Nintendo Switch owners looking for something new to play have a lot of options to choose from right now, as another new batch of games has arrived on the Eshop. This week, Nintendo's hybrid console adds 13 more titles to its growing library, while a handful of great games already available for the system are now on sale in its digital store.
Headlining this week's new releases is Dragon Quest Builders. Unlike other installments in the series, Builders is a Minecraft-like sandbox adventure that tasks you with rebuilding the world of Alefgard by crafting buildings and other objects. The Switch version boasts "additional crafting options" not available in the original PS4 and Vita release, as well as an exclusive Great Sabrecub mount. You can read more about the title in our Dragon Quest Builders review.
You can see the full list of this week's Switch releases below. Next week will be even busier for the console, with Owlboy, Bayonetta 2, Fe, The Longest Five Minutes, and Xeodrifter all launching within the span of a few days. The second batch of DLC for Fire Emblem Warriors also arrives next week, introducing three playable characters from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon to the hack-and-slash game, along with new History maps, costumes, and more.
Bungie's purveyor of Exotic wares and face obfuscation enthusiast, Xur, has returned once again for another visit in Destiny 2 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. As this week's Flashpoint is on Io, that's where you'll find him with a new set of Exotic gear for sale, including a weapon that was added in Curse of Osiris.
Reaching Xur is relatively easy. Head to Io and spawn at the Giant's Scar Landing Zone. From there, hop on your Sparrow and follow the path through the building just to the right of where you spawn. Take it to the left when you exit the building, and you'll be able to head just off the road ahead to enter a cave, where Xur has taken up residence from now until the weekly reset on February 13.
In terms of items, he has one piece of Exotic gear for each class: Titan, Warlock, and Hunter. All of it is gear from the base game, so you won't need to own the Curse of Osiris DLC expansion in order to acquire it. However, that's not the case with Xur's one weapon, the Exotic Scout Rifle The Jade Rabbit. The unique effect with this gun is The Fate of All Fools, which lets you fire body shots in order to gain bonus damage with your next precision shot (and return ammo directly into the magazine). Here's everything he has for sale:
The Jade Rabbit (Exotic Scout Rifle) -- 29 Legendary Shards
As always, besides the specific pieces of gear, Xur offers the Three of Coins, which increases your odds of securing an Exotic item drop for four hours. You can also pick up a Fated Engram, which--while pricey--guarantees to decrypt into an Exotic you don't already own.
Following this appearance by Xur, Bungie will kick off Destiny 2's first Crimson Days event to celebrate Valentine's Day. This primarily consists of a unique 2v2 Crucible mode that encourages players to stay close to their partners. It also introduces a bunch of new items that you can obtain both by playing this Crucible mode and by simply leveling up (provided you've reached the level cap). Beyond that, Bungie has a ton of other new changes on the way to Destiny 2, following the recent addition of Masterwork armor and Raid armor perks.
We're coming up on the first Valentine's Day since the launch of Destiny 2. Much as it did with the previous game, Bungie will mark the occasion with a special Crimson Days event that introduces a variety of new rewards to get your hands on.
Crimson Days begins on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 13. Like the Destiny 1 incarnation, it centers around a 2v2 Crucible gametype. You'll be playing a round-based Clash mode where staying close to your teammate causes your abilities to recharge faster. By moving away from your partner, you'll not only lose that buff, but the enemy will be notified about your whereabouts with a waypoint. You'll always have a marker to guide you to your teammate, which will be particularly useful when playing with random players, as you can join solo and be matched up with someone.
This is all played out on a new version of the Burning Shrine map. Called The Burnout, Bungie describes it as "set in a future timeline where the Vex have succeeded in altering our reality." You can get a glimpse of it in the gallery below.
Bungie says in a blog post that taking part in this playlist is the optimal way to get your hands on the event's new rewards, also noting that it's "tuned the experience to focus on rewarding single-character play." The Crimson Engram contains "most" of the new rewards and will not hand out any duplicates until you've obtained all of the new gear. The playlist isn't the only way to get items, however, as you'll get both a Crimson Engram and an Illuminated Engram each time you level up while playing any Destiny 2 activity during the event.
Crimson Engrams will only be obtainable through gameplay, meaning there shouldn't be any complaints that players are being pressured into purchasing them with real-world money. That said, you can purchase a "selection" of items directly from Eververse using Bright Dust. There's no cap on the number of Crimson Engrams you can earn, but you'll need to be at the level cap (20 for non-DLC owners, 25 for those with Curse of Osiris) in order to get the level-up reward Engrams. The rewards inside, including shaders from the event, can be dismantled into Bright Dust.
Bungie qualifies that "most" of the rewards come through the Engrams because there are also five others that are obtained in other ways. Things like an Exotic sparrow and Ornament can only be had through specific means. Here are the goals, as described by Bungie:
Complete the milestone Welcome to Crimson Days by finishing five Crimson Days matches and visiting Lord Shaxx in the Tower to earn the Fire of the Crimson Days Emblem and the Tirastrella Ghost Shell.
Complete matches in the Crimson Days Crucible playlist for a chance to earn the Undeterred Exotic Sparrow.
Complete either the Leviathan Raid or the Raid Lair: Eater of Worlds to claim the Dieselpunk Exotic Ornament for Wardcliff Coil from the final chest.
Complete the Nightfall Strike during the Crimson Days event to earn the Flaunting Dance Emote.
Eurogamer states "multiple sources" have confirmed to the site that the exclusive game is indeed Metroid Prime 4. Eurogamer also says the game's lead developer is Bandai Namco Studios Singapore--a studio formed in 2013--in collaboration with Nintendo. GameSpot contacted Bandai Namco regarding the report; the company simply stated it had no comment to make at this time.
During a Bandai Namco earnings briefing in November last year, the company talked about how the it's adding more resources to Switch game development. President Mitsuaki Taguchi said, according to the Wall Street Journal, "It's a shame, but we didn't think the Switch [would] be accepted this fast."
Bandai Namco Singapore's jobs page shows at least five open positions. However, none of the listings say what kind of game the candidate would be working on. The job ads call for people with experience working on AAA games.
One high-profile upcoming Switch release from Bandai Namco is Dark Souls Remastered, which is due out in May. It will include the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, along with a better frame rate and improved resolution.
Monster Hunter World is notable in a number of ways. It was the first new core Monster Hunter entry to appear on consoles in the better part of a decade and--while still challenging--it's more welcoming of newcomers than previous installments. Through its first two weeks, those decisions have paid off.
Capcom announced last month that Monster Hunter World enjoyed the strongest first three days of any entry in the series, with 5 million units shipped worldwide across PS4 and Xbox One. As of February 9, that figure has now reached 6 million units--something it's done faster than any game in Capcom's history, according to the publisher. Bear in mind, this number accounts for digital sales and the number of units shipped to retailers (but not necessarily sold through to consumers).
The series record came as little surprise, given that the game launched for PS4 and Xbox One, the combined install base of which eclipsed 3DS, which recent entries were exclusive to. World also had the benefit of a simultaneous worldwide launch, thereby bolstering its launch sales figures. Nonetheless, it's clear that interest in the new RPG has been strong.
As we've noted previously, Monster Hunter World is a great place for newcomers to jump onboard with the series. It's also just a strong game in general, as you can read about in our Monster Hunter World review.
This month's free PS Plus games are now available, but those aren't the only freebies Plus subscribers can get right now. Those who claimed the 2D shoot-'em-up Mercenary Kings when it was free on PS Plus can now upgrade to the game's Reloaded Edition for no cost.
Mercenary Kings originally launched for PlayStation 4 back in 2014 and was part of the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection, allowing PS Plus subscribers to download the title for free immediately on its release. The Reloaded Edition arrived earlier this month and introduced two additional characters, new guns and knives to craft, and an assortment of gameplay improvements.
If you downloaded Mercenary Kings when it was first available on PS Plus, you can snag the free upgrade here. The Reloaded Edition also supports Cross-Buy and comes with a version for Vita. You can learn more about the Metal Slug-inspired shooter in our original Mercenary Kings review.
The big-screen reboot of the classic cartoon and toy line Masters of the Universe has lost its director. In December, it was reported that Man of Steel andThe Dark Knight writer David S. Goyer was in talks to helm the movie, which has been in development for many years. But according to Variety, he now stepped away from the project.
The site states that Goyer has left the Masters of the Universe reboot because of "other commitments." Goyer was already involved with writing the movie and had delivered a draft of the script last fall. Variety reports that the studio was so impressed with it that it asked him to also direct, but this will no longer happen.
Mattel launched the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1982, creating a mythology about the conflict between good and evil on the planet of Eternia. A cartoon based on the property, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ran for two years, in addition to a comic book series, a spin-off animation called She-Ra: Princess of Power, and a number of video games.
In 1987, Cannon Films produced a live-action movie version, starring Dolph Lundgren as muscle-bound hero He-Man. By that point, however, the popularity of Masters of the Universe was in decline, and the toys were discontinued the following year. Subsequent attempts to revive the franchise included a new toy line and a short-lived second animated series in the early 2000s.
In related news, the first trailer for one of Goyer's other projects, the Superman prequel show Krypton, was released in December. The show takes a look at life on Superman's home planet before its destruction, and it is set to premiere on SyFy later 2018.
A new update for Monster Hunter World has arrived. Capcom has launched the patch on both PS4 (version 1.05) and Xbox One (1.0.0.10), and it resolves some of the issues that have plagued the multiplayer experience. It also makes some balance changes--hopefully you weren't too reliant on Slicing ammo.
The balance changes deal exclusively with the ammo used by two of the ranged weapon types. With the Light Bowgun and Heavy Bowgun, Normal ammo (1/2/3), Pierce ammo (1/2/3), and non-Dragon elemental ammo have all received an unspecified damage increase. However, Slicing ammo's power has been decreased, and it should have less of an effect if it happens to hit another player. In a further nerf to Slicing ammo, players can now carry a maximum of 30 Slashberries on them at a time. If you were carrying more than that before installing the update, you'll be able to use any extras before the new limit is imposed.
As for the Squad problems on PS4, Capcom says it's addressed the issue where Squad features would be rendered inaccessible and players would be told, "Failed to retrieve squad information. Please wait and try again." Unfortunately, Capcom says that players who created a Squad and were affected by this will have lost any Squad data. As a result, they'll need to recreate their Squad (essentially the game's equivalent of clans). Additionally, Capcom has dealt with a bug that allowed non-Squad members to join a Squad session without an invite, as well as one where Squad members were unable to do so.
Monster Hunter World's Xbox One version hasn't been without its own issues related to online play. Unfortunately, the problems with matchmaking aren't addressed here, with Capcom stating, "Our development team is also working tirelessly on pinpointing the issues with matchmaking on Xbox One. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your continued patience and support as we track down and solve these issues."
Capcom's advice to players who can't successful use matchmaking is to try getting online through a different means. It says, "You may still be able to create online lobbies, join others' lobbies via 'Filter Search,' 'Invite a Friend,' connect via Xbox One LFG, or join hunts by using the 'Respond to SOS' feature." Adjusting your settings to get your NAT type set to Open at the system level can also help.
The remainder of the patch deals with some other nagging issues, such as a quest not being available to players when it should be. It also fixes a problem that made it so the 5 Million Celebration Item Pack was not claimable. To give those players more time to grab it, it will now be available through February 22.
My Nintendo members will soon be able to use some of their points on Switch games. Nintendo announced it is making some changes to the rewards program next month, which will most notably let players buy certain Switch titles with their Gold points.
Beginning in "early" March, My Nintendo members will be able to use their Gold points toward the purchase of select Switch games or DLC from the Eshop. Once the new system is in place, you'll be able to choose how many of your Gold points you wish to use toward the game on checkout and pay the remaining balance with your Eshop funds.
The My Nintendo program features two different types of points: Platinum and Gold. Members will receive the former by completing certain "missions" such as logging into the Eshop weekly, while the latter are earned by purchasing 3DS, Wii U, or Switch titles digitally from the Eshop. Members can also earn Gold points for buying physical Switch games, although the amount you'll receive is considerably less than that for digital purchases.
Up until now, the amount of Gold points you received was based upon price tiers, but that will likewise change beginning next month. Going forward, you'll earn five Gold points for every $1 you spend when you purchase a game from the Eshop or Nintendo's website, and each Gold point will be worth $0.01 when used toward a purchase. For example, buying a $60 game from the Eshop will net you 300 Gold points, which in turn equate to $3 off another purchase.
You can read more about the upcoming My Nintendo changes on Nintendo's website. My Nintendo first launched back in 2016, shortly after the company discontinued its previous rewards program, Club Nintendo. The points you earn on My Nintendo can be redeemed for discounts on select 3DS and Wii U, as well as certain full titles for the two platforms. The most recent batch of free My Nintendo games includes Mighty Switch Force, Year Walk, and Gunman Clive HD Collection. You can keep track of when your My Nintendo points will expire here.
Niantic is rolling out a new update for Pokemon Go very soon. Beginning February 9, players will be able to catch even more Pokemon originally from Ruby and Sapphire in the mobile game, while the Legendary Pokemon Rayquaza will be available for a limited time.
From February 9 to March 16, players will be able to encounter the powerful Dragon-type Pokemon as a Raid Battle at Gyms. Rayquaza is the third Legendary Pokemon from Gen 3 thus far, following Groudon (which was available from December-January) and the current Legendary Kyogre.
In addition to Rayquaza, Niantic is introducing another new wave of Hoenn Pokemon to Go. This wave consists primarily of Flying- and Dragon-types, such as Salamence, Altaria, Tropius, and Metagross. The previous batch of Gen 3 Pokemon included a number of Ground-types like Flygon, Aggron, and Camerupt.
With the new update, more than 100 Gen 3 Pokemon are now available in Pokemon Go. To celebrate the milestone, every Pokemon that players encounter in the wild from February 9-13 will originate from the Hoenn region. Niantic is also offering special boxes that include Raid Passes, Incubators, and Star Pieces from the in-game store until February 23.
Sony has once again expanded the PlayStation Now catalog with a new batch of titles. This month sees 12 more PS4 and PS3 games added to the streaming service, while a handful of PS3 games already available on PS Now have been updated to their PS4 versions.
PS4 games comprise the bulk of February's additions, but the biggest arrivals this month are a pair of PS3 games: Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5, which come to PS Now ahead of the release of the series' latest installment, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. That game launches for PS4 this April, giving subscribers a chance to catch up on the franchise before then. Additionally, this month's batch of PS Now games includes the fun and quirky tactical RPG Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance; the basketball game NBA 2K16; and the off-road racer Dirt Rally.
On top of the new PS Now games, several of the service's PS3 titles have been upgraded to their PS4 versions. These include the co-op heist game Payday 2, with the Crimewave Edition now available to play for subscribers. Other PS3 titles that have been supplanted by their PS4 versions are Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, and Motorcycle Club. Players who have any of these titles in their play history or saved games list will still be able to continue their progress in the PS3 version, while everyone else will only have access to the newer PS4 version.
You can find the full list of February's new PS Now games below. PS Now is Sony's game streaming service for PS4 and PC, and it gives players unlimited access to a library of more than 600 titles for $20 a month. Sony updates the PS Now catalog with a new batch of games monthly. January's lineup included Until Dawn, Gravity Rush, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
Outside of the Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2 bundles, Nintendo hasn't officially packaged the Switch together with any titles, leaving it up to retailers to offer their own Switch bundles. A number have been available in the past from stores like GameStop, but a new Switch bundle from Newegg is a particularly enticing way to get your hands on the console.
On Ebay, Newegg is selling a new Switch with neon red and blue Joy-Cons and two good games for the system, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Fire Emblem Warriors, for $370. If you're just picking up a Switch, chances are you're already planning to get a game alongside it. Considering that each of these titles typically retails for $60 individually while the system costs $300, this bundle gets you an additional game practically for free.
The Newegg bundle is only available in limited quantities, and shipping is limited within the continental United States, so if you're a prospective Switch owner, you'd better take advantage of the deal while it's still available. You can read more about the bundled titles in our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe review and Fire Emblem Warriors review.
Since its Xbox One debut in December, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been one of the platform's most popular titles, recently surpassing 4 million players on the console alone. Microsoft bundled the battle royale game together with its new Xbox One X console for a limited time last holiday season, and now the publisher is doing the same with Xbox One S.
Beginning February 20, prospective Xbox owners around the world will be able to pick up the Xbox One S PUBG bundle. It retails for $300 and includes a 1 TB console, an Xbox One controller, and a full download of PUBG, which is currently only available in Xbox Game Preview for $30. You can take a look at the packaging below.
In addition to the game and hardware, the Xbox One S PUBG bundle includes a one-month trial for Xbox Live Gold, as well as a one-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass. The former is required to play PUBG online against other players, while the latter is Microsoft's Netflix-like game streaming service, which gives players unlimited access to a select library of Xbox One and 360 titles for as long as they have an active subscription. Microsoft recently announced that the Game Pass service will soon receive all first-party Xbox One exclusives on the same day they launch, beginning with Sea of Thieves.
Developer PUBG Corp. recently rolled out a new update for PUBG on Xbox One. That patch focused primarily on the amount of damage vehicles can inflict and receive, on top of an assortment of bug fixes and gameplay tweaks. To celebrate surpassing 4 million players, PUBG Corp. is also offering players a gift of 30,000 Battle Points to use on in-game cosmetic items this month.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developer PUBG Corp. recently deployed a new update for the game on Xbox One. While the patch was primarily intended to adjust the amount of damage vehicles can inflict and receive, a slate of new issues arose following the update. PUBG Corp. has now released another patch for the game, rolling back the changes it made to vehicle damage and addressing a number of bugs.
The new update is a fairly minor one, as you're able to glean from the patch notes below. Most notably, it reverts vehicle damage to the same levels they were prior to last week's patch. "We received a lot of great feedback following the changes made to vehicle/player damage," PUBG Corp. wrote on the game's official forums. "We continue to tune and balance this element of gameplay, and are therefore reverting back to increased damage if a player is struck by a vehicle."
Additionally, the new patch addresses a small handful of bugs. In particular, it fixes an issue that prevented players from vaulting over certain objects. Beyond that, vehicles will now no longer relocate to a different location on the map after you exit them, and the camera will "remain in the correct location following player death."
You can read the patch notes for the latest PUBG Xbox One update below or on the game's official website. PUBG has proven to be quite popular on the console, recently surpassing 4 million players. To celebrate the milestone, PUBG Corp. is offering players a gift of 30,000 Battle Points to use on in-game cosmetic items. Microsoft also announced a new Xbox One S bundle that includes PUBG; that will go on sale beginning February 20.
PUBG Xbox One Update #8 Patch Notes
Gameplay
We received a lot of great feedback following the changes made to vehicle/player damage. We continue to tune and balance this element of gameplay, and are therefore reverting back to increased damage if a player is struck by a vehicle.
Bug fixes
Resolved an issue preventing players from vaulting over specific ledges and/or windows
The camera will now remain in the correct location following player death
Vehicles will no longer relocate to another position on the map after the player disembarks
It wasn't especially surprising news when in November last year Disney announced it was planning to launch its own streaming service in 2019,, but it was a big deal. The studio has such a wealth of content that it made sense that it would want to monetize the streaming potential of properties such as Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and its classic animated catalogue. It was however less clear what content would be available on the service, and what would remain on platforms such as Netflix and Hulu.
A report in Deadline has now revealed some more details as to what subscribers can expect when it launches. The platform is currently untitled and the subscription cost is unknown, but it will launch initially in the US only, before a later expansion overseas. The service will remain family-friendly, which means no R-rated content; R-rated movies and shows will instead end up on Hulu, in which Disney holds a stake.
Superhero fans wondering what will happen to the raft of Marvel shows produced by Netflix may be relieved to learn that they are to stay put. It is unclear if this means that Netflix will continue to produce new Marvel shows, or whether the existing ones will simply remain on the service.
The broader aim is for Disney to start producing its own movie and TV content. Deadline states that the plan in the first year is to make "four to five original movies, and five TV series." Each show will cost Disney $25 million-$35 million for 10 episodes, but the site notes that "exceptionally ambitious" projects could be budgeted as high as $100 million.
Obviously one these more expensive series could be the Star Wars TV show, which we know the studio is planning. Earlier this week, Disney boss Bob Iger revealed that it was in fact working on several shows in the franchise. "We are developing not just one, but a few Star Wars series specifically for the Disney direct to consumer app," he said. "We've mentioned that and we are close to being able to reveal at least one of the entities that is developing that for us. Because the deal isn't completely closed, we can't be specific about that, [but] I think you'll find the level of talent on the television front will be rather significant as well."
Konami has announced another Metal Gear Survive beta, which is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC next week. The trial--which marks the first opportunity for PC players to try the game--starts on February 16 and ends on February 18.
The beta will include three missions set across two maps, and you can play the game in co-op with up to four players during the beta period. Special daily missions will also be offered over the three days. Those who take part will receive a FOXHOUND name plate, Metal Gear Rex Head accessory, and a bandana--all of which are cosmetic items that can be equipped to your in-game avatar. It's unclear if there will be a way to unlock these without having played the beta.
This new beta follows another that came in January, though that was only for PS4 and Xbox One. We don't yet know if the maps and missions on offer this time are the same as those playable last month.
Update: PSN status is now back to normal, with all usual services resumed. Original story follows.
It appears the PlayStation Network is running into some problems right now. The official PlayStation Network Service Status page shows that basically all of PSN's services are experiencing outages right now. As always, your mileage may vary, but for now it seems as if the issues are widespread across PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, among other platforms.
The outage appears to be affecting many games, including Epic's Fortnite. The developer acknowledged the issues on Twitter and directed players to Sony's support site for more details.
People on Twitter had a lot to say about the newest PSN outage. Here are some of the tweets we saw regarding the network issues (even Chance the Rapper chimed in):
Lara Croft is one of the greatest video game characters ever created, but the two films based on the Tomb Raider games that were released in the early 2000s were extremely disappointing. Hopes are high that the upcoming movie reboot Tomb Raider will finally deliver on the promise of the games.
Two new posters for the movie have now been released. They follow the theme of the poster released in December and not the one from a few months earlier, which drew a criticism from fans for making star Alicia Vikander's neck look weird. Check them out below:
These posters follow the latest trailer, which was released last month. Tomb Raider hits theaters on March 16, 2018, and it also stars Dominic West (The Wire), Walton Goggins (Sons of Anarchy, The Hateful Eight), and Daniel Wu (Warcraft). The director is Roar Uthaug, who previously helmed the acclaimed disaster movie The Wave.
It In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, Vikander spoke about taking on the role of Lara Croft and what would set her apart from both the Lara of the games, as well as Angelina Jolie's previous movie portrayal. "She has all the fierce, tough, curious, intelligent traits," she said. "But we've stripped away all of her experience. She hasn't gone on an adventure just yet. She thought she was a stuck up businessperson living in the modern youth culture of suburban London, but then this whole box of information. This is the beginning."
Bungie has shared further details on the big changes coming to Destiny 2's Nightfall Strikes. One of the biggest changes is related to the countdown timer. Game director Christopher Barrett started off by saying Nightfall Strikes should allow players to determine their own level of challenge. If players want to zip through it as fast as possible, they should be able to; and players who want to play "slow and steady" should have that option available to them as well.
Senior design lead Tyson Green said in Bungie's extended blog post that a lot of potential Strike players have passed over Nightfall Strikes because "it is both difficult and indexes performance solely on speed." Under the new setup, there will still be a timer, but your score will "bleed" over time. "We are watching this closely--score decay can feel bad, but all else being equal, a team that clears faster than another team should score higher. Score decay achieves this in the most transparent fashion," Bungie said.
When the clock hits 15 minutes, the new points you earn have their value decreased by 50 percent. At 18 minutes, you will no longer earn any points, and the experience turns into "a race to finish the run and post your score," Bungie said.
"We want time to matter, but we also want to avoid some of the problems we saw with Prison of Elders, where a 'high score' might involve punishing respawning combatants (and yourself) for a few hours until the novelty wore off," Bungie said. "A good Nightfall clear shouldn't feel like a slog."
Also new for Nightfall Strikes will be team-based scoring, with all participants contributing. "A team should be able to focus on what works best, not feeling put out by who stole whose kill," Bungie said. "Scoring is primarily driven by kills and secondarily by orb generation. We want you to find what works best for clearing strikes instead of telling you which weapons to use, but we want coordinated use of Supers and other team support mechanics to contribute to high scores. We're interested in restoring special point awards based on medals, but we want your input to understand the basic meta first."
Regarding the new Nightfall Strike scoring changes, Bungie said it had a number of design goals in mind for what it wanted to achieve. These include:
Reward you for engaging and defeating enemies instead of running past them.
Avoid over-emphasizing specific mechanics like precision kills that highlight certain areas of the sandbox (and/or punish other areas), so that players are the ones who determine the most effective Meta.
Reward you for taking on greater challenges up to the limits of your own capabilities.
Reward you for doing the above quickly and over the course of a short run versus long slogs over several hours.
Additionally, there will be new Nightfall modifiers for Prestige mode.
"The current Nightfall climate encourages play that pushes players through the encounters as fast as possible, focusing on extending bonus timers, and skipping encounters unless they are required, which was more stressful than fun," designer John Favaro said. "With Nightfall strike scoring, we were looking to give players a little more control, allowing them to modify their experiences to provide them the challenge they want and incentivize more methodical progression through the activities. People like big numbers, and the best way to get big numbers is to kill everything. We've been listening to the community's feedback, and this is our first step in making a few improvements. We're hoping you'll put some time in and let us know how you feel."
The new modifiers will add a multiplier to your score in Prestige mode, but you can still lose points through things like the previously discussed score bleed. Additionally, the timer reduces your multiplier as time goes along, to encourage faster play. These are the modifiers that Bungie plans to introduce with the new Nightfall Strike scoring:
Void/Solar/Arc Singe – currently provides a +25% increase to player and enemy damage of the corresponding element.
Extinguish – fireteam wipes return the team to orbit
Power modifier – voluntarily decrease your power to gain a score bonus.
"If you still enjoy the thrill of racing through quickly, you will be rewarded with a higher score," Bungie said. "If you prefer to go in solo and take your time, you might lose some points, but will still finish the activity and collect a reward. You can complete the normal Nightfall and get a score, or you can take on the Prestige Nightfall and ratchet up your score with some modifiers."
Go to Bungie's website to see a full rundown of what's changing in Destiny 2 and more. The Nightfall Strike changes are scheduled to go live in an update coming on February 27.
In other Destiny 2 news, the game's Valentine's Day event, Crimson Days, is scheduled to start on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 13. Among other things, it introduces a 2v2 Crucible gametype where staying close to your teammate causes your abilities to recharge faster. You can learn more about Crimson Days here in GameSpot's previous coverage.
A new Overwatch event is now underway, as the latest update for the game has kicked off the Year of the Dog. This is the new iteration of the Lunar New Year event that was held last year, and it introduces a bunch of new content across all platforms: PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
As is often the case for many players, the most exciting addition will be new skins. There are a total of six new skins, including those for Genji, Mercy, Zarya, and Pharah. There are also more than 50 new seasonal items in all. You can see all the new Year of the Dog Legendary skins (and more) in our gallery. The event runs from now through March 5.
Also new is a map set in Thailand called Ayutthaya. This is the first Overwatch map made specifically for Capture the Flag, which has undergone some changes as part of its return in this update. Flags are now picked up immediately but are dropped when using certain abilities (such as Winston's leap). Additionally, ties are no longer possible since matches will go to sudden death, if necessary. During this phase, teams flags are positioned closer to the center of the map so that flag carriers won't have to run as far to score.
In addition to the standard CTF mode, a new competitive season centered around CTF is being launched. This will run for four weeks, and those who make it into the top 500 will receive a special spray and icon.
One other change of note in this update is a fan-requested feature. Before starting a match, you'll now be able to easily change between any of the skins you own for a given character. This is done from the Assemble Your Team screen and can't be accessed mid-match, but it's still a welcome addition, particularly as players continue to amass increasingly large collections of skins.
Fortnite, the stylized shooter from Gears of War creator Epic Games, has reached a new player milestone. Over the weekend, on Super Bowl Sunday, the game hit a new record of 3.4 million concurrent players, Epic announced in a blog post this week.
Still, 3.4 million concurrent users is a huge number and it speaks to the ongoing popularity of Epic's game. The developer did not provide a breakdown of how that figure is divided between the paid Fortnite base game and the free-to-play Battle Royale mode, but it can be safely assumed that Battle Royale has the bulk of the players.
Fortnite's newest player milestone is all the more notable when you consider that the game ran into some serious and significant issues recently. In a frank blog post, Epic talked about how the "extreme" server load led to six different incidents on Saturday and Sunday, which in some instances included "total service disruptions" for the game.
Epic's blog post offers a postmortem on the server issues that cropped up alongside the new player record. It goes deep into detail on the systems that power the game and what went wrong, along with a rundown of the steps Epic is taking to ensure server stability in the future. You can read that blog post here.
"Problems that affect service availability are our primary focus above all else right now," Epic said. "We want you all to know we take these outages very seriously, conducting in-depth post-mortems on each incident to identify the root cause and decide on the best plan of action. The online team has been working diligently over the past month to keep up with the demand created by the rapid week-over-week growth of our user base.
"While we cannot promise there won't be future outages as our services reach new peaks, we hope to live by this great quote from Futurama, 'When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
Epic sometimes brings down Fortnite's servers intentionally, as it did this week in advance of the game's next big update, which is out now. Update 2.4.2's biggest feature is a new weapon, the Crossbow. This was teased as a silent weapon recently in-game, and it's not only stealthy, but it also has another perk: It fires arrows, which are a new type of ammo that are unlimited in supply. Crossbows can be found as ground loot or in chests, with Rare and Epic versions also available. You can see a Valentine's-themed version of the weapon, as well as upcoming Valentine's skins, our gallery of images here.
This week marked the release of Bluepoint's Shadow of the Colossus remake, bringing Team Ico's PS2 masterpiece to a whole new generation of players. Despite originally launching 13 years ago, the game remains one of the most stunning achievements the industry has ever seen due to its simple, affecting story, beautiful soundtrack, and hauntingly vast world, and it looks even more breathtaking on PS4 thanks to the care Bluepoint took in modernizing the title for the current-gen hardware.
Shadow of the Colossus places players in the role of Wander, a young man who journeys into the Forbidden Lands in search of a way to bring his beloved back to life. He's instructed by an omnipresent being known as Dormin to travel across the sprawling, desolate landscape and hunt down the 16 colossi that make their home there. Each colossus is a towering puzzle unto itself, and players must figure out how to scale the monolithic beings and spot their weak points in order to bring the giants down.
Despite the vast scope of the game, Shadow of the Colossus is a fairly brief adventure, running from eight to 10 hours on your first playthrough. Fortunately, the title also features a New Game Plus mode for those who want to continue adventuring in the Forbidden Lands. We checked out New Game Plus in a recent livestream, which you can watch above. In the video, we surf atop our horse as it gallops across the vast expanse of the Forbidden Lands and hunt down some of our favorite colossi in the game.
We teamed up with RESPAWN Products to give away three of their Respawn-205 series gaming chairs, with the winners' choice of Blue, Green, Red, or Gray. (List Price: $224.99, scroll down below to enter.)
Competition ends Monday, February 19 at 11:00AM PT. Three (3) winners will be chosen. Entry is open to USA residents only. No purchase necessary.
Enter below (the additional entries are OPTIONAL to increase your chances of winning):
The RESPAWN-205 series is a reclining gaming chair defined by its innovative mesh-backing, which provides a comfortably flexible yet supportive experience. With an adjustable headrest and lumbar support, this chair provides top tier comfort whether used during intense scrims or MMO marathons. Crafted for ergonomics and priced affordably, RESPAWN lets you game longer, game better, and game without compromise.
Today during an earnings call, Activision confirmed that this year's Call of Duty game is coming from Treyarch, the creator of the massively popular Black Ops sub-brand. Activision did not share any further details on this year's Call of Duty game, but it is rumoured to be the much-anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
New Call of Duty games traditionally aren't announced until well into spring, often in April or May in the lead-up to E3, so it could be a while still until we hear more specifics. Treyarch also created the fan-favourite Zombies mode, and we would be very surprised if some kind of Zombies experience did not factor into Treyarch's new game.
It is no surprise that Treyarch is making Call of Duty 2018. Treyarch's Black Ops III was released in 2015, so, given the three-year development cycle for Call of Duty games, it was expected that Treyarch would make this year's game. Call of Duty releases rotate between Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and Treyarch.
Microtransactions are big business at Activision Blizzard. The company said today in an earnings report that revenue from "in-game net bookings," which include things like DLC sales, loot boxes, and in-app purchases on mobile games, reached $4 billion for 2017. During the fourth quarter alone, Activision Blizzard brought in over $1 billion for in-game net bookings. These figures represent quarterly and annual records for Activision Blizzard.
Importantly, as analyst Daniel Ahmad explained on Twitter, around $2 billion of Activision Blizzard's annual revenue from in-game net bookings came from the company's mobile subsidiary, King, which operates Candy Crush. The other $2 billion came from Activision Blizzard's console and PC efforts, along with Activision Blizzard's efforts on mobile such as Hearthstone.
It's worth noting that around $2 billion of that is indeed from King's mobile games such as Candy Crush. But that still leaves another $2 billion from console and PC games add on content.
Call of Duty: WWII offers microtransactions in the form of Call of Duty Points, which can be spent to unlock loot boxes that contain cosmetic items. Additionally, Activision recently launched the game's first paid map pack, Resistance. In Overwatch, players can spend money on loot boxes that contain things like skins and sprays. World of Warcraft has a significant in-game economy as well, as players can purchase things like mounts and pets for real money, among many other things.
For Activision Blizzard, EA, and Take-Two, each company reported year-over-year gains for microtransaction revenue. While such systems can be highly controversial, it is clear that they are popular and people are willing and eager to spend.
For more on Activision Blizzard's earnings report today, check out the stories linked below.
It's a new week which means Microsoft has rolled out a fresh set of deals on Xbox Live. There are sold solid deals to be had across Xbox One and Xbox 360, including quite a few offers on numerous Ubisoft titles.
All offers are good through February 12. Go to Major Nelson's blog to see a full rundown of the deals, including local pricing for where you live.
In other Xbox news, the first of February 2018's free Games With Gold titles for subscribers are now available. These include the shooter Shadow Warrior on Xbox One and the backwards-compatible racing game Split/Second for Xbox 360.
Hulu isn't playing around in February. The streaming service is adding a long list of movies and TV shows to its ever-expanding library, including the premiere of the original drama limited series The Looming Tower.
The series is set before the September 11 attacks and follows the rivalry between the CIA and the FBI as the threat rises. The series stars Jeff Daniels, Peter Sarsgaard, Wrenn Schmidt, and Tahar Rahim. The show will contain 10 episodes, which will premiere weekly beginning February 28.
In the realm of movies, classics like Sin City, A Fish Called Wanda, and The Cutting Edge all arrived on February 1. Other films being added to the service are Mystic Pizza, Manhunter, TheHurt Locker, and Red Dawn.
On the TV front, the complete collections of Parenthood and One Tree Hill will become available to stream. They'll be joined by new seasons of Broad City, Archer, Brockmire, and The Long Road Home.
You can take a look at everything Hulu is adding below. For a complete look at new streaming in February, you can also check out Netflix and Amazon Prime Video's additions.
February 1
A Date for Mad Mary
A Fish Called Wanda
Agent Cody Banks
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
Akeelah and the Bee
Amelie
American Idiots
The Animal
An Officer and a Gentleman
Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra
The Benchwarmers
Black Spurs
Blazing Saddles
Casi Divas
Charm School
Confessions of A Dangerous Mind
Cougar Town: Complete Series
The Cutting Edge
The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold
Daybreakers
Dirt: Complete Series
Everwood: Complete Series
Face Off: Complete Seasons 1-10
Gang Related
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds
Harsh Times
The Haunting
He Said, She Said
Hoodlum
The Hurt Locker
Intersection
Keeping Up with the Steins
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector
Lulu on the Bridge
Manhattan
Manhunter
Mermaids
Michael
Mystic Pizza
Nightcap: Season 2
Nine Queens
One Tree Hill: Complete Series
Perfect Stranger
Real Humans: Complete Seasons 1 & 2
Red Dawn (1984)
Redline
Rollerball (1975)
Rollerball (2002)
Frailty
Running Scared
Rustlers' Rhapsody
Sabrina (1995)
Sin City
Slow Burn
The Spirit
The Swan Princess: Royally Undercover
The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale
The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today
There's good news and bad news. The bad news is Amazon is raising the prime of their prime service for those that subscribe monthly. The current $10.99 monthly cost will now be $12.99. The good news is that annual subscribers will see no increase, and there's plenty of new additions coming to Amazon Prime Video in February to make up for the extra money.
First and foremost, the new month will see the arrival of the rest of The Tick's first season. Guardians of the Galaxy's Peter Serafinowicz returns as the strange superhero, with six more installments debuting on February 23. The Tick is just one of several shows adding episodes to Amazon Prime, along with The Expanse and Mozart in the Jungle.
As for movies, 2009's Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams, will be available to stream in February. Additionally, the original Red Dawn film, Mystic Pizza, both versions of Rollerball, and The Warriors will all be added to the service, among many other titles.
Activision Blizzard today reported earnings for the quarter and full-year ended December 31, showing big gains for revenue thanks in part to Call of Duty: WWII and Destiny 2.
Activision did not share any sales numbers for either game, but said in its report that Call of Duty: WWII and Destiny 2, in that order, were the top two highest-grossing console games in North America for the year. Globally, Call of Duty: WWII was the top-grossing console game of 2017, Activision said, noting that the PS4 edition set a day-one record for digital sales. The Call of Duty franchise has now been the No. 1 series globally, based on revenue, for eight of the past nine years, Activision said. It also confirmed rumors that Black Ops developer Treyarch will deliver 2018's Call of Duty game.
As for Destiny 2, in addition to being the No. 2 overall console game in North America based on sales, it represented Activision's biggest PC release ever. DLC sales were strong, too, as Destiny 2's first expansion, Curse of Osiris, had a higher "attach rate" than Destiny 1's The Dark Below.
Some other notes from Activision's earnings report included 55 million monthly active users for the quarter, which represents a 12 percent increase compared to the previous quarter, and matching the previous quarterly record. As for Blizzard, the company had 40 million monthly active users during the latest quarter. This represents a decline from last quarter, but Blizzard pointed out that the company's games have reached 40 million monthly active users for six quarters in a row. Overwatch and Hearthstone were called out as top performers.
Activision Blizzard also owns the mobile game developer King, which had 290 million monthly active users during the period, which represents a 1 percent quarter-over-quarter decline. The better news for King was that, for the first time ever, the average time spent playing per user reached a record 37 minutes per day. Monthly active users for Candy Crush games grew "slightly," the company said.
When looking at all of Activision Blizzard's games, spanning Activision, Blizzard, and King, the company had 385 million monthly active users. This is up by 1 million from the previous quarter's 384 million.
In terms of money, Activision Blizzard's net revenue for the full year ended December 31 was a record $7.02 billion, up from $6.61 billion during the previous fiscal year. Revenue from digital channels--which are higher margin--came to $5.48 billion, also a record. For the quarter, Activision Blizzard revenue amounted to $2.04 billion, which set a record for any quarter in the company's history. Revenue from digital channels was $1.43 billion, though the company did not say if this represented a new record.
For the full year, Activision Blizzard recorded a profit of $273 million, which was down significantly from the $966 million that it made the year before. In terms of quarterly profit, Activision Blizzard didn't make one; the company posted a loss of $584 million, as compared to a profit of $254 million during the same period in 2016.
In its press release, Activision Blizzard noted that it incurred a significant tax expense charge related to Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was enacted in December 2017.
Activision Blizzard is currently holding an earnings call to discuss these results and answer questions from analysts. We'll report back with more details from the call if anything noteworthy is discussed.
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