Microsoft has announced that this coming weekend will be a Free Play Days For All event on Xbox One. So whether or not you have an Xbox Live Gold membership, you'll be able to play with your friends online in whichever game you want.
The Free Play Days For All event begins on January 31 and continues until February 3. Microsoft's advertising for the event leans heavily on Fortnite, but you'll be able to play any game you own. Whether that means you jump into another battle royale game, such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or into something else, like Titanfall 2 or Dark Souls III, is up to you.
If you do jump into Fortnite, you'll be able to cross-play with friends on other systems, including Switch and PS4. The game is currently experiencing a DJ Marshmello-themed mini event, with an in-game challenge to track down Showtime posters. Two more challenges are expected to open up on February 1, just in time for the Free Play Days For All event.
If you're on the fence about pre-ordering Anthem, this weekend is the perfect opportunity to try the game prior to its launch--which is staggered out over multiple days in a manner even EA admits is confusing. BioWare's upcoming multiplayer-focused, third-person shooter is having a free demo February 1-3, so if you have an Xbox One, you'll be able to play without the additional requirement of purchasing a Gold membership.
Anthem's VIP demo ran into several technical problems, but hopefully some of those issues have been ironed out for the free one this weekend. If you played the VIP demo, your progress will carry over into the free one, including having all four Javelins unlocked.
In its latest earnings report, Nintendo revealed that the mascot fighter has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it the company's third best-selling Switch game to date. According to Nintendo's updated list of best-selling Switch software, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate moved a combined 12.08 million physical and digital copies as of December 31, 2018--a figure that's all the more impressive considering the game had only been available for roughly three weeks by that point.
Ultimate launched for Switch on December 7 and quickly set new sales records for the series. The title has already sold more than twice as many copies as its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. At this rate, it's also on track to overtake the series' best-selling entry, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii, which sits at 13.29 million units--assuming it hasn't already done so, as Nintendo has yet to share Ultimate's January sales figures.
Ultimate wasn't Nintendo's only big sales success in 2018. Switch's first Pokemon RPGs, Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, have also sold a combined 10 million copies since their launch in November. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, meanwhile, remains the companies best-selling Switch game, surpassing 15 million units, with Super Mario Odyssey following at 13.76 million.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's first DLC character, Piranha Plant, arrived earlier this week as part of the game's big 2.0.0 update. Those who've registered their copy of the game via My Nintendo by January 31 are able to claim it for free; here's how to do it. Everyone else will be able to purchase Piranha Plant at a later date.
Members of the PlayStation 4 system software beta program can try out the next iteration of the console's firmware now. Invites have gone out for the 6.5 beta, letting players kick the tires and test the stability of an update that is mostly focused on, what else, stability.
The invite notes that firmware 6.50 "does not include any new major consumer-facing features" but requests the community's help "fine-tuning the performance and stability improvements the update brings." Interested testers can download the beta through a special link, and then provide feedback on a beta forum.
This is similar to the 6.0 update, which despite being a whole number was focused squarely on stability improvements. Sony is being more upfront about that fact this time around though, after functionality in the 6.0 beta was kept a secret known only to testers. That left the eventual roll-out somewhat of a disappointment when it didn't do much at all.
We do know that some consumer-facing features are on the way, however, including the long-awaited PSN name change feature. Those who have access to that beta have been able to change their name for free the first time, and then at $10 USD/CAD / €9.99 / £7.99 for each subsequent change. PlayStation Plus members get a break, costing only $5 USD/CAD / €4.99 / £3.99. But Sony also warned those testing the feature that it could lead to losses of data, including DLC purchases, game saves, and more.
With DJ Marshmello set to hold a concert in Fortnite very soon, Epic Games has kicked off a mini event that consists of new challenges and rewards. The first segment of this is now live and involves something called Showtime posters; here's how it works.
The first of the Showtime challenges asks you to search a Showtime poster. This simply involves tracking down one of these posters and holding the Use key while standing in front of it. Do that, and you'll net a Marshmello-themed spray for yourself. Two more challenges will open up on February 1, each with a reward of their own; complete all three to net an additional reward.
Until the others unlock, that leaves you to merely track down a showtime poster. It's unclear exactly where these can be found at this point, but they appear to be scattered all around the map. We found one located on the side of the structures just north of Dusty Divot; you can see what you're looking for in the image below.
It's a relatively easy challenge, provided you can locate one of the posters. Whether the other two objectives prove to be just as simple remains to be seen, but even if they're knocked out quickly, there's a new batch of Week 9 challenges to keep you busy. Among them: one asking you to pop golden balloons and a multi-tiered one that has you dance on a sundial, followed by two other objects.
As for DJ Marshmello, the electronic musician is currently on tour. The next stop listed on the schedule is Pleasant Park, one of the locations on Fortnite's island. If you go there now, you can actually see that a stage has been set up for the concert, though just what it will look like on the day remains to be seen. The concert is scheduled for Saturday, February 2, at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM GMT.
Ben Affleck has played Batman in three DC movies to date, but it's safe to say that none of those movies were particularly well received. From the "sad Affleck" meme that did the rounds while he was promoting the critically panned Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice to the commercial failure of Justice League, there has been much speculation that the star will not return to the role again. He has now confirmed this. Sort of.
Following the news that the next Batman movie, titled The Batman, is set to hit theaters in June 2021, Affleck took to Twitter to retweet a story that he would no longer play the role. The original story ran in Deadline carried the headline "Ben Affleck Passes The Torch To Next Generation Of Bruce Wayne." Affleck retweeted this, adding that he was excited for the film, which will be directed by Matt Reeves. Check it out below:
The Batman was first announced back in 2016, with Affleck attached to star, co-write, and direct. He initially stepped down as director when Reeves came on board, and soon after it was reported that Affleck's script had been abandoned. While Affleck never stated that he was leaving the role, last year it was reported that Reeves' movie will feature a much younger Bruce Wayne.
The Batman hits theaters on June 25, 2021. Earlier this week, Reeves hinted at what fans could expect from the film. "It's very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale," he said. "It's told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it's going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It's more Batman in his detective mode than we've seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He's supposed to be the world's greatest detective, and that's not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been."
In related news, DC has also announced the release date of the next Suicide Squad movie. It's simply titled The Suicide Squad, and is not a sequel to the 2017 movie, but a new version written by James Gunn. Gunn was hired by DC to work on the script in October, following his departure from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn is also in negotiations to direct, and that it will "take the franchise in a new direction with a mostly all-new cast of characters and actors."
Square Enix has been very protective of Kingdom Hearts 3 spoilers, even holding back some of its special endings for post-launch. That rolling time period has now ended, as Square Enix has announced that its closely guarded "Secret Movie" is now available for those who have fulfilled the requirements.
The Secret Ending is tied to photographing the Lucky Emblems, which are recognizable as Disney's Mickey Mouse logo, hidden throughout the world. Check out our Lucky Emblems guide for details on their locations. The number of Lucky Emblems you need to collect to unlock the Secret Movie is different based on your difficulty level. On easy mode you'll need to get them all, but in the other two modes you can get fewer to unlock them.
This is actually the second post-launch movie added to Kingdom Hearts 3. A special epilogue was also added and is viewable upon finishing the game's main story. Square also patched in a "Memory Archive," a series of short films that reviews the major points of the story so far.
When the game leaked and spoilers began to circulate online, director Tetsuya Nomura asked fans to please not share them, and detailed his plans for the post-launch movies. More recently, he said he's reconsidering simultaneous worldwide launches to avoid leaks.
"What sticks with me is the exciting battle against elemental titans with Hercules, taking Rapunzel out into the unfamiliar wide world for the first time, snapping selfies with Winnie the Pooh, and going toe to toe with Davy Jones," critic Tamoor Hussain wrote in GameSpot's Kingdom Hearts 3 review. "In 2002, as Sora, I left Destiny Islands to travel across the universe and make new friends. In 2019 I brought old ones home, and I had so much fun doing it."
Release dates for video games have becoming increasingly murky in recent years for a variety of reasons. Often a game comes out on one day but can be accessed a few days early if you pre-order, and different regions sometimes get new releases on different days. With Anthem, the upcoming RPG shooter from BioWare, things are even more complicated even without regional differences, prompting publisher EA to release a chart to both help you figure out when you can play and illustrating just how unusual the situation is.
The problem is that you can obtain Anthem in multiple ways, including some options that don't involve directly purchasing it. Those on PC can get into the full game as early as February 15, provided you subscribe to Origin Access Premier--EA's pricey $15/£15 per month or $100/£90 per year service that gets you access to its new releases, among other things.
If you're on Xbox One, you can also start playing Anthem on February 15, but only for 10 hours total; you can do this by subscribing to EA Access, letting you try a chunk of the game without buying it. If you're on PC and are a subscriber to the platform's EA Access equivalent, Origin Access, you also get 10 hours to play starting on February 15.
Those on PS4 don't have the ability to subscribe to any Access-style service from EA, so you'll have to wait until the actual release date--February 22--to play, at which time you can buy the full game. That's also the day that buyers of the $80/£70 Legion of Dawn edition get in; this special edition does not come with any kind of early access. Pre-ordering any version of the game also does not get you in early. Here's all of this information in chart form, courtesy of EA's support Twitter account:
Figuring out when you can start playing is just a matter of finding your path to the game in that chart, but it's nonetheless striking that a chart is needed for what should be a simple fact. Confusion aside, this might also prove frustrating for groups of friends looking to play together who are acquiring the full game at different times--or it might just drive users to subscribe to one of the Access services, which is likely what EA wants.
If you're planning to complete all the challenges for Week 9 of Fortnite's seventh season, you'll need to hunt down some balloons and pop them. Sounds fun, right? It is! However, it can also be a bit frustrating since the island is very big, and those pesky balloons can be a bit inconspicuous. The challenge requires you to pop "10 golden balloons," which is slightly misleading as they're closer to silver than golden. To make it easier for you, we've put together a guide for where they can be found.
All you've got to do is head to the locations below, locate the balloons, and fire off a shot to pop it. Then, move to the next one, rinse, and repeat until you've got all 10. It's a good idea to pack a weapon with some range as, now and then, you may find people waiting nearby to take you out, so being able to pop them from safety is certainly handy.
Fortnite Golden Balloon Locations
Grid reference I2 on the roof of the brick house
Grid reference B2 on the roof of the mausoleum
Grid reference J5 on the tower at Lonely Lodge
Grid reference I6 on the bear statue south of Retail Row
Grid reference G4 in the area outside Tomato Temple
Grid reference H5 attached to an electricity pylon
Grid reference F6 on one of the structures in the middle of Dusty Divot
Grid reference E4 on an abandoned boat in Loot Lake
Grid reference D2 in the "O" of the destroyed motel sign
Grid reference J3 next to the truck hanging off the edge of the cliff
The other tricky challenge for the week involves finding three specific objects on the island to dance on top of: a sundial, an oversized cup of coffee, and a metal dog head. Sound familiar? You've probably seen them dozens of times, but you can use our location guide to pinpoint exactly where they are and get the challenge done.
Microsoft announced its fiscal results for the quarter ending December 31, 2018, and it has some positive numbers almost across the board for its Xbox gaming division. The Xbox business went up year-over-year by almost every metric, except for hardware revenue, which decreased.
According to the company, gaming revenue increased by 8%, at a total of $4.23 billion. Xbox software and services revenue increased by the most at 31%, thanks to the strength of third-parties. Xbox Live monthly active users are also up 8%, totaling 64 million. That figure includes Gold and Silver members, as well as users on Windows 10 and smartphones.
Hardware didn't fare quite so well. It was down 19%, which Microsoft credits largely to the year-over-year comparison putting it against the launch of the Xbox One X in 2017. Overall, company revenue was up 12% for a total of $32.5 billion.
Microsoft's Xbox division has been making big moves as it prepares for the future. It has plans to expand Game Pass to PC, and has acquired a long list of studios to produce more first-party content. Those include Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Playground Games, Compulsion Games, and most recently, Obsidian and InXile. It has also announced a game-streaming service that will begin rolling out in beta this year, and it's at work on the multiple new Xbox consoles.
The company recently teased "new Microsoft technologies" while touting its line-up for 2019. Recently Xbox head Phil Spencer said they'll be "going big" at E3 this year, following Sony's announcement that it's dropping out altogether.
With the huge success of Aquaman and much excitement around this week's first Birds of Prey teaser, it seems that the DC movie universe is finally back on track. The studio has now added two new movies to its schedule, with confirmed release dates for The Batman and the reboot of Suicide Squad, which is titled The Suicide Squad.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Batman will hit theaters on June 25, 2021, while The Suicide Squad will be released on August 6 of the same year. In addition, Warner confirmed the release of a new movie titled DC Super Pets, which will focus on the pets of various DC heroes. That arrives on May 21, 2021.
The news of The Batman's release follows comments made by director Matt Reeves earlier this week, in which he described the film as "a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale." The movie has been in development for several years now, and it was originally set to be directed by and star Ben Affleck. While Affleck has not been officially replaced as Batman, it is thought that the role will be recast for the new movie. Affleck himself tweeted that he was "excited" for The Batman, implying that he wouldn't be in it.
As for The Suicide Squad, this is not a sequel to the 2017 movie, but a new version written by James Gunn. Gunn was hired by DC to work on the script in October, following his departure from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3. THR also reports that Gunn is in negotiations to direct, and that it will "take the franchise in a new direction with a mostly all-new cast of characters and actors."
Before we get to these, there are several new DC movies set for release over the next two years. Shazam! arrives in April, while October will see the release of Joker, which stars Joaquin Phoenix and focuses on the early life of the iconic DC villain. Birds of Prey arrives in February 2020, while Wonder Woman 1984 is released in July that year.
The Fortnite island has been full of players frolicking in the snow over the last few days--and by frolicking we mean desperately trying to not get killed by other players and the hordes of ice monsters. Still, it's good times. We're now in Fortnite Season 7, Week 9, and the fun is set to continue with a new batch of weekly challenges. As always, get these done and earn Battle Stars to upgrade your Battle Pass. As you level the pass up, new cosmetics will be unlocked for you--easy as ice pie.
In the free category, this week's challenges involve using the Sneaky Snowman item in three different matches, eliminating three enemies at Junk Junction or Retail Row, and completing a multi-stage challenge that begins with landing at Retail Row.
However, if you want to maximize your Battle Star earnings, you'll need to have a premium Battle Pass, which you can get by paying V-Bucks. For those who have one of those, the extra set of challenges will require you to pop 10 golden balloons, get three kills with a shotgun, and complete two timed trials in an X-4 Stormwing Plane. Additionally, there's a another multi-stage challenge that involves dancing on three specific items on the island.
Free
Use a Sneaky Snowman in different matches (3) -- 5 Battle Stars
Stage 1: Land at Retail Row -- 1 Battle Star
Eliminate opponents at Junk Junction or Retail Row (3) -- 10 Battle Stars
Battle Pass
Pop 10 golden balloons (10) -- 5 Battle Stars
Stage 1: Dance on a sundial -- 1 Battle Star
Shotgun eliminations 3 -- 10 Battle Stars
Complete timed trials in an X-4 Stormwing plane (2) -- 10 Battle Stars
On January 30, Fortnite developer Epic Games launched update 7.30 of the game for PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, iOS, and Android. Although the patch throws a umber of weapons into the vault, it also adds a new item called the chiller grenade, as well as the Solid Gold limited-time mode. Additionally, controller support for mobile players as been introduced. You can read all about those in the full Fortnite update 7.30 patch notes.
Mario Kart Tour, the smartphone debut of Nintendo's hit racing series, has been delayed. In an earnings report, the publisher confirmed the mobile game would not hit its intended release window of the financial year 2018/19, which ends in March.
Instead, the company now says Mario Kart Tour will launch in the summer of 2019. Explaining the delay, Nintendo said it wanted to "improve [the] quality of the application and expand the content offerings after launch," and hence needed more development time.
Mario Kart Tour was announced last year, though few details are known at present. All that's been revealed is the logo you can see above.
The latest game in the racing series is Nintendo Switch's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which has now sold over 15 million copies worldwide. For more on that title, read our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe review.
Nintendo has revealed its 10 best-selling Switch exclusives, and there are some eye-watering sales figures involved. As part of its latest earnings report, the company confirmed its best-selling Switch game is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which has been bought by just over 15 million people around the world as of December 31.
Below that, Super Mario Odyssey sold an impressive 13.76 million copies, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is already in third place with 12m copies shifted, despite having been available for less than a month at the time these data were recorded. It should be noted Nintendo only disclosed the figures for games it published, meaning big third-party games such as Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and FIFA 19 are excluded from this list.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe lying at the top of this chart is especially impressive given its non-Deluxe predecessor, Mario Kart 8, was the best-selling game on Wii U, with 8.42m units sold. New Super Mario Bros. U was the third best-selling game on Wii U, so it will be interesting to see how its Deluxe version does on Switch.
In the two years since launch, the Nintendo Switch has had some critically acclaimed games, including the aforementioned Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For more top-rated titles on the system, check out our rundown of the best Nintendo Switch games.
Challenges for Season 7, Week 9 of Fortnite are now live, and for one of them, you'll have to embark on a dancing pilgrimage around the island. Specifically, the challenge requires you to locate three key landmarks, hop on top of them and then do a little dance to earn the precious Battle Stars. Those with good knowledge of the map will probably be able to get this done real quick, but if you need a guiding hand, we're here to offer one. Below you'll find a breakdown of the challenge, as well as exactly where you should go to complete it.
So, the three landmarks you need to find are a sundial, an oversized cup of coffee, and a giant metal dog head. All there are spread out across the map, so it may be easier to find one, drop out of the game, and then fly out of the Battle Bus to the next and so on. The sundial can be found in the bottom right of the island in the desert area. Head to grid reference G9 and look for a hill north of the gas station. You'll see a bunch of cars stacked in a very strange way--that's your sundial.
Next up is the oversized cup of coffee, which you'll need to drop into grid reference F5 to find. Head to the Dusty Divot diner, specifically the parking lot, and you'll see the caffeinated beast there. If you're approaching it from the front, it's on the left of the car park area. And finally, the giant metal dog head is all the way up in the top left of the island at Junk Junction. Hop over to grid reference B2 and look for the crane on the left of the entrance, which has a little dog face on it. Get to the very top of the crane--the head as it were--and bust a move. Take a look at the map below for a visual representation, and there are also screenshots showing the exact locations.
Fortnite Sundial, Oversized Cup of Coffee, Giant Metal Dog Head Locations
Sundial: Southwest of Paradise Palms at grid reference G9
Oversized Coffee Cup: Dusty Divot diner at grid reference F5
Giant Metal Dog Head: Junk Junction at the top of the crane; grid reference B2
The rest of the challenges for the week are fairly straightforward, and you can get a breakdown of them all here. Of course, the wintry event in Fortnite is ongoing and, as part of that, a new weapon called the Chiller Grenade has been added to the game. It arrived in update 7.30, which also introduced the Solid Gold limited-time mode. You can read about both of those, as well as the various other tweaks and changes, in the full Fortnite update 7.30 patch notes.
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