Over on Bethesda's online store, a new Fallout 4 lithograph is now available for preorder, but you'll likely need to act fast if you want the larger, special-edition version.
The lithograph, which shows one of the scenes we've seen from the game before, is available in standard and limited editions. If you opt for the limited edition, you'll be paying a premium--$65 compared with $25 for the standard one. But you'll also be getting a bigger version; the standard edition is just 24" x 11", while the limited edition measures in at 37" x 16". The latter is also individually numbered, with foil embellishments on the title and Fallout logos.
Only 500 of the limited edition version are available. While they (like the standard edition) won't begin shipping until September 10, you can place an order now to ensure you get your hands on one. You should know that you'll be charged in full now, though you'll be able to get a refund if you cancel the order before it ships.
Developer Wargaming has announced a limited-time event for World of Tanks where you'll get to drive a laser-shooting tank on the moon. The Russian developer is bringing back the Lunar Mode for the free-to-play tank game to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969.
This year's Lunar Mode is available now for the Xbox 360 version of World of Tanks. Everyone who logs into the game will receive the M24 Lunar, a Tier 9 medium tank "built exclusively for combat in space." Instead of a traditional cannon, the M24 is outfitted with a blaster that shoots lasers.
While battling on the moon, players will find that gravity is reduced to one-sixth that of earth. This should allow for some insane combat scenarios, a sampling of which you can see in the trailer below.
Lunar Mode will be available through Monday, July 20.
It is unclear if the Lunar Mode is also coming to the PC or Xbox One versions of World of Tanks. We have followed up with Wargaming in an attempt to find out. The Xbox One edition recently launched in beta and will roll out widely at the end of the month.
In other Apollo 11 commemoration news, check out what Buzz Aldrin had to say in his tweet below. And if you're looking for a good documentary on Apollo 11, and the entire early NASA space program, you should check out the terrific When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. Unfortunately, it's no longer on Netflix streaming, but you can buy the entire series on Amazon for $8.
46 years ago today Neil, Mike & I lifted off on Apollo 11. We were in the right place at the right time. #Apollo11pic.twitter.com/MS7T6Bs32e
Walmart is selling the Halo Master Chief Collection Xbox One bundle with a free second controller for $349. You also get a free copy of Watch Dogs, Titanfall, NBA Live 14, or Rabbids Invasion, or you can pay a bit more to replace it with Battlefield 4 ($5), Evolve ($20), Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition ($20), Need for Speed: Rivals - Complete Edition ($20), Battlefield Hardline ($30), or Batman: Arkham Knight ($30).
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD is $39 at Amazon and Walmart.
You can preorder a number of games through Dell and receive either a $15 or $25 gift card: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ($25), Mad Max ($15), Rare Replay ($15), and Until Dawn ($15).
Gamers Club Unlocked members can save $20 or more on a few PS4 games at Best Buy right now, including MLB 15: The Show for $16, The Order: 1886 for $16, and Bloodborne for $32.
If you have a free Green Man Gaming account, you can access the VIP area of the site where you can find some nice deals, including SimCity for $10, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin for $25, and Project Cars for $35.
The PlayStation TV is available for $40 at Best Buy and GameStop.
The PlayStation Store's superhero sale also includes some Vita games, including Injustice: Gods Among Us for $12, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X for $4, and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for $10.
Free Silver Headset with purchase of any PS4 console (Best Buy)
Save $10 on a PS4 DualShock 4 controller when you buy a new PS4 console (Best Buy)
Save $10 on an Xbox One controller with the purchase of Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (Best Buy)
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
The latest patch for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be available sometime in the next day, developer CD Projekt Red has revealed.
In a post on Twitter this afternoon, community lead Marcin Momot announced that the patch will be available in the next 24 hours. It will be available on all platforms--PC, Xbox One, and PS4--and brings the game up to version 1.07.
As revealed last week, this is a major update for the game. Among other things, it offers a new "alternative movement style" for Geralt, a stash for players to store items in, and a wide variety of fixes for everything from game performance to typos.
You can check out the full list of 1.07 patch notes below.
Introduces an alternative movement style for Geralt. To enable, go to the Gameplay\Movement Response submenu.
Fixes a rare issue where the player's horse would not fall to the ground properly.
Fixes a rare issue where the player could be locked into the aiming animation if hit while throwing a bomb on horseback.
Fixes a rare issue with an infinite loading screen in the Ladies of the Wood quest.
Includes a variety of collision fixes.
Fixes an issue where Wild Hunt warriors would remain present even after the player completed the main storyline.
Fixes an issue where players could repeatedly buy foreign currency from a loan shark and sell it at the Vivaldi Bank.
Fixes an exploit whereby players could loot gold from a single chest more than once.
Fixes an issue whereby some skills were not properly removed after the player used the Potion of Clearance.
Fixes an issue with target locking, which should now be more responsive.
Introduces a number of changes in selected game-world areas to prevent players from unexpectedly progressing quests or leaving the playable area by climbing certain elements of the landscape.
Fixes an issue where sometimes players could not use Signs after reaching Skellige for the first time.
Fixes an issue where damage from certain sources was incorrectly calculated.
Fixes an issue where the durability of alternative weapons did not drop as intended.
Fixes an issue where the game would remain in slow motion if the player had used manual targeting.
Fixes an issue whereby meditation could be blocked by certain quests.
Fixes an issue where Stamina did not always regenerate properly.
Fixes an issue where Geralt's statistics could be multiplied if the player stood in a Dimeritium bomb cloud while the Cluster skill was activated.
Introduces a number of fixes, improvements and clarifications in the map-pins and objectives for multiple quests.
Fixes an issue where in certain circumstances gravity ceased to apply to the player's horse.
Adds a stash for player convenience. Players can now store loot in their stash, access to which is available in different parts of the world. Stash locations are marked on the map.
Fixes an issue whereby the player's horse would often stop abruptly before bridges or other narrow passages.
Fixes an issue whereby encumbrance was not updating correctly, resulting in players being overburdened where in fact they were not.
Fixes a rare issue where players were unable to choose different Signs.
Fixes an issue where the player was sometimes unable to craft glyphs.
Fixes an issue where not all merchants would accept junk loot.
All crafting components and alchemy ingredients now weigh nothing.
Fixes an issue where certain armor/hairstyle combinations interacted incorrectly.
Fixes an issue where instances of the Quen Sign would occasionally burst during dialogue scenes.
Fixes a rare issue where the player could not play gwent with Madame Serenity at the Passiflora.
The Zoltan gwent card should now always be present beneath the Hanged Man's Tree if the player does not win it earlier in White Orchard.
Fixes a rare issue where players could not talk to, or play gwent with, the innkeeper at the Inn at the Crossroads.
Includes a number of wording and spelling fixes in multiple localized versions.
Introduces a number of improvements in the game streaming system. Players should experience fewer blurred textures, NPC spawn times should be markedly reduced, and there should be an overall improvement in the speed with which game assets are loaded. Streaming system improvements should be most noticeable on consoles and systems with non-SSD drives.
Improves performance in the swamps of the No Man's Land region.
Fixes an issue whereby the presence of fog could adversely affect game performance.
Optimizes various FX which should result in improved performance during the Battle of Kaer Morhen quest.
Introduces a number of optimizations that improve overall performance throughout the game.
Improves overall game performance.
Fixes an issue where Keira's magic bubble could adversely affect performance.
Fixes an issue whereby the mouse cursor would remain visible during in-game video playback.
Adds a warning if the user runs out of disk space and wants to crate a new game save.
Fixes an issue whereby Colorblind mode was not properly saved.
Fixes an issue whereby Zoltan would sometimes appear in the incorrect location after the Novigrad, Closed City quest.
Fixes an issue during the Last Wish quest whereby Geralt would continue his conversation with Yennefer after they parted.
Fixes an issue where two simultaneous instances of some characters would appear in a scene in the Broken Flowers quest.
Fixes an issue whereby some objectives were not available to the player and would be automatically failed during the Battle of Kaer Morhen quest..
Fixes an issue where in certain circumstances Lambert did not board the boat during the Final Trial quest.
Fixes an issue where in certain circumstances Madame Serenity was improperly placed during the Deadly Plot quest.
Fixes an issue where the Fake Papers quest would be failed if the player did not mention that one of the brothers was dead.
Fixes an issue whereby players would sometimes be unable to start the final horse race, The Heroes' Pursuits: For the Goddess' Glory! in Skellige.
Fixes an issue where unintended objects were present in Novigrad after the Battle of Kaer Morhen quest.
Fixes an issue where a progression break could occur if Geralt was knocked out by guards while following the Bloody Baron during the Family Matters quest.
Fixes an issue where players were sometimes unable to interact with a torch in the Get Junior quest.
Fixes an issue where players could sometimes experience an infinite loading screen during the Iron Maiden quest.
Fixes an issue where in certain circumstances players could encounter a blocker during the Contract: The Apiarian Phantom quest. Players who have encountered this bug need to backtrack to the frozen hive and examine the footprints around it again.
Fixes an issue whereby the player could get locked inside a room during the Through Time and Space quest.
Fixes an issue where on rare occasions players were unable to progress the game after the Get Junior quest, specifically upon reaching Vernon Roche's camp.
Fixes an issue whereby purchasing wine during the It Takes Three to Tango quest would not always progress the quest properly.
Fixes an issue where the In Wolf's Clothing quest did not progress properly after the player read Morkvarg's journal.
Fixes an issue where on some rare occasions players were unable to interact with the Wild Hunt soldier's body during the Echoes of the Past quest.
Fixes an issue whereby Keira would not always properly use the portal during the For the Advancement of Learning quest if asked to go to Kaer Morhen.
Fixes an issue where the Scoia'tael from Novigrad was not always available to play in the Gwent quest.
Fixes an issue where the player could get blocked inside a cellar during the King's Gambit quest.
Fixes an issue where in certain situations the player was unable to find Triss during the Final Preparations quest.
Fixes an issue where occasionally the Kingfisher tavern was left without an innkeeper after the Now or Never quest.
Fixes an issue where Yennefer was not spawned in Oxenfurt during the Great Escape quest.
Fixes a rare issue where Captain Wolverstone was not at the Golden Sturgeon when intended.
Fixes a rare issue where the bodyguards in the Reason of State quest were not hostile.
Fixes a rare issue where the griffin would not always appear in the Contract: The Creature from the Oxenfurt Forest quest.
Fixes an issue where the wyvern would not appear in the Contract: Phantom of the Trade Route quest.
Fixes an issue with enlisting Sukrus from Skellige to be Hattori's bodyguard in the Of Swords and Dumplings quest.
Fixes a rare issue whereby the visions in the Echoes of the Past quest were not displayed.
The Contract: Devil by the Well quest no longer counts towards the Geralt: The Professional achievement.
Fixes a rare issue when the player could not speak with Lambert at Kaer Morhen during the Final Trial quest.
Fixes a rare issue where players could not always complete the Hey, You Wanna Look at my Stuff? quest.
Fixes an issue where players were sometimes unable to summon a horse after the Fencing Lessons quest.
Fixes an issue where in the Scavenger Hunt: Viper School Gear quest the gate to the mausoleum was locked.
Fixes an issue where players could not use Signs or swords after the fistfight at the Rosemary and Thyme during the Broken Flowers quest.
Fixes a rare issue whereby players could not examine the source of interference during the Disturbance quest.
Fixes an issue with the Dirty Funds quest.
Fixes a rare issue with a loading screen in the Contract: The Phantom of Eldberg quest.
Fixes a issue with a loading screen at Aeramas' residence during the Of Dairy and Darkness quest.
Fixes an issue where quest givers for the Deadly Delights and Jenny o' the Woods contracts would disappear.
Introduces a number of improvements to overall game stability.
Fixes an issue where the Potion of Clearance would pop into the quick slot if the player ran out of food.
Adds a Books tab to the Inventory panel.
Introduces a number of additional loading screen hints.
Introduces a pinning feature for formulae and diagrams. Ingredients and components for pinned formulae/diagrams are highlighted in the shop view. This should greatly facilitate the purchase of currently needed elements.
Introduces a feature whereby currently equipped items are highlighted in the Repair panel, facilitating prioritization of items needing repair.
Adds a feature whereby read and unread books are marked differently in the Inventory panel.
The list of all available DLC packages is now displayed in the Main Menu/Options/Downloadable Content submenu for better clarity.
Enabled additional settings that decreases the hair and fur image quality slightly, without compromising its general appearance, to optimize HairWorks on a wider range of hardware.
In addition, Capcom is offering Ultra Street Fighter IV for $10.19, which is 66 percent off the game's normal $30 price.
Or, if you already own the Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and want to upgrade to the Ultra version, you can do so for just $5.09 instead of $15.
Ultra Street Fighter IV's various DLC, and there is a lot of it, is also on sale--this weekend only. Head to the game's Steam page to see everything on sale.
The Ultra Street Fighter IV free play weekend ends Sunday, while the game discounts are good through Monday, July 20.
If you missed Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate "deep dive" livestream yesterday, not to worry, as the publisher has now released a YouTube version.
Check out the 60-minute video below, which is an extended version of the demo we saw at E3. In it, Ubisoft developers show off the game's 1868 London setting and demonstrate new gameplay features such as battling on top of moving vehicles. The game's new traversal systems are also on display.
Director Neill Blomkamp has shared some new concept art for his upcoming Alien movie.
The writer-director, known best for District 9 and to gamers for the failed Halo movie, published the image you see below by way of his Instagram account. The art shows Sigourney Weaver, who will apparently reprise her role as Ellen Ripley. Also shown is a roughed-up Michael Biehn as Corporal Hicks.
"Alien going very well," he wrote in the caption. "Love this project."
Ridley Scott, who directed 1979's Alien and the 2012 kinda-prequel Prometheus, is attached to Blomkamp's new Alien as a producer.
"One thing that makes me feel good about it is that Ridley is producing it," Blomkamp said in a May 2015 interview with Empire. "He likes the idea of what I want to make."
With no footage or real story details to go on, it's still early days for the new Alien, which Fox has tentatively scheduled for a 2017 release.
"I lost somewhere between $10 million and $15 million that I invested in that game. I still don't regret it," Pitchford told IGN. "I wouldn't trade that experience for anything."
When Colonial Marines launched in February 2013, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Pitchford said he never expected to please everyone with the game, however.
"I understand that there's some people that didn't enjoy it and I'm very sorry about that," he explained. "That's the nature of entertainment--some of my favorite bands who've made some of the songs I think are the best in the world have other songs on B-sides that I completely don't care for. It's going to happen."
Pitchford went on to say that there is no truth to the claims that Gearbox used funds meant to support the development of Colonial Marines on the studio's bread-winning franchise, Borderlands.
"Some people invented this myth that if we tried it would have been good, so we must not have tried," he said. "So there's this rumor we'd embezzled money from Aliens and spent it on Borderlands. Firstly, that's absurd, and secondly, the actual truth is the opposite, which is a lot more embarrassing.
"We took a huge amount of the money that we'd made off the first Borderlands, invested it into Aliens trying to make it as good as we could, and still ended up disappointing a huge number of people," he added. "That's a whole other kind of failure. But it's all from this fundamental truth, which is we tried to do a good job and entertain people and some people didn't like it."
This isn't the first time Pitchford has responded to critics of Gearbox's games. Earlier this week during his keynote address at the Develop Conference, Pitchford said it's human nature that when some people see a nice sandcastle, they want to destroy it.
"That's their way of relating to that. It's typically a less sophisticated mind," he said. "There's a dark part of us all that likes the idea of crushing a sandcastle, but most of us will respect it and let it be. That's why we like playing video games where we can blow stuff up and no one gets hurt."
Sega on Friday released the first in-engine footage for its upcoming PC game Total War Warhammer, which is set in the fantasy universe created by Games Workship, instead of real-life historical battles of previous installments.
This footage, which you can watch below, focuses specifically on the game's "Legendary Lords" characters. Each has a unique lineup of abilities, weapons, armor, mounts, and even a distinct quest chain.
The character on display in this video is Emperor Karl Franz. Watch as he leads his men against the horde of Greenskin orcs as part of The Battle of Black Fire Pass.
Looking ahead, Sega said it will publish an extended video about this specific battle, featuring developer commentary, on July 30.
Total War Warhammer is in development at The Creative Assembly (Total War: Attila, Alien: Isolation) by way of a partnership with Warhammer license-holder Games Workshop. The game is coming to PC, though a release date has not been announced.
For a closer look at Total War Warhammer, which is the first in a trilogy, check out some images below.
A judge this week approved a $60 million settlement that paves the way for thousands of football and men's basketball players to get paid for their appearances in Electronic Arts' NCAA video games.
GameSpot sister site CBS Sports reports that U.S. District judge Claudia Wilken orally approved the combined settlement in court on Thursday.
Claims were originally levied against EA, the Collegiate Licensing Company, and the NCAA for illegally using the names and likeness of players.
Attorneys said the maximum that players can receive from the settlement is around $7,200. More than 20,000 claims have been entered so far, and the deadline has now been extended to July 31.
After the settlement is officially approved, those opposed will have a 30-day window to appeal. If the process isn't encumbered by appeals, payments could be dispatched as early as September.
An Electronic Arts representative declined to comment.
Any athlete listed on the roster of a Division 1 football or basketball team that appeared in an EA Sports video game between May 2003 and September 2013 is eligible for cash payment. More information about the claims process is available here.
Shenmue 3 has broken a Kickstarter record to become highest crowdfunded video game on the platform.
At the time of writing, the Shenmue 3 campaign has generated $5,553,470, beating the $5,545,991 that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night designer Koji Igarashi accrued for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
When placed alongside all Kickstarter projects, Shenmue 3 is the eighth most funded project, behind The Veronica Mars Movie Project ($5,702,153), Ouya ($8,596,474), and Exploding Kittens ($8,782,571).
The top three most funded projects are Pebble, at No.3 with $10,266,845, the Coolest Cooler at No.2 with $13,285,226, and Pebble Time at $20,338,986.
Shenmue series creator, Yu Suzuki, is set to host a live event to mark the ending of the Kickstarter campaign at 4 PM PST today (12 AM UK time). He will be joined by various key members of the development team.
Satoru Iwata may be gone but he is certainly not forgotten. Thousands attended a memorial this week in Kyoto, Japan for the former Nintendo president, who died Saturday at the age of 55.
Per Japanese custom, two days of funeral services were held. The Wall Street Journalreports that more than 2,600 people visited his coffin the first day, and 1,500 came the next day.
Services were held at a temple, and some in attendance even carried a 3DS. Iwata was instrumental in launching this family of portable gaming devices that have now sold hundreds of millions units.
Among those in attendance, according to Eurogamer, were Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka, Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert, and multimedia artist Baiyon. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and producer Bill Trinen also attended.
Iwata's passing comes at a major time of change for Nintendo.
Miyamoto and senior managing director Genyo Takeda are taking over for Iwata right now until Nintendo names a new president.
In his eulogy on Friday, Takeda said he and Miyamoto would aim to complete the work that Iwata began. Takeda went on to say that the seeds Iwata planted would someday grow into flowers "that will make people around the world smile."
After two hours waiting in the rain the line is finally moving - about 3000 ppl have come or so I hear pic.twitter.com/wF3E8jkarc
Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg writes on Twitter that the Xbox One actually outsold the PS4 during the week of E3 2015. Xbox One sales rose a healthy 79 percent compared to the week of E3 2014.
For June overall, Xbox One sales in 2015 jumped 51 percent compared to 2014.
In other Xbox-related news, Microsoft has announced active global Xbox Live users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) rose 22 percent during June.
Meanwhile, Xbox One backwards compatibility is off to a quick start. Since it launched to Preview Program members on June 15, users have spent more than 30 million minutes playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One, Microsoft said. Xbox One backwards compatibility will roll out for all users this fall, at which time there will be "hundreds" of supported games beyond the initial lineup.
At E3 last month, Microsoft asked fans to send in pictures of their Gears of War-themed tattoos for a shot at getting a "remaster" from tattoo artist Steve Soto. The winners were chosen and they got their fresh ink at Comic-Con last weekend. Now, Microsoft has published a video about the whole thing.
Check out the video below, which is meant to promote the upcoming release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, but also includes footage of someone getting the world's first Gears of War 4 tattoo. You can also visit the dedicated Gears Ink website to see even more Gears of War tattoos.
Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10 features built-in support for the company's Siri-like, Halo-inspired digital assistant called Cortana. So what happens when you ask Cortana what she thinks of Halo?
Tomonobu Itagaki has advised Wii U owners not to use the console's GamePad to play his upcoming third-person action game, Devil's Third.
In a Facebook post, Itagaki listed out a number of "disadvantages" he believes players using a GamePad will face.
"I never wanna discount standard tab-controller," he said, "But Devil's Third is a super speedy game. So [GamePad] has the following disadvantages: Four face buttons are positioned [to be overcrowded], so you easily press the wrong button. In that case, you will die.
"Distance of two analog sticks are too far apart, so it's quite difficult for you to feel/grasp the battlefield. Devil's Third is a game you play a long time, the standard [GamePad] is too heavy for such use."
Itagaki also advised those in the media playing the game's multiplayer in advance of its release to use the Pro Controller in addition to a USB keyboard--presumably for chat functionality--instead of the GamePad, which is "not recommended."
He also provided some guidance on how to approach analysis of multiplayer before the general public have access to it.
"The multiplayer mode of Devil's Third is designed to be played by tens of thousands of players," he explained. "We understand it's going to be a very tough job to evaluate such a game. It will be much appreciated if you use your imagination to get the depth when you play the multiplayer."
"We know you are eager to hear more about Devil's Third," Nintendo of America said. "We are excited to bring the game to Wii U and will have more to share soon."
Devil's Third brings together the hack-and-slash gameplay--which Itagaki earned acclaimed for with Ninja Gaiden--and third-person shooting. The game was originally going to be published by the now-defunct publisher THQ. At the time, it was an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC game, but later shifted to become a Nintendo-exclusive.
Respected game designer and creator of the Shenmue series, Yu Suzuki, is set to host a live event to mark the ending of the Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3.
At the time of writing, the Shenmue 3 crowd-funding campaign has just 16 hours left, and Suzuki has released a video encouraging people to back the project.
"Since Shenmue 3 was announced a month has already gone by," he says. "In a matter of eight hours, we reached our goal of $2 million and rewrote the Guiness World Record for fastest game to reach $1 million.
"I believe we can make another miracle happen with Shenmue in these next 24 hours," he continued. "You and I have had a shared dream for the past 15 years. Now it's time to make our dream of Shenmue 3 a reality. "
In the final hours of the Kickstarter, Suzuki will be joined by key members of the development team to countdown to the end. The stream will be available here at 12 AM UK time (4 PM PST).
Suzuki said the game would be a "full-on Shenmue experience," and asked for $2 million in initial funding to start work on the project.
It crossed $1 million mark within a couple of hours, and just a few hours later, reached its funding goal. It has since gone on to break the $5 million milestone.
Capcom has released a number of new screenshots for Monster Hunter X, showing off a selection of monsters, as well as Palicoes.
The monsters include Dinobaruto, which has a rather large tail and swings it around to deal high damage to any unsuspecting Hunters; Zinogre, an electricity type beast; Tigrex, a flying type that can move very quickly; and Rathalos, which seasoned Monster Hunters have come to know quite intimately.
Although it is built on the same engine as the last entry in the series, Monster Hunter X will feature new monsters, actions, and attacks. It will also give players several towns and locations to play in. Some will be brand new, while others will be from previous Monster Hunter games.
Did you want to attend PAX Aus this year, but couldn't get a three-day pass to the show? We're giving readers a chance to win passes to PAX Aus 2015.
This year's PAX Aus will take place from October 30 to November 1 at the Melbourne Convention Centre. Three day passes are currently sold out, so this competition gives you a chance to win a double pass that will grant you and a friend entry into the show over the three days!
To enter this competition, simply answer the following question in 25 words or less: "What is a gaming-related attraction you would like to see at PAX Aus?"
The GameSpot AU team will pick our three favourite answers based on their creativity, and the winners will each receive two 3-day passes to PAX Aus! Competition closes on Friday July 24, so get your entries in fast.
This competition is only open to residents of Australia. All entrants must be over 18 years of age. Flights and accommodation for the event are not included in this prize package. PAX Aus tickets can alternatively be purchased from the official website.
Anyone who has recently participated in the competitive multiplayer component of Bungie's shooter, Destiny, has noticed that a lot of players are using the hand cannon Thorn. And almost everyone has coveted the Exotic rocket launcher, Gjallarhorn, at one time or another. Now, Bungie is addressing these weapons in a new balance update, reducing the effectiveness of Thorn in player vs. player matches and the damage of Gjallarhorn's cluster bombs.
In its Weekly Update, Bungie detailed the changes to the weapons coming in the next big update to Destiny. Auto rifles are specifically being addressed; the last update decreased their effectiveness in competitive multiplayer, and this patch is designed to make them more capable again.
In addition, Bungie is focusing on several specific Exotic weapons, such as Thorn and Gjallarhorn. The rocket launcher's cluster bombs will have decreased damage following the update. The change is due to Bungie's desire to prevent players from excluding others if they do not own Gjallarhorn. The developer explained, "What we did not intend, and what we unfortunately saw, was pick up Raid and Nightfall groups gating participation based on whether or not players had this weapon. Gjallarhorn was so strong that for many people it had become the only answer to getting through tough encounters, and therefore they were less willing to spend time with other players that didn't have it."
You can see the full list of changes below:
Auto Rifles: Base damage increased, damage falloff starts closer to the player, base stability slightly decreased, and damage against AI enemies increased by ten percent.
Pulse Rifles: Base damage of medium rate-of-fire pulse rifles reduced by 2.5 percent, slight reduction in base stability, and an increase in magazine size.
Scout Rifles: Base damage increased for medium to high rate-of-fire scout rifles, increase in magazine size, a reduction in hip fire accuracy, and a damage boost of five percent against AI combatants.
Hand Cannons: Damage falloff starts closer to the player, slight reduction in aim-down-sights accuracy, a reduction in hip-fire accuracy, a reduction in magazine size, and a reduction in zoom.
Shotguns: Reduction in effectiveness of shotgun perks enhancing lethality, reduction in precision damage multiplier, and a reduction in damage against AI enemies by ten percent.
FusionRifles: Reduction in range for slow-charging, high-impact fusion rifles, reduction in projectile speed, increase in accuracy for short-range fusion rifles, and a reduction in accuracy for long-range fusion rifles.
Sniper Rifles: Final Round improves precision damage only.
Rocket Launchers: Slight increase in blast radius, reduction in range of detonation of Grenades and Horseshoes perks.
Hard Light: Increase in base stability, increase in bounce count for bullets, bullets are not affected by damage falloff.
Necrochasm: Increase in base stability, increase in magazine size, Cursebringer perk will always trigger on precision kill, and an increase in radius and damage for Cursebringer explosion.
The Last Word: Reduction in range and stability, reduction in aim-down-sites range, increase in accuracy.
Thorn: Reduction in damage of Thorn's Mark of the Devourer perk to 1/3 of previous value, buff to that perk to stack up to 5 times.
Hawkmoon: Addition of stack limit to Luck in the Chamber and Holding Aces perks, increase of two round to magazine size when Holding Aces is unlocked, and Luck in the Chamber damage bonus reduction by three percent.
Ice Breaker: Increase in recharge time for round to eight seconds from five seconds.
No Land Beyond: Increase in weapon handling speed, increase in time decay of The Master perk to eight seconds, and an addition of 20 percent precision damage while The Master perk is active.
Black Hammer: Tripled recovery boost bonus for allies granted by Lord of the Wolves.
Gjallarhorn: Reduction in damage of Wolfpack Rounds
This update will be released with The Taken King, Destiny's next expansion which will launch on September 15. In addition, the update will dramatically change the quest system in the game. You can read more about the changes to bounties and quests here.
Keep an eye on GameSpot for more news about Destiny as it becomes available.
The NPD Group's monthly sales report is in, and Batman: Arkham Knight has taken the top spot for physical game sales in the United States.
The report revealed that Arkham Knight is the second best-selling game of 2015 behind Mortal Kombat X, and first if hardware bundles are included. Arkham Knight exceeded sales of 2011's Batman: Arkham City. Additionally, the NPD report notes that the PlayStation 4 version of Arkham Knight "had the highest sales for a single SKU across any Batman game since NPD has been tracking the industry."
In a statement to GameSpot, Nintendo reported that Mario Kart 8 has continued to do well, selling over 2 million units in the United States since its release last year. Splatoon sold 290,000 copies in June in the U.S. and 455,000 units total since it launched in May.
NPD reported that physical game sales were up year-over-year, too, with June 2015 having 18 percent higher sales than June 2014.
Warner Bros. Interactive remains the top publisher in 2015, with 217 percent greater sales this year than in the first half of 2014. It has published Dying Light, The Witcher 3, Mortal Kombat X, and Batman: Arkham Knight so far this year.
NPD also revealed that the PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console of the month, due in large part to the PS4's Arkham Knight bundle. Read more about each console's performance here.
The NPD Group has released its sales report for June, revealing that the PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console last month in the United States as hardware sales for the industry were up overall.
Sony also noted that PS4 "led software sales in June" and that the system "continues to lead console sales in the U.S. and globally and we would like to thank gamers worldwide for their continued dedication to the PlayStation platform."
Microsoft's statement on the report noted the 51 percent increase in Xbox One sales over June 2014 and 22 percent bump in Xbox Live users across Xbox One and Xbox 360. Otherwise, it was largely focused on other things.
"Since releasing Xbox One backward compatibility in preview on June 15, participants in the preview program have logged more than 30 million minutes playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One," said Xbox marketing VP Mike Nichols. "The 2015 Xbox One game lineup was the most awarded lineup in Xbox history at E3, with 242 nominations and 110 award wins.
"And, the new Xbox One 1 TB console was met by a strong response from fans and recently announced bundles launching this fall including the Forza Motorsport 6 limited edition bundle and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition bundle drove additional fan excitement for this holiday's offerings.
"We are grateful to our fans for continuing to choose Xbox One and we are looking forward to sharing more updates on the greatest games lineup in Xbox history at gamescom in Cologne, Germany next month."
As for Nintendo, it told GameSpot that combined sales of Wii U and 3DS are up 20 percent during the first half of 2015 as compared with the first half of 2014. As you'd expect, Nintendo attributed this largely to the New 3DS XL, as 3DS hardware sales are up 40 percent year-over-year.
Hardware sales industry-wide were up eight percent year-over-year to $313.1 million, compared with $291.1 million during the same period last year. NPD analyst Liam Callahan pointed out that it's the latest generation of home consoles that's responsible for that. "Eighth-generation consoles are leading the way with 15 percent growth over June 2014, offsetting declines in seventh-generation and portable hardware sales," he said.
Unsurprisingly, considering how many are available, hardware bundles represented a much larger chunk of overall sales compared to last year. "Hardware bundles gained share of overall hardware sales with 35 percent of sales in June 2014 rising to 82 percent of sales in June 2015," Callahan noted. "June 2015 was especially strong for hardware bundle sales as the 82 percent share of hardware attributed to bundles in June 2015 is above the [year-to-date] total of 67 percent share."
Accessories represented a major uptick year-over-year, with a 34 percent increase to $354.1 million from $297.8 million. Callahan said that this was the best-ever June for points and subscription cards, both in terms of dollars and unit sales.
Blizzard has revealed a small new tweak to the matchmaking process for Heroes of the Storm's Quick Match mode that could help to reduce the number of games that match up experienced players with newcomers.
In a post today on its forums, Blizzard outlined the new matchmaking rule: HotS now takes into account the number of Quick Match games players have played. In other words, someone who has three games under their belt will be less likely to play with or against someone who has played 300.
This is important for both types of players. While veterans might be able to offer useful tips, newbies aren't always given a fair chance to play and learn alongside other inexperienced players. Meanwhile, experienced players can be put in a frustrating position when they're matched up with someone who is unfamiliar with the most basic aspects of the game. HotS offers a more competitive, ranked mode for experienced players, Hero League, but it requires that they first own at least 10 heroes, which not everyone does.
The adjustment is already in place, so you should begin seeing an impact immediately. Blizzard noted that this isn't going to completely eliminate instances of new and veteran players being matched together. In particular, entering matchmaking with a party of players with varying levels of experience can throw things off.
One side effect of this, Blizzard said, is that it may now take longer to find a Quick Match. This is because the pool of players you're eligible to play with is now initially going to be smaller.
"While this change for Quick Match does not address all of the Heroes community's concerns about matchmaking, we are still listening to your feedback, monitoring internal data, and continuing to work on further improvements," Blizzard's post explained. "For now, we'd like to encourage you to play a few Quick Match games, and then head back here to the forums to let us know how it went."
There's apparently a community out there whose goal is to make Doom run on every platform imaginable, and now one fan has made Doom playable within itself.
That's right, there's a mod that lets you walk up to an in-game computer and play Doom, while playing Doom. YouTube user TheZombieKiller posted the video showing off the mod, which runs in the GZDoom port of the game using what appears to be an arcade machine mod.
The user also posted a video showing Wolfenstein 3D running within Doom.
This is just the latest in a series of increasingly strange ports of the 1993 game. Last year, a group of Australian hackers made Doom playable via ATM. Some modders later decided to get the game running on an Inkjet printer.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone gets the game running on a refrigerator or inside of a different classic game. For those who want a more traditional experience, a Doom reboot is coming sometime next year for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Forza Horizon 2 players on Xbox One can expand the selection of available in-game cars for free right now, but only for the next eight days.
A pair of Porsches--the 2012 Porsche 911 GT2 RS and the 2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo--can both be downloaded for free in Horizon 2. However, you will need to first download the Forza Hub app from the Xbox One's store. If you already have it installed, you can simply open it up and look for the icon promising you "Two Free Porsches." That'll direct you back to the system's store, where you can download the cars.
2012 Porsche 911 GT2 RS
Last month, Microsoft released a Porsche-focused expansion for Horizon 2. Part of this included new achievements, three of which will be available to all players by downloading these new cars.
If you're interested in the freebies, you'll need to get to grab them by Friday, July 24. The Forza Hub app is fairly useful for Forza fans, if only as an easy way to access Forza Rewards, which can get you in-game currency and cars for being a devoted player of the series.
15 years after its release, some of the creators of Deus Ex have gotten together to play through their acclaimed creation.
Project director Warren Spector, writer Sheldon Pacotti, and lead programmer Chris Norden are featured in the new, nearly hour-long video. The three offer various fun tidbits of information while trying to remember how to play--Spector notes it's been 14 years since he last touched it.
In the first few minutes alone, there's some interesting information shared, like the red crowbar being an homage to Half-Life, and the fact that much of the development team wanted to remove the pistol. Spector says this was because it was deemed "so useless," but it remained his favorite weapon. This is because even though "it was kind of weak, it forced you to be clever. You had to use it with explosive barrels and just get really clever with it. It wasn't really high-powered, which I thought was a lot of fun."
There's also talk of how none of the cutscenes are pre-rendered, in part because the game was already filling up its CD, and the fact that it may have been the first game with real-time lip syncing. Later, Norden laments the inclusion of gas clouds in one area, prompting Spector to ask, "Why did we make any of this this hard?"
Despite some criticism about the available deals, Amazon's special Prime Day sales event--meant to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary--was a big success. The online retail behemoth announced on Thursday that it sold more total items on Prime Day, July 15, than its biggest Black Friday on record.
Shoppers bought a total of 34.4 million items on Prime Day, which is 18 percent more than Black Friday 2014. This is a particularly noteworthy achievement, considering the savings were available only to Prime members, who pay $99/year for a subscription.
According to Amazon's internal data, the retailer sold 398 items per second, while total worldwide orders rose 266 percent over July 15, 2014. Of course, a significant year-on-year rise was to be expected considering the significant push Amazon made relative to last year.
It's also not very surprising to learn that Amazon plans to hold another Prime Day next year.
"Going into this, we weren't sure whether Prime Day would be a one-time thing or if it would become an annual event," Amazon said in a statement. "After yesterday's results, we'll definitely be doing this again."
Amazon also noted that July 15 saw "more new members try Prime worldwide than any single day in Amazon history."
Below are some Prime Day highlights for the US and worldwide.
Prime Day highlights from the US:
Members ordered tens of thousands of Fire TV Sticks in one hour, making it the fastest-selling deal on an Amazon device ever
Fire tablet sales on Amazon exceeded sales on Black Friday last year
Members ordered thousands of e-readers and thousands of Echos in just 15 minutes
56,000 Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy sets
47,000 Televisions sold, which was 1300% year-over-year growth
41,000 Bose Headphones, compared to 8 the previous Wednesday
28,000 Rubbermaid 42-Piece Easy Find Lid Food Storage Sets, compared to 428 the previous Wednesday
24,000 Instant Pot 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cookers, compared to 182 the previous Wednesday
14,000 iRobot Roomba 595 Pet Vacuum Cleaning Robots, compared to 1 the previous Wednesday
12,000 Fifty Shades of Grey Unrated Edition on Blu-ray, compared to 121 the previous Wednesday
10,000 Meguiar's X2020 Supreme Shine Microfiber Towels, compared to 244 the previous Wednesday
If you're hoping to try out Rainbow Six: Siege ahead of release without committing to a preorder, you're in luck.
Right now, Curse is offering access codes for the upcoming Siege beta. The only requirement is that you have a Curse account, which you can get for free at its website.
Once you have an account, you can grab a code at Curse's giveaway page. You'll then redeem this on the official Rainbow Six website, where you can choose which of the game's three platforms--PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One--you want to play on. There's no telling how many codes there are to go around, so if you want one, you should act fast.
The beta isn't set to begin until September 24. Initially, the only way to guarantee yourself access was to preorder, though Ubisoft also has a waiting list you can sign up for on its website in the hopes of getting a key.
Alternatively, as noted in the video above, Ubisoft has partnered with Extra Life, and by donating $6 or more to the charity, you can get yourself a key.
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