplayer mode to Windows 10 and even eventually added a Custom Games Browser allowing players to the latest multiplayer suite and create new maps with Forge for free on PC. Despite the official backing of Microsoft and the marketing muscle that is implied – Halo Online has at least six games that are public and near full during the writing of this post. Halo 5: Forge returned just five open game sessions during the same period.
Halo Online has quite a bit of staying power, especially considering that the whole thing is community run and developed by a group of volunteers. Check out some dedicated highlights of Eldewrito 0.6 features taken from a recent Reddit post. You can also check out a preview of 0.6’s updated menu in the embedded video below.Sabre Interactive wouldn’t be shy away from the F2P online shooter genre – as they’re currently working alongside id Software on the recently launched Quake Champions.
Feature/Content Additions
Dual Wielding
Equipment Yes, we’ve completely fixed equipment (Bubble Shield, Trip Mine, ect.) and even have a couple new ones that were not in Halo 3.
