Time is running out to buy Christmas gifts. But that's not a problem if you're buying for people who enjoy video games, because many great deals are still available, including this buy-one-get-one-free deal on PS4 and Xbox One games at Target. You can choose from 34 titles, many of which are already on sale for appealing prices.
A number of worthy titles are eligible for the promotion, including Battlefield 1 for $16, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard for $17, and Lego Marvel's Avengers for $30. They're not the newest games around, but if you or your gift recipient haven't played them yet, they're new to you. See the full list below.
And if you're worried about getting your items before the big holiday, you can relax. Many of the games in the B1G1 deal are eligible not only for free shipping, but also for a promotion that, if you order them by Thursday, December 20, guarantees you'll receive them by Christmas Eve.
Even if you don't get your order in by December 20, most Target stores will be open for extended hours lasting from 7 AM to midnight local time between now and December 23. But let's say you totally drop the ball and wait until Christmas Eve. You can still get same-day delivery for items that are available at a local store. Alternately, if you place an order online before 6 PM on Christmas Eve, you can use the free Order Pick-Up or Drive-Up options to collect your items before the store closes at 10 PM.
Digital Extremes has released a new content update for Warframe on PC. The Profit Taker, the first big update for Warframe's Fortuna expansion, is available to download now for free from Steam, and it introduces a new Warframe, missions, robotic spiders, and more to the online action game.
Headlining the update is the eponymous Profit-Taker, a giant mechanical spider boss described as "one of the Fortuna's biggest enemies." The Profit-Taker is a formidable foe, and to take it on, players will need to complete new missions to earn the Archguns. These powerful weapons could previously only be equipped while in space, but players can now unlock them for their Warframes while on foot.
On top of that, Digital Extremes has introduced a new Warframe to the game: Baruuk. Described as a "pacifist by nature," Baruuk is capable of lulling enemies into sleep and summoning daggers that seek out and destroy enemy guns.
Rounding out the update, Digital Extremes has added three new Echo-Lures, which players must use to save three new creatures. Doing so will reward them with new Floofs and a Conservation Badge. The developer has also added new weapons, mods, and customization items, as well as new Operator Amps and Arcanes. You can read more about the update on the official Warframe website.
Fortuna: The Profit Taker is currently only available on PC, but Digital Extremes says the update will arrive for PS4 and Xbox One "soon." Meanwhile, the Fortuna expansion will release for the Nintendo Switch version of the game in 2019.
The second week of Destiny 2's holiday event, The Dawning, is here with the December 18 weekly update, along with the third of the new Forge activities that are part of the game's most recent expansion, The Black Armory. Adding to the new and ongoing content is another of Bungie's quality-of-life updates to the game, and this one makes it easier for people who are behind on the endgame to catch up a little more quickly.
The primary focus of Update 2.1.3, which Bungie detailed on its blog, is a change to Prime Engrams for players who are below Power level 600, which is the character level cap for the Forsaken expansion. It's since been raised to 650 for all players to correspond with the release of The Black Armory, and if you want to play the new content that's part of the Destiny 2 annual pass, you need to get over 600. With Update 2.1.3, Prime Engrams will now drop at higher levels for players under 600, which will speed up their ascent to peak Power levels, as well as endgame content.
Apart from that change, the patch mostly includes a bunch of small fixes to various annoying bugs. For example, it reduces recoil for the SUROS machine gun Avalanche, which is one of the rewards for completing Dawning activities. The patch also allows you to get Black Armory bounties from Ada-1, even if you haven't completed a forge ignition first.
Read the full patch notes below.
Activities
Fixed an issue where the final boss encounter of Scourge of the Past would not end properly.
Fixed animation error on Awoken Corsairs so that they no longer pretend to hold invisible rifles.
Fixed a rare bug in Scourge of the Past where players would not receive a Phase Radiance buff when meleeing a terminal.
Fixed an error on Brakion's weapon so that he can once again shoot at Guardians.
Players will now spawn insides the arena with the downed ship rather than reusing the previous phase's spawn points that placed them behind the spawned encounter barrier.
Crucible
Fixed an issue where Heavy Ammo was not spawning appropriately on Convergence
Items & Economy
Players under 600 Power may now receive higher-powered rewards when completing Director Challenges.
Fixed an issue where weapon frames would be removed from inventory in error when completing alternate forges.
Fixed an issue where players were not rewarded properly when completing a forge activity that was joined in progress.
Players may now access forge bounties before completing a forge activity.
Fixing an issue where players were not properly granted the Scourge of the Past Emblem or Triumph for completing the activity within the first 24 hours.
Fixed an issue where submachine guns awarded by research weapon frames were not dropping with the appropriate perks.
Completing and claiming the Dreaming City Triumph "Ascendant Paragon" will always properly grant the Secret Victories Emblem and its Transcendent variant. Players who already claimed this record will have the variant automatically unlocked on reaching orbit.
Removed Season 4 shader Crucible Solemnity as a requirement for the "Forged in Fire" Collections Badge.
Fixed an issue where players weren't properly being granted Harbinger's Echo if they destroyed eggs across multiple characters. For affected players, the Sparrow will appear in inventory and be unlocked in Collections upon reaching orbit.
Removed Annual Pass requirement for claiming the "Curator of the Black Armory" Triumph.
Misc
Fixed an issue where the "Envoy While it Lasts" bounty did not display properly for players using Spanish, Russian, or French languages.
Fixed an issue where Season of the Forge shaders were not dismantling quickly.
Sandbox
Pressing reload while charging a fusion rifle will initiate a reload. Previously, pressing reload while charging a fusion rifle did nothing.
Fixed an issue where SUROS Machine Guns (Avalanche) had more recoil than intended.
Each week brings a shuffling of content to Destiny 2, and this week that includes a newly opened Forge as part of the Black Armory expansion and more cookies to bake for The Dawning. The Ascendant Challenge, on the other hand, is not actually new--we're actually back to the fourth week of the cycle of challenges. But whether you've done it before or not, there's good reason to give it a shot, as Powerful gear awaits you as a reward. Here's where to go and what to do to complete the current Ascendant Challenge.
Before you try to tackle the Ascendant Challenge, the same requirements as always hold true; most notably, you need a Tincture of Queensfoil. This is a consumable item that you'll happen upon while playing in the Dreaming City, although you can also buy them. Using a Tincture gives you the Ascendance buff, which allows you to see a Taken portal. It's this portal you must go through to complete the Ascendant Challenge. Along with a Tincture, you have to grab the Ascendant Challenge bounty from Petra in the Dreaming City; it's through this that you actually get your Powerful gear.
For the current challenge, the portal is located in Rheasilvia. In the northeast corner, head inside a building and go straight as far as you can. Turn right, and then go left in the next area to reach Harbinger's Seclude. Go up a set of stairs and out the doorway on the right. Head straight through this area, through another doorway, and continue straight in the next zone. At the end of a bridge you'll see a statue covered in Taken Blight balls; platform your way up the objects around it and you'll be able to go through the portal on top of its head. Check out the video above for a walkthrough. If you struggle to get up, take out your ghost and you'll see some invisible platforms just off the slide of the area that can help you get up.
Going through the portal transports you to the Keep of Honed Edges in the Ascendant Plane. Platform your way across a series of rocks and you'll find an area with three knights who are immune to damage. Kill all of the other enemies and the barrier protecting a sword will go away, allowing you to pick up the relic.
At this point, more enemies spawn in and one knight will begin attacking you. Kill the knight, and the other two will join the fray along with additional enemies. Take them all out, and you'll again have to platform across a series of rocks, now with enemies to make things more challenging. There is debris moving through the area, and at least certain things you step on will disappear after a short period of time, so make sure not to linger. Make your way toward a platform with a large blue object on it to complete the challenge.
As in previous weeks, the chest you receive at the end of the Ascendant Challenge isn't anything special. But the bounty you get from Petra offers Powerful gear for completing it; this can help to boost your Power level, so ensuring you have the bounty is essential.
Meanwhile, it's the second week of Destiny 2's holiday event, The Dawning, so check out our guide on how to make all of Eva's cookies and get your Dawning Cheer sparrow fully decked out.
Over the next few days, we will reveal what we believe are the 10 best games of 2018, organized by release date. Then, on December 19, we will reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot's Game of the Year. So be sure to come back then for the big announcement, and in the meantime, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2018 hub.
Over 70 unique characters from nearly 30 different video game franchises, with more to come. A refined combat system that is still exciting, still accessible, and still has a high skill ceiling. A number of varying modes to enjoy on your own or with others. An immense library of great video game music. There are so many wonderful things packed into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that, even in the short time between its release and our Best Of The Year discussions, it has filled us with an immense amount of joy.
The fact that this game exists is still unprecedented. In no other game can you have Snake from Metal Gear Solid and Sonic the Hedgehog battle each other by unleashing an assortment of Pokemon. In no other game can you have Princess Peach team up with Cloud from Final Fantasy VII to take down Mega Man and Pac-Man. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate knuckles down as a celebration of the characters we love, a game where the most ridiculous of hypotheticals can be played out in a freewheeling, chaos-filled eight-player party filled with flashy special effects and cameos. It is an exuberant fireworks display of a video game.
But the reason why Smash Bros. is so enduring is because it holds strong and inspires the same kind of passion when pared down its fundamentals, too. Pure, one-on-one Smash battles still make for brisk, exciting experiences that are easy to enjoy. Ultimate is still an accessible game--three buttons and basic directional inputs are all you need to internalize the fundamentals of its dozens of characters, a fast-track to then being able to appreciate and understand the finer details and dynamics of play.
It's a game that puts huge smiles on our faces, whether we're in it for fun, for glory, or just enjoying it from afar.
And Ultimate's small but meaningful adjustments continue to improve it, too. Higher damage outputs, a reduced focus on unimaginative defense, and more dramatic visual feedback, among other things, make its core fighting more thrilling. Even with the purest, most utilitarian battle rules, there's an infectious excitement Smash matches induce, making it difficult to resist yelling in elation or dismay when something tremendous happens.
There's more to Ultimate, of course--a lengthy campaign, various modes, collectibles that double as a progression system, an all-encompassing streak of thoughtful homage--but all of those things are extra layers on top the already robust and captivating foundation of a game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would be nothing without the strength of its gigantic character roster, the accessible complexity of its fighting system, and its vibrant approachable facade. It's a game that puts huge smiles on our faces, whether we're in it for fun, for glory, or just enjoying it from afar. Come one, come all. Everyone is here.
Over the next few days, we will reveal what we believe are the ten best games of 2018, organized by release date. Then on December 19, we will reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot's Game of the Year. So be sure to come back then for the big announcement, and in the meantime, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2018 hub.
Your target is Sierra Knox, who, among other things, helped her father's technology company supply equipment used to kill civilian protesters. On this day, she's participating as a race car driver. You stealthily infiltrate her race team, aware of the opportunity to sabotage her car during a pit stop. But when the moment comes, you realize you lack the needed tool to do so, and so this particular chance slips by. When presented with the opening, you instead opt to take her out by shooting her. Or disguising yourself in a giant pink mascot costume and pushing her down an elevator shaft when you meet her under the guise of being a blackmailer. Or by throwing a briefcase that inexplicably and hilariously flies through the air to its designated target. Such is life in Hitman 2.
Like its predecessor, Hitman 2 can be many things to many people. The variety of possible approaches allows for wildly different experiences. You might opt for a more head-on plan that involves killing anyone who gets in your way. Maybe you use the briefcase for its intended purpose and sneak in a sniper rifle to take your target out from a distance. Or perhaps you opt for something far more elaborate: Discover the use of a high-powered fan in a movie shoot, recover and deliver a missing script to the crew so filming can continue, and then rig the fan to blow your target off the roof once the cameras are rolling. (It made for great footage, the film's producer concedes in a private phone call afterward.) It all sounds sadistic on paper, but with Hitman 2, developer IO Interactive has continued to hone its comedy chops by instilling a sense of humor into so many of your actions and every corner of the map.
And it's the maps that are the real highlight in Hitman 2. While you could certainly find a critical path that involves minimizing the time spent and distance covered in reaching your targets, Hitman 2's levels are dense and reward your willingness to explore. This is true not just of the hot zones surrounding those you are tasked to kill, but the entire map; it feels like there's a reason for each level to be as big it is, and it's not just to prevent the play area from feeling cramped.
Ultimately, that's what Hitman 2 is all about--not a single playthrough, but treating it as the replayable toy box that it is.
Whittleton Creek, for instance, presents you with a small chunk of a suburban town filled with houses to explore. Some are directly tied to your goals, but others are worth exploring to see what other tools, stories, or intel you might find. What's this, a secret door in the basement of an otherwise nondescript home? It might not be of immediate use, but it's worth filing that knowledge away for a future run.
Ultimately, that's what Hitman 2 is all about--not a single playthrough, but treating it as the replayable toy box that it is. You repeatedly shake up your chosen approach and the tools at your disposal to poke, prod, and explore the many potential avenues for completing your objective. Hitman 2 is masterfully designed to allow for each successive run to be a satisfying experience, and welcome gameplay refinements (such as the addition of tall grass to hide in and working mirrors that can reveal your position) make the action better than ever. And if the terrific debut Elusive Target mission starring Sean Bean is any indication, the game's post-launch support will only continue to further elevate an already great game.
This is not an instant win. No purchase necessary. Competition ends at 12:00 PM PT on December 19, 2018, in which 30 winners will be chosen at random and emailed a code for the full game (MSRP: $30).
The latest installment in Nintendo's mascot fighting series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, is off to an impressive start. The game launched for Switch earlier this month and has already shattered sales records around the globe, becoming the company's fastest-selling home console game in Europe and breaking other records for the series in the US.
According to Nintendo of Europe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's total sales in the region over its first three days of availability have been "almost 30% higher" than Mario Kart Wii, which would go on to become one of the company's best-selling games of all time. Nintendo also notes that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the fastest-selling game in the Eshop "ever."
Ultimate's had an equally impressive start overseas as well. In its first 11 days on the market, the game has sold more than 3 million units in the US alone, based on Nintendo's internal sales data. That makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game in the region to date, as well as the fastest-selling entry in the entire Super Smash Bros. series.
Other Nintendo Switch games have had impressive sales in the US as well. The console's recent Pokemon RPGs, Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, have sold a combined two million units in the region, while Super Mario Party has sold 1.4 million.
Last year's biggest Switch releases have likewise hit new sales milestones in the US. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has sold more than 4 million units, Super Mario Odyssey has sold 4.7 million, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold more than 5 million. Moreover, the Switch itself continues its impressive moment; in November, Nintendo moved more than 8.7 million consoles according to the NPD Group.
The latest Devil May Cry 5 trailer shines a spotlight on the mysterious V. He's debuting in this installment as the third playable character and his play-style looks a good bit different than the other two. Rather than a quick and agile fighter, he saunters around the battlefield with a series of summoned beasts.
The trailer shows V summoning three creatures, called Shadow, Griffon, and Nightmare. He uses the creatures to do the fighting for him, as he stands nearby or even atop them. It's a different kind of graceful fighting than the one we've become accustomed to from Dante and Nero's acrobatic style.
V also appears to have an axe to grind against the hero, saying Dante should never have existed while holding a sword precariously over his head.
While sales on individual games are always nice, a sale on digital currency is even better. That's because you can use it to buy any game you want, effectively creating your very own deal. Right now, Newegg has some great deals on gift cards for the Nintendo Eshop, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Store that save you a nice percentage on digital currency. The deal ends Thursday, December 20, so grab these soon or you'll be out of luck.
All of the gift cards are delivered via email, so you won't have to wait around for physical cards to arrive in the mail. They come in the form of codes you can redeem on the PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch's online marketplaces.
The best way to spend these gift cards is on games that are already on sale. Do that, and you're effectively getting two discounts piled on top of each other (think of it as a delicious discount sandwich). Here are links to the game sale pages for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
And if you're interested in EA Access, which gets you discounts and early trials for EA's Xbox One games--as well as full access to over 50 titles--you can save $5 off a 12-month subscription with promo code EMCEREX29.
Epic Games has disabled the Save the World portion of Fortnite while it investigates issues with the Stormshield Storage and the Frostnite mode. The developer made the decision to take the game's servers down following reports of "long load times and server performance issues."
Epic is providing updates via its Twitter account; the most recent update as of this writing is that the company is "still investigating" the issues and will "provide updates as they come available." Fortnite's free-to-play Battle Royale modes are seemingly unaffected by the problems.
We're still investigating issues with Stormshield Storage and the Frostnite mode for Save the World. We'll provide updates as they come available. 🛠️
Fortnite's latest 7.10 update, which was released just recently, introduced a number of balance changes and prepared the game for the upcoming 14 Days of Fortnite event. The limited-time mode begins on December 19 and will cycle through a variety of events at regular intervals. "The 14 Days of Fortnite event will feature both new and returning LTMs," Epic explains. "Large team modes switch every two days and small team modes rotate every 24 hours."
Elsewhere, Epic is being sued by Alfonso Ribeiro--best known for playing The Fresh Prince of Bel Air's Carlton. Ribeiro's law firm said the the actor is accusing the studio of stealing his dance--commonly referred to by fans of the show as the Carlton dance--for Fortnite's "Fresh" emote.
It's the holiday season, and the actors behind Metal Gear Solid are ringing in the season in their own special way. Voice actors David Hayter and Cam Clarke, who voice Solid and Liquid Snake respectively, performed a rendition Twas The Night Before Christmas with a particularly Metal Gear twist.
The duo got together for the video, complete with some in-character testy exchanges. The poem follows the basic rhyme structure of the familiar poem, but of course this is about Metal Gear, so it's a good deal more violent. It replaces the merry and bright story of St. Nick with lines like, "To the top of the base, and hey blow up that wall / Kill the guards, the twin snakes, what the hell, kill them all."
The most recent game in the series was Metal Gear Survive, which released earlier this year. It was a decidedly unconventional take, moving away from melodrama-heavy geopolitics and toward post-apocalyptic survival. It received mixed reviews at GameSpot sister site Metacritic, and a cold reception in GameSpot's own Metal Gear Survive review.
"For the most part, Metal Gear Survive feels oppressive, demanding, and obtuse, and needlessly so," wrote Tamoor Hussain. "It's a shame because there's actually a good survival game in there, but the pressures it places on you make uncovering and enjoying that unappealing. Over time the ability to manage thirst and hunger becomes slightly more manageable, especially if you play the multiplayer, but the lead up to that is debilitating. There's some satisfaction to be had if you persevere and savor the small victories, but you'll quickly find yourself thinking about if your time would be better spent playing something else."
It's the last week before Christmas, so you might think video game sellers would be pulling out all the stops to get your last-minute holiday spending. That's the case with many retailers, like Best Buy, PlayStation Store, and GOG, but Xbox Live's weekly sale is tiny in comparison. Maybe Microsoft has a bigger sale planned for later in the week, but for now, these are the deals you can get on digital Xbox One games. Note that you'll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to get some of the prices listed below.
Anyone looking to get more from their Fortnite experience can pick up either the Standard or Deluxe Founder Pack for half off this week. The Standard pack comes with the "Save the World" campaign, exclusive banner icons, and a bunch of Loot Piñata Packs. The deluxe version comes with all of that, plus eight Heroes, XP boosts, and other in-game items. These are still the early days of Fortnite Season 7, so now would be a good time to put these items to use.
A bundle containing both Styx: Master of Shadows and Styx: Shards of Darkness is on sale for just $15 / £13.75. These stealth games put you in control of Styx, a goblin who loves treasure and is willing to sneak into enemy territory to get it. Sports fans may want to grab Tennis World Tour while it's on sale for $35 / £27. Its career mode lets you play as real-life tennis stars like Roger Federer and Angelique Kerber on all kinds of different tennis courts.
Aven Colony, a city-building sim that has you design and run humanity's new settlements on an alien planet, is on sale for $10 / £8.25. Yoku's Island Express, which mixes pinball gameplay with Metroidvania level design, is on sale for $6.60 / £5.30. The narrative-driven adventure game Syberia 3 is discounted to $25 / £20, though you'll probably want to play the previous games first since they tell one continuous story.
You can find the full list of games on sale on Xbox.com.
There's just something satisfying about toy commercials from the '80s. A couple of kids are actually playing with the product being sold and shouting out one-liners while some wicked guitar riff plays in the background. Well, Walmart has tapped into nostalgia to promote its exclusive home release for the movie.
Walmart has an exclusive Venom home release you may want to pick up--which is on sale now. The pack comes with a Blu-ray, DVD, and digital code for the movie, along with an '80s-style action figure. To celebrate the release, Sony released a commercial for the set that channels the inner-awesomeness of '80s toy commercials, which you can check out below.
The Venom home release includes behind-the-scenes production footage, Easter eggs, and deleted scenes--including an extended mid-credit sequence. Despite the fact the movie was a critical flop, Venom made over $800 million in the box office, worldwide. And while it has yet to be confirmed, we could be getting a Venom sequel in 2020. Sony has plenty more movies planned based on Spider-Man secondary characters, including the vampire movie Morbius, which will star Jared Leto.
The Walmart exclusive Blu-ray/DVD/action figure combo pack of Venom is available today for $28. Check with your local retailer at Walmart to see if they have it available.
Nintendo Switch has broken a huge sales record in the US. The Japanese publisher states its hybrid console has sold more units after 20 months in the region than any other current-gen system did after the same period.
Citing data from sales monitor NPD Group, Nintendo says it's sold "more than 8.7 million [Switch] units" in the US alone, as of the end of November 2018. The company also says it is "the overall top-selling US software publisher so far for 2018." These data do not include the sales figures of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is the fastest-selling Switch game to date--the fighting game has sold over 3 million units in the US already, according to Nintendo's own data.
Epic Games is rolling out Fortnite's 7.10 update across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. As part of this, the developer has also released patch notes detailing all the new additions and tweaks being made as part of the update. The headliner is undoubtedly the 14 Days of Fortnite limited-time mode, which begins on December 19 and will cycle through a variety of events at regular intervals and offer new challenges.
The event will consist of two weeks of various LTMs, some of which will be brand-new. Every other day, the large team mode will be changed, while the small team modes will switch daily. A schedule for which modes are included was not announced, but there will be a new challenge and accompanying free reward for each day.
Elsewhere, the update also tweaks the way a number of weapons work. Most notably, the Heavy Assault Rifle has had its effectiveness reduced when not aiming down sights--it's now less accurate and generally harder to use without taking the time to use the weapon's sights. Additionally, balloon controls have been tweaked, and glider redeploy has been tweaked in modes where it's available.
Other things to note include ground vehicles now sliding on icy surfaces (of which there are many thanks to Season 7's cold snap), items near Mounted Turrets are easier to pick up, Stormwings take 50 percent more damage, and landing a vehicle on all four wheels will no longer damage players inside it. Take a look at the full patch notes for Fortnite: Battle Royale below. You can find out what's new and changing with Creative and Save The World on Epic's website.
Limited-Time Modes: 14 Days Of Fortnite
The 14 Days of Fortnite event will feature both new and returning LTMs. Large team modes switch every two days and small team modes rotate every 24 hours. Starting December 19, log in each day at 9 AM ET(1400 UTC) to find out which modes are available to explore. Let us know which LTM is your favorite on our social channels!
Weapons + Items
Heavy Assault Rifle Changes:
Reduced the effectiveness of the Heavy Assault Rifle while not aiming down sights; aiming down sight gameplay remains roughly the same
Increased ADS accuracy bonus by 10%
Increased accuracy while standing still by 10%
Reduced vertical recoil by 6%
Base accuracy reduced by 30%
Reduced accuracy while jumping and falling by 60%
Improved Balloon controls
While in the air, Balloons can be released by pressing the 'Crouch' keybind(formerly the 'Jump' keybind).
Players can again use Alt-Fire to release a Balloon when the Balloon item is selected.
For modes it's available in, the height at which glider redeploy is available has been decreased from 1000 units to 576 units.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where players were able to pick up live Dynamite through structures.
Gameplay
Ground vehicles now slide on icy surfaces.
Eliminations from "no-scoping" enemies with Sniper Rifles now shows up in the elimination feed.
Sticking a landing on all 4 wheels with a vehicle will no longer damage the player inside.
It's now easier to pick up items dropped near a Mounted Turret.
Stormwings now take 50% more damage from hitting objects.
Boosting now reduces the damage taken from impacts by 50%, previously boosting prevented all impact damage.
Damage done to players that are in a Stormwing when it's shot down has been increased from 25 to 50
Damage is dealt directly to health.
Stormwings will now take more damage from destroying structures by running through them.
Bug Fixes
Holding a movement key while confirming an edit will no longer force the player to continue moving in the direction of the key they were holding.
Mounted Turrets will no longer be briefly teleported under the map and then returned to their original location.
Various Zipline fixes
Zipline animations no longer briefly play every time a player jumps after building underneath a Zipline.
Players should retain proper momentum when latching onto a Zipline. This will fix the issue where it appears a player is "jittery/rubberbanding" or receives a perceived speed boost immediately after latching onto the Zipline.
Players will no longer lose the ability to sprint if they emote while on a Zipline.
Fixed an issue that caused players to become detached from the Zipline right after seeing the animation above their head.
The Zipline pulley will no longer remain in the world after eliminating a player while they were riding on it.
Fixed an issue where players would get flung across the map.
Added sounds and effects when a ziplining player smashes through structures.
Improved attach collision around Ziplines.
Fixed regressions with the "Auto Pick Up Weapons" option
Events
Added additional dates for Explorer Pop-Up Cups and Friday Night Fortnite
Explorer Pop-Up Cups
Resource caps adjusted from 700/500/300 to 500/500/500 for wood/stone/metal.
Resource gains on eliminations adjusted from 100/50/50 to 50/50/50 for wood/stone/metal.
We're continuing to make adjustments on these values in an attempt to find a healthy balance, please let us know your feedback!
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where Traps were not granting elimination rewards in Explorer Pop-Up Cup.
Playground
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that would prevent time trial Challenges from recording player completion times.
Players should no longer see an occasional "Please Wait" message that blocks them from starting Challenge games in Playgrounds.
Performance
GPU performance improvements when view distances are far. This should improve resolution on consoles and in some cases, frame rate.
Minor improvements were made to performance for emote music playback.
Addressed movement corrections sometimes are seen when players jump
Improved the performance of some gliders
Audio
Improved winter biome ambient audio.
Reduced the volume of Quad Crasher boost sounds.
Bug Fixes
Fixed Victory Royale sound effects being different on mobile/Switch.
UI
Players can now preview loading screen cosmetics in the front end by pushing the key bound to the "preview" action "Full Screen"
Added a vehicle health bar above the player shield bar.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where a short snippet of the currently equipped Music item could be heard when previewing a different Music item
Fixed an occasional crash when viewing event tiles on the consoles.
Art + Animation
Zenith has his own idle animation in the lobby.
Lynx has her own idle animation in the lobby.
Phone It In now plays for 15 seconds in the lobby
Dab for days with the new emoting power of the Infinite Dab in the lobby!
Lasts 10 hours.
Mobile
UI buttons updated.
Made the HUD settings tab visible for mobile players.
Updated icons to be more visible in snow.
Moved the Exit Vehicle button to a new location
60 FPS option enabled for iPad Pro - second generation (10.5" & 12.9") (select inside Settings).
Enabled support for Snapdragon 710 chipsets (such as; Samsung A8S, Xiaomi Mi 8SE, Nokia 8.1, Oppo R17 Pro).
Enabled support for Snapdragon 670 chipsets (such as Oppo R17, Vivo Z3).
Enabled support for Samsung A9.
Bug Fixes
Added a warning when Accessibility settings for Zoom are enabled, which interfere with tapping the screen and cause missing actions.
This caused players to experience unresponsive interactions.
Fortnite has been wrapped up in a bit of legal controversy lately with numerous celebrity figures attempting to sue Epic for using iconic dance moves in its game. The latest to take action is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks. A version his character's dance moves, known as The Carlton, is in Fortnite and according to Ribeiro's lawyer they are in the process of filing the copyright for the dance.
Streaming company Hulu has announced all the movies and TV shows coming to and leaving the service for January. Starting with what's coming to the platform, on January 1 you can ring in the New Year with Season 2 of Donald Glover's hit show Atlanta, while the animated movie Antz and the beloved movie about a pig, Babe, also arrive on January 1.
Richard Curtis' ensemble cast rom-com Love Actually premieres on January 1 as well, alongside the underrated Matthew McConaughey film Mud, 1969's John Wayne movie True Grit, and the five Twilight movies if that's what you're into. The Natalie Portman sci-fi film Annihilation hits on January 5, while the much-anticipated sixth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine comes to Hulu on January 11.
As for what's leaving Hulu in January, the silly Jim Carrey films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and When Nature Calls exit the library on January 31, while Hostel 1 and 2, and Jerry Maguire also leave that day. Additionally, Hulu loses the 2010 Jennifer Lawrence movie Winter's Bone on January 31.
You can see the full rundown of all the TV shows and movies coming to and leaving Hulu below. If you're a Netflix subscriber, you can check out all the new content for January here.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, one of the best, most affecting games of 2017, is now free on Xbox One for people who have an Xbox Game Pass membership.
Those playing on Xbox One X can enjoy special features made possible by the console's extra power, including better visuals, and High Framerate and High Resolution modes. High Framerate mode increases the frame rate to 60 FPS, while High Resolution makes the game run at the highest possible resolution instead of a dynamic resolution scaling.
Hellblade was developed by UK studio Ninja Theory, which Microsoft acquired earlier this year. It is also available on PlayStation 4 and PC.
Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft's subscription service on Xbox One that lets you play titles from a catalog of more than 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games for $10 USD/month. New subscribers can sign up with an introductory offer of $1 USD for the first month.
All first-party Xbox games launch into Xbox Game Pass, which means subscribers will get Gears 5, Halo Infinite, and all other exclusives in the time to come at no extra cost.
Xbox Game Pass is currently only available on Xbox One, but Microsoft is bringing it to PC in the future. On a longer timeline, the company wants to have Xbox Game Pass on "every device."
A wild new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate glitch has been discovered, and it really is a sight to behold. As shown off by Master0fHyrule on YouTube, the glitch spawns an apparently infinite number of Waluigi Assist Trophies, which makes the game descend into some kind of purple nightmare.
You can try to trigger the glitch for yourself by getting two Isabelle characters on a stage and, at the same time, deploy the fishing rod on a Waluigi Assist Trophy. If you do this correctly, and maybe get a little lucky, one of the Isabelles will continue to use the Assist Trophy again and again and again, until presumably the end of time. This apparently works with not only the Waluigi Assist Trophy, but numerous others as well. Take a look at the video below to see it in action. The infinite Assist Trophy glitch was apparently discovered by TheAfrowJow, and you can watch their video on the glitch here on YouTube.
Waluigi is not a playable character in Smash Bros. Ultimate, but Nintendo is aware of the groundswell of interest in putting him in the game. Whether or not that ever happens remains to be seen, however.
Smash Bros. Ultimate launched earlier this month, and it enjoyed a record-breaking start in Japan where it had the highest launch sales in the history of the Smash series in Japan. Sales figures for the United States and other parts of the world haven't been announced.
The game has a massive character roster, and it's getting more fighters with post-launch character expansions--including Piranha Plant and Persona 5's Joker. We have our own list of characters we want to see.
In our Super Smash Bros. Ultimate review, Edmond Tran gave the game a 9/10, writing, "An inconsistent online mode and situational downers don't stop Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from shining as a flexible multiplayer game that can be as freewheeling or as firm as you want it to be."
One of Disney's next live-action remakes of an animated classic, Lady & The Tramp, filmed at least some of its scene with actual dogs, it has been confirmed. Why is this notable? The first trailer for Disney's new Lion King movie billed the film as being "live-action," but those aren't real lions or elephants you're seeing, but instead very visually stunning CG creatures. For Lady & The Tramp, however, Disney used real dogs--at least for a part of the process.
Actor Thomas Mann, who plays Jim Dear in the new Disney movie, confirmed to Collider that real, tail-wagging dogs were used on set for the new Lady & The Tramp.
"The dogs were there. We shot with the dogs, every day," he explained. "They were on set and they weren't even trained. They found these dogs and started training them about three months before. They just wanted to find the perfect dogs. The main dog's name was Rose, who played Lady. It was crazy because they didn't know they were working, so they would run off in the middle of a take, and then come back over. You have to be extra patient because you have to be good every time for when they are good once. It was a lot of fun. It was so cute, every day, to just have a bunch of dogs to play with. It made the job a lot less stressful."
One of the most memorable scenes from the 1955 original was when the two main dogs shared a bowl of spaghetti and kissed. Apparently the movie-makers recreated this with the real dogs for the remake.
"Who doesn't want to see two real dogs kiss over a plate of spaghetti? That is the main draw for me. You get the charisma of real dogs in there," Mann said.
What's unclear at this stage is how much post-production effort will go into the new Lady & The Tramp specifically for the dogs. Presumably there will be significant visual effects to help make their speaking sequences and other cues look more believable.
The new Lady & The Tramp features the voices of Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux in the title roles, with Janelle Monae, Benedict Wong, Kiersey Clemons, and Ashley Jensen also appearing in the film. It's directed by The Lego Ninjago Movie director Charlie Bean. No release date has been set yet.
It's just the latest remake from Disney. The film giant has already released reboots of Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Beauty and the Beast. In addition to Lady & The Tramp and The Lion King, some of Disney's other upcoming remakes include Dumbo, Mulan, Aladdin, and Pinocchio, among others.
Like PlayStation, Spotify, and others before it, Microsoft has released a neat little "Year In Review" website that reveals your most-played games and other cool stats from 2018.
Go to this website and sign in with your Microsoft account to get started. The page displays a number of stats, beginning with how you stack up with the wider Xbox community when it comes to your gamerscore, number of hours played, and achievements earned.
The page also gives you a 2018 "mood." Mine was "Fighting for something greater than yourself in shooter games" because I played a lot of shooters this year on Xbox One. Additionally, it shows off your most-played games and asks questions about what felt like a bigger accomplishment: earning specific achievements or total number of hours played.
The Year in Review site also displays how many new friends you made on Xbox Live during the year, how much gamerscore you earned, how many hours you played across all games (presumably this excludes media app usage time), and how many hours you spent in multiplayer games versus single-player titles.
Additionally, the page reveals that Xbox Live players collectively earned more than 3 billion achievements during the year. The Year in Review page gives you little trinkets to collect in the process, and at the end they come together to form a holiday snowglobe with all of them. Onc you're done, you can download your results or share them on social media.
There appear to be a few oddities with the website, specifically as it relates to the number of hours played in some games, but the page should give you a generally good idea about what titles you played the most in 2018.
Of course Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse has a post credits scene--it would, frankly, be pretty irresponsible if it didn't, considering just how deeply embroiled in comic book culture the whole movie is. There are certain expectations for superhero stories and this is a film that understands that intimately, and is more than happy to deliver.
Needless to say: Into The Spider-Verse spoilers ahead, so please proceed with caution from here on out!
We've known for a while that Sony has been planning on developing more Spider-Verse or Spider-Verse adjacent movies, which is what the very brief mid-credits scene starts to set up. We see Miles on his bed back in his dorm room before, off screen, a portal seems to open on his ceiling, glowing neon. We never see her, but Gwen's voice chimes in, saying Miles' name to get his attention. The implication here is pretty obvious--Gwen has found some way to hop through the multiverse on her own, without causing a black hole to open up under Brooklyn, and has figured out how to use this--tech? Magic?--to link back up with Miles.
Obviously this leaves some major questions. We all want Miles and his interdimensional friends to be able to join back up and go on adventures again, but a major part of Into The Spider-Verse's story was the fact that dimension-hopping is potentially lethal for the people who are leaving their home universe. This certainly puts a damper on all the potential fun to be had, unless a solution was worked out somewhere off screen. Also, we can't tell by this brief moment whether or not the only person able to hop dimensions now is Gwen or if the rest of Miles' ragtag Spider-crew are going to be invited along as well. We certainly hope so.
Spider-Man 2099
The actual post credits scene may even give us a little insight into that particular problem. It introduces an entirely new character comics fans will recognize as Miguel O'Hara (voiced by none other than Oscar Isaac), AKA Spider-Man 2099. He's accompanied by his holographic personal assistant, Lyla, who seems to be helping him with new tech, assuring him that if he succeeds, he'll be the first person to pull off an autonomous dimension jump.
For those of us not super well versed in '90s Marvel comics, Miguel might be a bit of a mystery. He's basically exactly what it says on the tin: a Spider-Man from the year 2099, in keeping with the extremely '90s superhero tradition of advanced, cyberpunk alternate futures--think Marvel's own version of the Batman Beyond concept.
Miguel's Spider-Man origins are similar to Peter's in that they were the results of genetic experimentation. As an adult, Miguel became the head of a genetics program at the semi-shady corporate juggernaut Alchemax, where he begins working on a project based on records of the original Spider-Man's exploits. He invents a machine that would, ideally, fuse human DNA with spider DNA and attempts to test it on himself, but the process was sabotaged by a jealous lab assistant who cranks the ratios up by 50%. Miguel survives the accident, but is mutated to have a more physically extreme version of Peter's abilities, including talons that are now growing out of his hands and feet.
Though the 2099 line of comics is largely defunct these days, Miguel still crops up in his own solo books or other Spider-adjacent titles even now. During the Secret Wars event, Miguel was set to the present and stranded, but he was eventually able to make it back in one piece. His last proper solo title wrapped up in 2017.
Spider-Memes and Stan Lee Quotes
Spider-Verse's Miguel is more than happy to use his experimental tech to make a dimension hop, so the question is: where does he want to go? The answer is, hilariously, "the beginning," of course--Earth-67, otherwise known as the Earth where the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon takes place. Miguel's actual landing place won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Spider-Man memes--he inserts himself right into the middle of the infamous "two Peters pointing at each other" scene--a riff on the "first" time multiple Spider-people crossed over into one moment.
It's all a pretty elaborate gag aimed specifically at deep-cut loving, very online comic book fans but it does mean that Sony has an animated design and model ready to go for both Miguel and Lyla in the future--and voices cast for both of them--so, even if you're not a fan of vintage memes, there's still good news to be found. Maybe keep an eye out for future Spider-Verse announcements to see just where the 2099 cast ends up.
The movie actually ends, after all the 60s camp, on a touching note with a Stan Lee tribute quote--simple white text on a black background, encompassing the whole message of the film. "That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero." Rest in peace, Stan.
The Mythical Psychic Pokemon Deoxys made its debut in Pokemon Go earlier this year as the game's second EX Raid boss, replacing Mewtwo. Up until now, the DNA Pokemon has only appeared in the mobile game in its Normal Forme, but a new variant of the Pokemon is set to arrive soon.
Developer Niantic has announced that Attack Forme Deoxys will be available in EX Raids later this month. Along with taking on a different appearance, Attack Forme Deoxys has a much higher attack stat than its standard form, and Niantic warns that it will be a "difficult challenge that requires Trainers to take advantage of every opportunity."
The new form of Deoxys is set to arrive with the next cycle of EX Raid invites, which are scheduled to go out beginning December 20. Unlike standard Raid Battles, you can only participate in EX Raids if you've received an invitation. In order to get one, you'll first need to have recently won a Raid Battle at a "qualifying" Gym. These are denoted by an EX Raid tag in the upper righthand corner when you look at the Gym's details.
In the meantime, players still have a little more time to catch Pokemon Go's latest Legendary, Cresselia. The Psychic Pokemon is scheduled to leave standard Raid Battles on December 18, just before Attack Forme Deoxys is set to arrive in EX Raids. Niantic hasn't announced when the game's next Legendary Pokemon will arrive, although the developer has teased that Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit--three more Legendaries originally from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl--are on the way.
Pokemon Go's annual holiday celebration is also set to return again soon. This year's event kicks off on December 18 and will introduce another handful of Gen 4 Pokemon, including Snorlax's pre-evolved form, Munchlax, as well as Snover, Abomasnow, and Croagunk. Festive hat Pikachu and Delibird will also return, and different bonuses will be meted out throughout the event until it ends on January 2.
One of the reasons why DICE updated Battlefield V to make it easier for new players was specifically to help the game appeal to new players--this did not go so well. After a wave of criticism from veteran players, DICE announced that it is rolling back the time-to-kill changes to restore the values to their original state. The Swedish developer has now also acknowledged that it has been a struggle for years now to get people into Battlefield games.
"It's important to acknowledge that we have a challenge bringing new players into Battlefield V and onboard them to become more experienced Battlefield players," DICE said in a Reddit post regarding the TTK changes. "It's been a challenge across our games for a long time, as many will know."
DICE's overall ambition with Battlefield V is for it to appeal to new and veteran players alike, and the developer will continue to try to do this even after the TTK changes are undone. "How we get it right isn't easy, nor will it be quick, and we appreciate when the community comes together and helps us on this journey," DICE said.
The Battlefield franchise is generally understood to be relatively more difficult for new players compared to the series main competitor, Call of Duty. Activision's franchise regularly outsells Battlefield. Back in 2013, EA management said it hoped Battlefield 4 would outsell that year's Call of Duty game, Ghosts. It did not.
Other established franchises face the same challenge as Battlefield: drawing in new players while also appealing to veterans, and pleasing everyone. As DICE frankly said in its Reddit post and as evidenced by the rollback to the original TTK values, this can be a tough nut to crack. Marcus Lehto, who co-created the Halo franchise, recently said he believes Halo is in a no-win scenario now as it tries to appeal to new players and do right by veterans.
For its part, DICE has pledged to continue to listen to fan feedback and try to make Battlefield V appealing to everyone. How this works in practice remains to be seen.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Alfonso Ribeiro, who starred as the show's Carlton, is suing Epic Games. Ribeiro's law firm said the the actor is accusing the studio of stealing his dance--commonly referred to by fans of the show as the Carlton dance--for the "Fresh" emote in Fortnite.
According to TMZ, Ribeiro is currently in the process of filing for the copyright for the dance. This announcement comes on the heels of another lawsuit filed against Epic. Terrance Ferguson accused Epic of stealing his Milly Rock dance for Fortnite's "Swipe It" emote, an act he describes as a pattern the studio has for "exploiting African-American talent in particular in Fortnite by copying their dances and movements." Ribeiro is mentioned as another example of this in Ferguson's lawsuit.
When it comes to outside the court room, Epic has been enjoying the growing success of Fortnite--which is the number one searched game on Google in 2018. After finding success with cross-platform play on Fortnite between Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC, and mobile devices, Epic Games is sharing its technology with other developers looking to do the same. The studio also launched its own PC game store that offers an enticing alternative to Steam.
The latest chapter of the Battlefield V TTK drama has unfolded. DICE has announced that it's backtracking on the controversial changes it made to the multiplayer shooter's time-to-kill values that made the game more forgiving for new players and angered veteran players in the process.
In a post on Reddit, DICE said it made the choice to roll back the changes after listening to player feedback and reviewing internal statistical data. The TTK changes were released in an update that came out last week, so they really didn't last very long at all.
DICE reiterated that its aim with the TTK changes was to make the game "more enjoyable for new players." Veteran Battlefield fans took issue with this, and in response, DICE released a "Core" playlist for the Conquest mode with the original TTK values. Fans commented that a single playlist wasn't enough, and DICE later announced that it would release more "Core" playlists.
"Clearly we didn't get it right," DICE said about the TTK changes. "Veteran players didn't ask for the change, but as game developers, we took it upon ourselves to make those changes based on extensive data and deliberation. It truthfully wasn't an easy decision for us," DICE said.
The developer added that it is an ongoing challenge to make Battlefield a more enjoyable experience for new players. Indeed, the game has a very different feel than its main competitor, Call of Duty, which is often regarded as a game that is relatively easier to get into.
"It's been a challenge across our games for a long time, as many will know, and becomes even more important for us to improve upon our post-launch experience with consistent updates to the game through the Tides of War," DICE said. "Our desire to service a game that caters to old and new players will continue. How we get it right isn't easy, nor will it be quick, and we appreciate when the community comes together and helps us on this journey."
While DICE is rolling back the TTK changes, the developer said it continues to work on new updates to "improve the experience" for all players--new and veteran.
Battlefield V's TTK will revert to its original value through an update coming December 18 at 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET / 1 PM CET. The "Core" playlist for Conquest will be removed at this time, while the previously announced additional "Core" playlists are not going to be released.
Unlike previous Battlefield games, all of Battlefield V's expansions are free as part of the game's Tide of War live service element. The first major post-release expansion, Chapter 1: Overture, is out now, and it adds a new map and the single-player War Story where you play as a member of a German tank division. On a longer timeline, Battlefield V will introduce a battle royale mode called Firestorm in March.
GameSpot's Battlefield V review scored the World War II shooter an 8/10. The game is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
OtherSide Entertainment has issued a mea culpa for the rough launch of Underworld Ascendant, and explained how it plans to improve the game going forward. In a lengthy blog post, the studio acknowledges it was buggy and flawed at launch, and that players may have expected something more similar to Ultima Underworld. Underworld Ascendant was released in November following a successful crowdfunding effort.
"Despite the game's flaws at launch, we believe there is a core of goodness to Underworld Ascendant," the studio said. "Our job now is to address the concerns players have expressed and improve the game; making what is good about the game shine through more brightly.
The studio mentioned that it's "evident some our fans wanted a game that played much closer to the original Ultima Underworld. It's been painful to hear these players describe how we missed expectations. Although we tried to be clear with press and fans during the development of the game, in hindsight we could have done a better job communicating what Underworld Ascendant was and what it was not."
In a roadmap, the studio laid out a plan for upcoming improvements. Coming next week, the studio plans to fix the save system to be more flexible and retain all of your quest and equipment data. It will also adjust combat in regards to how directional attacks, weapon damage balance, and some AI improvements. A few select quests are being improved, and items and gear will show wear. Finally, player movement is being adjusted along with some other minor tweaks like saved key binding preferences, and skill UI improvements.
A second update, coming next February, will include more improvements to combat and AI, adjustments to leveling and quests, and other UI improvements. The studio also says it is also looking into ways to improve the overall metagame and "reduce the complexity around what players are supposed to be doing to stop Typhon."
The blog also goes into detail about the development process and how the game went out in the state it did. "With 20/20 hindsight we were overly optimistic," it states. "We convinced ourselves that the game was in more robust shape than it actually was. Had we been more objective, we would have held off the launch and worked on the game longer. Instead we pushed hard and hit the planned November launch date.
"As a consequence, the game went out rougher than it should have. None of the challenges the project faced are an excuse. We should have done better."
The issues led to a poor reception in GameSpot's Underworld Ascendant review, which scored it a 2/10. That review specifically mentioned the poorly implemented save system as a problem. However, the review criticized the game's problems as much more deeply ingrained.
"For many players, especially the time-poor, the save system alone will be enough to render Underworld Ascendant unplayable," said critic David Wildgoose. "But even if it were addressed, and a more conventional system patched in, it would be impossible to recommend this game to anyone. Framed as a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld, Underworld Ascendant misses the mark with almost every shot, much like my aforementioned hapless archer. At the same time, even freed from the expectations its historical baggage brings, it is a clear failure. The spirit of Ultima Underworld lives on elsewhere."
Update 3: Fortnite's 7.10 update is now live. While it doesn't introduce the previously teased Driftboard vehicle, it does usher in a new event, 14 Days of Fortnite, as well as a list of balance changes and bug fixes. You can find the full patch notes on Epic's website.
Update 2: Fortnite's 7.10 update will be arriving a little later than originally planned. Epic Games announced that it has delayed the rollout of this week's patch "due to last minute issues discovered within the build." It's unclear if the update is still slated to arrive on December 18, but Epic says it will provide further details on the timing of the update once it has more information.
Update: Epic has delayed Fortnite's new Driftboard vehicle. While the developer had teased that the snowboard would arrive in the game this week, it has now announced it is postponing the vehicle in order to make further quality-of-life improvements to it.
"We know we set the expectation for the Driftboard to release in the coming update," Epic wrote on Reddit. "Unfortunately, we've decided to hold the release of this new vehicle to make some final quality of life changes and other polish improvements.
"We want to get you out there carving up the slopes as soon as possible. However, our goal is to make sure that your experiences on the Driftboard are up to our expectations. We still have tons of quality of life and balance improvements on the way in v7.10."
The original story follows.
Like clockwork, a new update is on the way for Fortnite. Developer Epic Games confirmed that this week's 7.10 patch will roll out for all platforms--PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices--tomorrow, December 18, and it looks like it's set to introduce the recently teased snowboard to the title.
According to the official Fortnite Twitter account, the 7.10 update is scheduled to go live at 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET / 10 AM GMT. Among other things, it'll likely add the Driftboard, a brand-new type of vehicle. As its name implies, the Driftboard is a high-tech snowboard; it holds a single player and allows the rider to boost around the map.
Epic hasn't detailed what else will arrive with the 7.10 update, but it will presumably also mark the start of a new limited-time mode. Until then, players still have a little more time to jump into the game's current LTM, Team Rumble, which pits two teams against each other in a race to get 100 eliminations.
This will mark the third update Fortnite has received since the start of Season 7 earlier this month. Last week's update, v7.01, introduced a new Mythic weapon to the game: the Infinity Blade. Much like Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet, the Infinity Blade grants its wielder an immense power boost. However, the sword was improperly balanced, and as a result, Epic has vaulted it.
"We messed up and rolled out the Infinity Blade overpowered / without good counters, especially in the end game," Epic said when it announced its decision to remove the sword. "The Infinity Blade has been Vaulted and we are re-evaluating our approach to Mythic items. Thanks for calling us out on this!"
Meanwhile, the next set of Fortnite's weekly challenges is slated to arrive later this week, on December 20. If you need help completing any of the current challenges, you can find tips in our Season 7 challenges roundup. Clearing these will level your Battle Pass up and unlock the new Season 7 skins and rewards.
Do you have a Steam account? Do you like free games? If you answered yes to both questions, you should probably head to Steam and grab Geneshift immediately. That's because this early-access title is free to everyone for a limited time. Between now and December 19, you can get a copy to keep and play forever, which is not a bad deal, considering the normal price is $10.
Geneshift is an online battle royale game that's inspired by 1999's top-down crime sim Grand Theft Auto 2. In it, players have two minutes to battle for supremacy on a map filled with vehicles, weapons, and power-ups like invisibility and bouncing bullets. The last person standing wins.
But unlike most battle royale games, you can continue making progress after you die. Death turns you into a zombie, but you'll respawn if you can kill an enemy. Alternately, you can use your zombified character to seek out loot you'll be able to use in the next round.
As for why the game is free for a limited time, developer Nik Nak Studios says, "I'm doing this to build a playerbase for our multiplayer community. I also just want to see people play my game--I've spent nine years on this thing and I'm really excited to get new players. So spread the word, tell your friends and hop on!"
A "Complete Edition DLC" is also available on Steam. It comes with a single-player campaign, five additional PvP modes, cosmetic items, and more. It's currently on sale for $7 (down from $10).
Update: Fortnite's Driftboard has been delayed. Epic had teased that the new snowboard vehicle would arrive in the game as part of this week's 7.10 update, but the developer has now announced it is holding their release back a little longer in order to further fine-tune them.
"We know we set the expectation for the Driftboard to release in the coming update," Epic wrote in a post on Reddit. "Unfortunately, we've decided to hold the release of this new vehicle to make some final quality of life changes and other polish improvements.
"We want to get you out there carving up the slopes as soon as possible. However, our goal is to make sure that your experiences on the Driftboard are up to our expectations. We still have tons of quality of life and balance improvements on the way in v7.10."
The original story follows.
Earlier this month, Fortnite developer Epic shared a series of teaser images leading up to the start of Season 7, each of which featured a new element that was being added to the battle royale game. The studio has already introduced the biplane, ziplines, and the Ice King skin at the start of the season, and now the last of the teased items--snowboards--are finally on the way as well.
Fortnite's in-game News feed is teasing that a new snowboard-like vehicle called the Driftboard is "coming soon," presumably as part of this week's update. According to the accompanying description, the Driftboard is a single-rider vehicle that will allow players to "boost past [their] competition." You can take a look at it below.
The official Fortnite Twitter account also teased the arrival of the new Driftboard, tweeting out a snowboard emoji. Epic hasn't explicitly confirmed when the vehicle will be available in the game, but Fortnite's next update--v7.10--is scheduled to roll out for all platforms on December 18, and the wording of the announcement tweet suggests the Driftboard will arrive as part of that patch.
We're entering Week 3 of Season 7, and already this season has introduced some big changes to Fortnite. Along with the aforementioned ziplines and the biplane vehicle, Epic added a new arctic region to the game's map. There are also a slew of new skins, emotes, and other new cosmetics to unlock as part of the Season 7 Battle Pass rewards.
Most notably, last week saw the arrival of the Infinity Blade, a new Mythic sword and Fortnite's first melee weapon. Much like the Infinity Gauntlet from the limited-time Thanos mode earlier this year, only one Infinity Blade would spawn per match and would grant its holder an immense power boost--so much so that it wreaked havoc on the game's balance. As a result, Epic has since removed the Infinity Blade and said it will be "re-evaluating [its] approach to Mythic items."
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