Bungie today released a hot fix for Destiny, the most noteworthy aspect of which centers around the recently added Three of Coins item.
Most of update 2.0.0.4 deals with resolving various bugs. These include an issue with Year 1 Strikes not dropping Uncommon and Rare gear properly and another involving players who reached level 40 without first turning in the quest for hitting level 30.
But it's the change to the Three of Coins that should be the most impactful part of the update. The Three of Coins is a new consumable item sold by Xur each week which increases the likelihood of an Exotic engram dropping from your next Ultra kill. Bungie says the item "now provides a smaller increase in Exotic engram drop chance when rapidly killing Ultras."
This is likely in direct response to a technique that emerged last week shortly after the Three of Coins went on sale for the first time. This involved players killing a particular Strike boss with an explosive that also killed them; this allowed them to return to a recent checkpoint and kill the boss again, making it easy to rack up Ultra kills--and quickly earn Exotics.
If you're using the Three of Coins in a more normal fashion, it sounds as if you shouldn't expect to see a difference. "When used with more time between kills (for example, on Strike bosses), they remain as effective as before," Bungie's weekly update explains. It also looks as if there are more ways than we previously realized to earn Exotics.
The full patch notes follow below.
Destiny 2.0.0.4 patch notes:
General
Fixed an issue with Year 1 Moments of Triumphs in which Golden Chest node completions were disappearing after TTK release
Activities
Quests
Fixed an issue where players who reached Level 40 before turning in the Reach Level 30 objective did not properly receive the Level 40 quest
Fixed an issue where the quest "High Value Targets" did not correctly reward Legendary Marks upon completion
Strikes
Fixed an issue where Year 1 Strikes were not dropping Uncommon and Rare quality gear as intended
World
Some treasure chests in the Dreadnaught are now in a location that only allow them to be looted once per spawn
Xur
Three of Coins now provides a smaller increase in Exotic Engram drop chance when rapidly killing Ultras
Inventory
Dismantling leveled-up Exotics now have a reduced chance to produce 2 Exotic Shards
Destiny's Taken King expansion has been out for more than a week now, and some fireteams have slayed its newest enemy, Oryx, and reached the new level cap. So what's left to do in the game?
"Plenty," according to Bungie. The Taken King is just one part of Destiny's "Year Two" content, the developer said as part of its latest Bungie Weekly Update. You might have killed Oryx, but even in death he is not fully defeated. "Oryx still has more tricks secreted away up his sleeves and aboard his fortress," Bungie said.
Bungie teased that there will be more rewards to earn that the developer has not yet announced. Some of these secrets, however, were discovered earlier this week, Bungie said, perhaps referencing this hidden quest and the exotic sniper rifle reward it delivers.
"We could illuminate the path for you, but that would be too easy," the developer said about the game's other secrets. "Rather, we prefer for you to emerge as the heroes in your living, social world. We just built the place. You're the legends.You want to know what riches abound in your realm? Fan out and find each other on the Internet. If there is one thing this community is good at, it's kicking off a gold rush."
In addition to new secrets already in the game that players have not discovered yet, it's possible that Bungie will support Destiny with additional traditional expansions. Destiny Year One saw the release of The Dark Below and House of Wolves expansions, while Bungie's tease that "Destiny Year Two has more in store for you than The Taken King" certainly suggests that more content is on the way in some form or another.
[UPDATE] 2K has released a new statement on the matter, explaining that BioShock for iOS has only been temporarily delisted. It will return once a compatibility issue with iOS 8.4 is worked out.
"2K recently provided inaccurate information to customers surrounding removal of BioShock for iOS from the App Store," a representative said. "BioShock is currently incompatible with iOS versions 8.4 and higher, and as such, is temporarily removed for purchase from the App Store. 2K is fixing the compatibility issue, and when resolved, will place BioShock back on the App Store for purchase. Customers who already own BioShock may continue playing the game with iOS version 8.3 or earlier. 2K regrets the initial customer service error and looks forward to delivering an updated version of BioShock for iOS in the near future."
BioShock for iOS has been completely delisted, meaning people who already downloaded it cannot install it again. A TouchArcade forum user spoke with a 2K Support representative, who said the removal of the game was "a developer decision." Refunds are available through Apple.
GameSpot has followed up with 2K in an attempt to learn more about why BioShock for iOS was removed.
The game aimed to bring the "full experience" of the console/PC title to mobile devices, and included touch controls and Bluetooth game controller support. Overall, 2K described BioShock for iOS as a "true AAA gaming experience." The visuals, however, took a hit when making the jump to smaller screens.
Electronic Arts executive Lucy Bradshaw, a 23-year company veteran who most recently served as senior vice president of The Sims studio Maxis, has left the company. The news was announced Thursday in a blog post written by EA CEO Andrew Wilson.
"Today we are announcing that Lucy Bradshaw is moving on from Electronic Arts," Wilson said. "Through 23 years with our company, Lucy has brought an incredible passion for games and our player community. I want to thank Lucy for her dedication to EA, her contributions to Maxis, and the creative spirit she infused in every one of her teams and projects. We wish her the best as she takes on her next adventure."
No further details about what Bradshaw may do next were made available. In addition, today's statement did not include a quote from Bradshaw. Maxis general manager Rachel Franklin will take over leadership of EA's Maxis studio going forward.
Wilson also stressed that Maxis franchises, including The Sims and SimCity, "[have] never had a bigger and more engaged player base." He also said he anticipates these franchises growing bigger in the future.
To do that, Maxis is being re-assigned to EA's wider mobile division. "The collaboration between these teams will help us unlock new ways for Maxis IP to connect with players wherever they want to play," Wilson said. The executive added that, despite this move, Maxis franchises will continue to be supported on PC.
Bradshaw officially joined EA in 1997 when EA acquired Maxis. She came to EA from LucasArts, where she oversaw the development on games like Star Wars: Rebel Assault and Monkey Island 2. Before that, she worked at Activision.
Virtual reality support is coming to Minecraft next year, Oculus and developer Mojang announced this morning.
During the Oculus Connect conference today, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey talked about the time he spent playing Minecraft in lieu of college homework. This in turn led to him revealing that the sandbox building game is coming to Oculus.
Mojang's Lydia Winters then appeared on-screen to share a few of the particulars. The Windows 10 Edition of Minecraft will add Oculus compatibility sometime next spring. This version of the game will be available from both the Windows Store and Oculus Store; you can also still get Windows 10 Edition for free if you own the previous computer version. Keep in mind that this VR version of Minecraft is not what Microsoft showed at this year's E3.
Further details regarding VR support weren't shared. We'll have more information as it's made available.
When Ridley Scott's Prometheus was released in 2012, the veteran director described it as "sharing strands of Alien's DNA", referring to his 1979 sci-fi horror classic. With the news that the Prometheus sequel will start production early next year, expectations were that the film would similarly exist within the Alien universe, without being directly connected to it.
However, in an interview with HeyUGuys to promote his new film The Martian, Scott has revealed the title of the sequel--and it seems that it might have more to do with Alien than first thought. According to Scott, the film will be titled Alien: Paradise Lost. Check out the clip below:
The new title is especially surprising, given comments that Scott made to German site FilmFutter this week. When asked if the second Prometheus would connect to Alien, he said: "Yes, but it won't be in the next one. It will be in the one after this one, or maybe even a fourth film before we get back into the Alien franchise. The whole point of it is to explain the Alien franchise and to explain the how and why of the creation of the Alien itself."
Earlier this month, Scott confirmed that star Michael Fassbender would return for the movie, and that production was scheduled to start in February 2016, in either Australia or the US.
Quite where this leaves Neill Blomkamp's direct sequel Alien 5 is unclear--in August it was revealed that production had moved back to make way for the Prometheus sequel, and there has been no word since about the status of the project.
Today during Oculus Connect, Samsung announced a new version of its Gear VR headset aimed at helping mobile virtual reality reach a wider audience than ever before. Executive Peter Koo appeared on stage during the opening ceremony to reveal a $99 Gear VR headset that will launch later this year.
The new headset will work with all of Samsung's 2015-model smartphones, and is described as lighter and more comfortable than the existing "Innovator Edition." That model sells for $200 and requires a Galaxy Note 4/S6. Samsung is calling the new model simply Gear VR, and it will launch in November, in time for the Black Friday shopping bonanza. That means the new headset should be out before November 27.
Also during the Oculus Connect keynote today, Oculus announced some new apps coming to Oculus Video in the time ahead. Available later today will be an Netflix app, while other video streaming apps coming in the future include those from Fox, Lionsgate, Tivo, Vimeo, and Hulu. In addition, a Twitch app is coming soon that will let people watch streams, and even see avatar versions of their friends in a virtual room.
Check out the image below to see how it looks (without the avatars).
Oculus Connect continues with more presentations later today and tomorrow. Check back later for more.
We'd previously heard about one of Morales' Heroic abilities. Her other Heroic and the rest of her abilities have now been outlined, and she sounds like she has the potential to be an excellent single-target healer.
Basic Abilities
Healing Beam (Q): Heal a single ally every half second for as long as they remain near you. Pressing Q allows you to reselect your target, or you can cancel the channeling by activating your trait. There is no cooldown on this ability.
Safeguard (W): Reduce the damage the targeted ally takes for three seconds.
Displacement Grenade (E): Throw out a grenade that explodes as soon as it comes into contact with an enemy, dealing damage and knocking nearby enemies back.
Heroics
Medivac Dropship (R): Select a spot to travel to, causing you to enter a dropship. Teammates can then join you, and after four seconds, you'll travel to the chosen area.
Stim Drone (R): Select an ally to receive a 75 percent increase in attack speed and 25 percent additional movement speed for ten seconds.
Trait
Caduceus Reactor: After going four seconds without taking damage, regenerate 3 percent of your max health every second.
The trait, in particular, makes Morales especially intriguing, as she could prove to be a very frustrating opponent if teams aren't able to kill her during encounters. The Medivac Dropship may also end up being invaluable, which is likely the reason for the four-second waiting period.
Lt. Morales is available beginning today on Heroes of the Storm's public test servers, meaning she should be available in the live game soon. When she is made available, you'll be able to make her look like Samus.
In the lead up to NBA 2K16's release, 2K has released yet another trailer for its basketball sim. This one contains a brief, excellent moment that is hopefully indicative of the way 2K16 captures the personalities of the NBA's players.
Whether you like him or not, there's no denying Miami's Chris Bosh is a first-rate photobomb artist. If you've watched enough Heat games over the past few years, you've no doubt seen an interview with one of his teammates where Bosh suddenly pops into the camera shot, often with a creepy face.
That's precisely what happens at the 1:26 mark of today's video (above), when Bosh pops up during a Doris Burke interview with Dwyane Wade.
At this point, there's no telling how frequently this will happen during Heat interviews. (Hopefully not too often, so as to not ruin the effect.) We also don't know how many other signature moments like this we'll see in the game.
Several of the expected on-court ones, like Harden's stirring the pot gesture, are seen during the trailer, but what about the smaller things that only more devoted NBA fans will notice? Will the Warriors bench mock Blake Griffin mistakes? Will Steve Ballmer look as if he's ready to explode? Will Robert Sacre do Robert Sacre things?
As announced previously, the beta will let players try out the 40-player Walker Assault mode, a Survival mission, and the new Drop Zone gametype. Players can also check out the new Battlefront "Companion" experience at the game's website during the beta period. One part of this is a strategic card game called Base Command that lets players earn in-game credits that they can then use to unlock weapons and Star Cards in the full Battlefront game.
Gameplay progress, achievements, characters, character data, and other value or status indicators will not carry forward from the beta to the full game. In addition, since it's a beta, you may run into some "errors/defects," EA cautioned.
Battlefront launches on November 17, about a month before Disney's Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens hits theaters in December. EA is also releasing tie-in DLC for Battlefront based on the movie.
Xbox One owners with an EA Access membership will get to play Battlefront first, as it will be available through the subscription program a full five days early.
Being formulaic, despite the word's negative connotations, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's failing to iterate on a formula in a meaningful way that's the real problem. Many of gaming's most beloved series--The Legend of Zelda and Grand Theft Auto to name two--adhere to entrenched design frameworks. What distinguishes them is that they're usually taken apart and reconstructed to accommodate distinct, and sometimes ingenious, ideas.
With Assassin's Creed, however, Ubisoft's objective to keep the series fresh and interesting tends to clash with its priority to meet a brutally tight annual release schedule. Such an endeavour wouldn't be possible had Ubisoft not split its Assassin's Creed projects across a whole fleet of games studios, and you have to admire the publisher and its dev teams for never missing a holiday release window. That requires an unbelievable amount of planning and hard work. But ultimately, for fans of the series, the outcome each year is a game which tends to take only small steps forward.
It's become easy to forget that the Assassin's Creed franchise has delivered some truly exceptional moments, but in the public consciousness a yearly series is only as good as its last title, and Unity wasn't Ubisoft's finest hour in that regard. Will Syndicate put the series back on the right path? It's hard to tell.
Based on a recent hands-on, Assassin's Creed Syndicate is, at the very least, bolder in its delivery of creating a new hero. Ubisoft has been chasing the shadow of Ezio Auditore since he was laid to rest in Revelations, colouring all its protagonists with that unmistakable shade of the free-spirited Italian. Ubisoft huffed and puffed, but the likes of Edward and Arno just didn't capture the imagination of the series' fanbase in the same way. Syndicate, however, stands out because it has split its heroes into a brother and sister, and their relationship lies at the heart of the story.
That's not to say that the singular acts of heroism and roguish behaviour are absent; you will still have plenty of those. But the moments in which Evie and Jacob's personalities jostle against each other has become a far more interesting approach than triumphantly sticking blades into throats, or pegging bad guys with zingers.
During one scene, Evie is formulating a plan with fellow assassin Henry Green to disrupt Templar control. Jacob, as if on skates, slides into the space between them to hijack the conversation, turning talk towards The Rooks, a group he's intent on establishing just so he can be a gang leader. The scornful look Evie shoots at him creates a moment of genuine comedy I didn't expect.
On their own, Jacob and Evie represent two familiar archetypes, but when together they spark something more. While Jacob's personal ambitions distract him from the task at hand, Evie remains focused on freeing London. Although I didn't get to see if and how this develops, there's opportunity for the playful sibling dynamic to become something more tumultuous. When asked, Ubisoft wouldn't say whether Evie and Jacob could end up on different sides of the fight, but their relationship always feels close to capitulation.
The differences between Jacob and Evie can also manifest in the way they play. The game ties character progression together, so ability points are unlocked for both characters at the same time, keeping their development in lockstep. This means players can craft each character to serve a specific purpose.
During infiltration missions, the contrast between the two characters was at its most pronounced. Jacob's suitability for aggressive approaches to combat allowed me to indulge in the game's more deadly weapons. I used a mixture of guns, poison, and throwing knives to take out enemies or cause commotion. Occasionally, I'd get into isolated skirmishes whilst trying to push my way through blockades.
As Evie, her robust stealth skillset enabled me to sneak around without arousing suspicion. And in the situations where I did set off an alert, I could slip away with ease. During one mission I was tasked with finding and rescuing Henry Green, which I accomplished by sneaking into enemy territory and gathering information--all without alerting anyone to my presence--before heading into the sewer system to confront his kidnapper.
The distinction between the two protagonists didn't feel as noticeable during combat. Perhaps this element requires players to unlock more skills before the divergence becomes clearer, but when it came to trading blows, the disparities felt minimal. Evie is slightly quicker on the draw and Jacob hits a little harder, but the the moment-to-moment interactions and the general rhythm was the same. Autopilot kicks in. This isn't Rocksteady's Batman and Catwoman.
Assassin's Creed is a series that, for a long time, used parkour as a central gameplay pillar. Syndicate provides more opportunities than ever to avoid it. The new rope dart seamlessly moves Jacob and Evie from street level to the roof of smaller building at the tap of the button, removing the need to clamber up ledges and shimmy up walls.
On the one hand, this feels like it compromises a part of the series' identity, but on the other, it also remedies many problems with Unity's upwards and downwards mechanics and animations. Manually climbing around in our Syndicate demo felt, at times, awkward. On more than a few occasions I circled all the way around a window, before eventually going through it.
Once atop a building, Jacob and Evie are able to fire the rope dart at distant structures and zipline around the map. But unlike with the Batman: Arkham series, there wasn't a sense that you could transfer momentum from ground to air. You can't, it seems, chain together swings and grapples to fall-in-style across greater distances.
Such an addition would make getting around more empowering, and allow me to appreciate London's 19th Century skyline on my terms. It would also be more convenient, as the limitations of the rope dart meant that I was unable to ascend particularly high buildings. Nor could I zip up half-way and climb the remainder. Instead I resigned to the fact that I had to make the long climb, from floor to ceiling, up many of London's towering buildings. In the final game, traversal may develop to become more involved as the game progresses. For now, it's a question that hangs in the air.
Horse and carriage, meanwhile, appears to be the quickest way to get from point-to-point, but carries the risk of accidentally knocking into trouble, which can often escalate into ridiculous ramming battles or fisticuffs atop moving carriages.
A great deal of my preview play time was spent speeding around London's streets, weaving in between oncoming traffic. Inevitably, there would be a moment where I'd slam into unsuspecting officers of the law or trample a random enemy, after which everything kicks off.
Vehicles might just be the most significant shakeup in the Assassin's Creed formula since the series briefly flirted with high-sea piracy. That obvious comparison to Black Flag's ships aside, the ancillary gameplay mechanics feel like they intersect more naturally with vehicles. You can hop them like moving platforms and leap off onto a building. You can run along a rooftops and dive back into traffic, catching the edge of a passing vehicle and scurrying up onto its roof. You can engage in hand-to-hand combat while precariously balanced on speeding motors, or fire a gun at your pursuers and watch as the horses break out into pure havoc. You can even pile into passing carriages to go incognito and escape tails, or stuff in bodies in them for transport. It's one of the new ideas that feels both fresh and fleshed out.
How all these new changes come together will be the acid test. Based on our limited slice of the game, it's unclear how these mechanics will coalesce with the series' more traditional combat and platforming, or indeed if they hold up on their own. But whether these experiments fail or not, they are nevertheless a meaningful and distinct spin on the Assassin's Creed formula. That must be worth something.
The FIFA 16 demo released earlier this month was downloaded 6.4 million times across all platforms, representing a new record for a FIFA demo, Electronic Arts announced today. That figure was achieved in the 10 days following its release on September 8.
By comparison, last year's FIFA 15 demo was downloaded 5.5 million times, which was a record at the time for any EA Sports game. This year's demo was available on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PC.
FIFA 16's demo also included a sneak peek at the game's new Ultimate Team Draft mode--and it was popular. Combined with figures from the free EA Access trial version of FIFA 16, gamers played more than 13 million matches before the game was even released publicly on September 22.
"FIFA needed a year like this. Without serious competition from Konami's PES in the past few years (until now), and with Ultimate Team keeping players playing and paying all year round, there's been no pressing motivation to ring the changes," we wrote in our review. "Annual titles will always evolve gradually, but recent progress has felt glacial. FIFA 16 can be stubborn and stifling, but it feels gloriously new, and having to learn fresh strategies and nuances in a game series like this is an almost-forgotten pleasure."
For more on the critical reception to FIFA 16, check out this review roundup.
Microsoft has announced October 2015's lineup of free games for Xbox One and Xbox 360. Provided you're an Xbox Live subscriber, you can get four free games next month spread across the two platforms.
Even if you don't have an Xbox 360, it's probably still worth picking up the last-generation games, as they could one day be made playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.
GameStop has rolled out a new offer that lets you get a new, special edition Xbox One controller for cheap. Now through October 25, GameStop will give you $35 credit when you trade in an Xbox One or DualShock 4 controller and apply the credit toward the purchase of a Lunar White or any Halo 5: Guardians controller.
The Lunar White controller, available now, sells for $65, meaning you can get it for $30 with the credit. The Halo 5 controllers, themed around Master Chief and Spartan Locke, normally go for $70. Apply the credit and you can get them for $35. These controllers, however, don't arrive until October.
For a closer look at these new controllers, click through the images in the gallery above. Looking for more gaming deals? Check out GameSpot's latest roundup of the best offers.
One of the missions in Dying Light's upcoming expansion, The Following, will be set in an abandoned post office with messages strewn across the floor. But developer Techland isn't writing those messages itself. Instead, the Polish studio is asking fans to send in their own ideas.
Techland's design team will pick their favorite messages and implement them in the game, giving full credit to the people who wrote them. The developer is looking for messages of distress, horror, or bravery. Basically, if you were trapped in a zombie-infested world, what would you write? And who would you send it to? You can submit your ideas--200 words max--to the Dying Light team on Facebook.
"We've already seen what fans can do when creating awesome stuff for us," producer Tymon Smektala said in a statement. "So we found a cool little way to let them actually be a part of the story and have their efforts and names appear in our game forever. Just no dick pics, please."
Submissions are open until October 1. The full terms and conditions for the contest are available here.
Microsoft's upcoming Halo 5: Guardians breaks from series tradition in a major way due to the fact that the shooter will not support split-screen. Now, Microsoft's top gaming boss, Phil Spencer, has shed some more light on that controversial decision. He tells GameSpot in a new interview that the "vast majority" of people, at least those whose consoles are connected to Xbox Live, are playing co-op across Xbox Live, not locally.
"In the end, the teams make decisions based on the bar that they want to hit for complexity of what they're going to run on a single box," he said. "We see the robustness of what Xbox Live is today and where people are playing across Xbox Live--you at your house, me at our house. We know that's the vast majority of the co-op play. With Halo 5, the team really wanted to focus on making that experience great, both visually on the screen that you're looking at, and all the systems in place."
Spencer went to say he he "loved" split-screen in previous Halo games and acknowledged that "it was kind of how multiplayer in Halo was born." But times have changed.
"I think the team made a trade-off based on what they see happening in the market today and what they wanted to do with their game," Spencer explained. "I love the nostalgia of the couch co-op of what Halo did in the past, but I also know in the realities of the day with people's busy lives, it's not as easy to get everybody in the same physical place. It's one of the advantages that Xbox Live obviously offers."
The Halo 5 release date is set for October 27 exclusively for Xbox One. GameSpot recently played a portion of Halo 5's campaign. Watch some videos and get our thoughts here.
What do you make of Halo 5 dropping split-screen? Let us know in the comments below.
Activision on Thursday announced the next evolution of competitive Call of Duty. The Call of Duty World League is described as a "new era for esports." Specifically, it's a global league run by Activision that the company says will appeal to hardcore players and casual fans alike--and big money awaits the winners.
There will be two divisions in the Call of Duty World League--Pro and Challenge. Participants in each will compete for a spot at this year's Call of Duty Championship. As you'd expect, the game they'll be playing is Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which launches on November 6.
Teams from around the world will compete in the Pro division series, which begins its tournament rounds in January 2016. The Challenge division, meanwhile, aims to offer a path for "amateur and other aspiring" players. The winning squads from the Challenge division will get to attend the Call of Duty Championship, too, which will be held this year in fall 2016.
"While our global fan base of players range from casual to professional, they all share a desire to compete- some at the highest levels," Treyarch's Mark Lamia said in a statement. "With Call of Duty: Black Ops III, we are introducing a series of new features, like Arena mode that not only accommodate that diversity of play styles, but also let players see how they stack up against one another."
The $3 million prize pool is spread across series payouts, LAN events, and the Call of Duty Championship itself. Last year's Call of Duty Championship saw players competing for a share of a $1 million prize purse. More details about how to compete and watch the upcoming tournaments will be announced later.
With the latest season of the hit zombie drama The Walking Dead due to start next month, a new piece of casting has been confirmed. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that British actor Tom Payne will play Jesus, one of the key characters in Robert Kirkman's comic book.
Jesus is the nickname for Paul Monroe, and he has been a regular member of the comic's ensemble since issue 91, in November 2011. The character is currently a resident of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, the fortified town that the group in the TV show have set up home in.
The comic version of Monroe played a big part in the battle against the villainous Negan and his men, known as the Saviors. This has led to some speculation that Negan might be introduced to the show in the near future, something that fans have been anticipating for some time.
In February this year, Walking Dead showrunner Scott M. Gimple told the The Hollywood Reporter that it would be "challenging" to introduce Negan to the current storyline of the show.
"It's such a story turn in the comic," he said. "There's a particular story in that arc that I'm very excited for. But because we know where we're going, we have some opportunities to play around with it and put some things in that will lead up to [Negan's appearence] in different ways."
The Walking Dead Season Six will premiere on AMC on October 11, 2015.
The game is also coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but release dates for those versions have not been announced. They are penciled in for sometime in the second half of 2015.
Fatshark has also announced the minimum PC requirements for Vermintide, which you can see below.
OS: Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q9500 @ 2.83GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 940
Graphics: GeForce GTX 460 or Radeon HD 5770 /w 1GB VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 20 GB available space
Vermintide is set in the the besieged city of Ubersreik. Players choose from five unique heroes with different play-styles, abilities, gear, and personalities, and must work together to fight off the rat-like Skaven enemies. The game is set in the End Times of the Warhammer universe, and Fatshark CEO Martin Wahlund says Vermintide will "stay true" to the well-established lore, including familiar foes and locations.
The day has come. Rainbow Six Siege's Closed Beta starts today, September 24, across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Ubisoft started inviting people in at 9 AM EDT, but if you didn't get in right away, no need to panic. The developer plans to add more people to the mix in various waves throughout the day.
The Siege beta runs through Monday, September 28. To get in, you'll need to preorder the game or acquire a key through other means.
Ubisoft says the main goal for the Closed Beta is to test the game's online infrastructure and matchmaking systems on a wider level than the previous alpha testing periods. This is a beta, so some connectivity and matchmaking problems are to be expected here and there.
"Known issues, emergency outages, and server maintenance times will all be communicated on the official forums and subreddit so please pay attention to those places for the latest info," Ubisoft said. A list of current known issues is available here.
The developer also points out that the content available in Siege's closed beta--14 operators, three maps, and three modes--is just a "small sample of the full scope of the game."
Sega has updated the Total War: Arena closed beta with new content.
Titled the "Fury of Arminius" the update is described as the "biggest to date" and adds a new faction, commander, and map.
The commander, Arminius, leads a horde of barbarians, who use "stealth, subterfuge, and lightning hit-and-run tactics" in combat.
Rubicon, the new map introduced in the update is "the first river crossing map" and offers "quick access to enemy camps at the threat of being caught out in the open."
"Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon River marked a pivotal point in ancient history," Sega explains. "This new map with its open terrain and treacherous crossing marks new tactical opportunities for all factions - Roman, Greek and Barbarian alike."
The update also makes tweaks to the game balance, improves performances, and implements fixes based on player feedback.
Total War: Arena is a free-to-play, team-based strategy game where two teams of 10 players engage in large-scale battles. If you want to try the game before it's released, you can sign up to join the closed alpha.
Last month I said that Rise of the Tomb Raider features heroine Lara Croft in the most versatile adventure yet; players can go "Metal Gear" with Lara, relying on stealth to navigate certain areas, or go in guns blazing and taking out every enemy in her path. The game presents you with a plethora of tools to get through areas, whether it be strewn lanterns and liquor bottles to fashion Molotovs or a ring of trees around an encampment for the perfect aerial kill setup. Lara is growing into the resourceful, strong tomb raider we remember her being, but her path to that power is entirely up to you in her latest game.
I recently got hands-on time with the first three hours of Rise of the Tomb Raider, which pack in a ton of tutorial and story setup--but this isn't a bad thing. The game doesn't waste any time giving you the narrative framework and essentials of combat and crafting, which I appreciate because it lets you dive right in from there, unhindered. In between stretches of gameplay you're treated to some quite beautifully wrought cutscenes depicting Lara's latest struggle and the obstacles she must overcome.
Rise of the Tomb Raider's menu features an image of Lara's desk--the desk she has inherited from her late father. The desktop is stacked high with books, and the wall above it is a tangled maze of newspaper clippings, torn pages from textbooks, and notes scrawled in Lara's hand. "Look closer, Lara!" reads a sticky note taped to a photocopy of an ancient drawing of knights on horseback. Rise of the Tomb Raider's primary adventure focuses on Lara completing her father's work, following the footsteps of the historian Lord Croft into the depths of a centuries-old search to find the secret of youth. Tailing Lord Croft and now Lara is Trinity, an ancient organization bent on finding the secret of youth and using it to better the world--or so they say.
While the physical journey is an arduous challenge itself, it's the emotional journey Lara is taking in Rise of the Tomb Raider that adds power to the narrative. Lara's father was chasing a myth, or so people thought, and in life it seems that Lara didn't support his obsession. But now, with Lord Croft gone and her appetite for adventure on the rise, Lara feels compelled to finish the family work. Her insistence on following Lord Croft's footsteps feels like the result of two things: her inability to return to a normal life after the events on Yamatai, and her need to honor her father and make peace for her distance from him by completing what he started. It's beautiful and sad, and this thread runs through everything in Rise of the Tomb Raider, down to the way in which Lara, like her father, narrates her audio diaries.
In addition to these emotional charges, Lara carries something else with her--something a little more dangerous. There's a moment early in the game when she's in her apartment, and someone is trying to open the door. Her immediate reaction is to grab her ice pick and wait beside the door for the intruder to enter. This moment struck me: rather than run or hide, she grabs her weapon and waits. She's become hardened by her experiences and driven to complete her new adventure at all costs, and it's this moment in which we can catch a brief glimpse of the classic Lara Croft--bold, strong, and confident in her choices.
But it's certainly not the first moment in the game where we see Lara growing into her role as the tomb raider. The first thing you do in the game is the mountain climbing sequence seen in demos and trailers earlier this year. You guide Lara, following her friend Jonah, up an icy mountain, avoiding falling chunks of ice and climbing precariously crumbly walls with her climbing axe. The entire event moves very quickly, and it's easy to miscalculate a jump or when to deploy your ice pick and send Lara to her death. It's actually quite brilliant, because in placing this tough, trying sequence right at the beginning of the game, developer Crystal Dynamics succeeds into bringing you right to the edge of your seat and then putting you through your paces immediately in a trial by fire. I didn't realize until I was halfway through the sequence that I was holding my breath. It's a very well-orchestrated event and has the climbing and moving tutorial built right into it, so not only must you get Lara out of there to proceed but you really have to pay attention.
Once you're out in the wild world of Rise of the Tomb Raider and free to explore, you gain access to another set of tools to ensure you have lots to do without getting lost. Clicking the right thumbstick calls up Lara's survival instinct, which temporarily highlights mission objectives and objects you can collect to craft in a golden light. This came in handy because I was constantly running off the main story track to do other things, like solving puzzles in optional tombs (they are back, and there are lots of them), collecting animal skins and mushrooms to craft poisonous arrows, or assisting NPCs by taking down enemy communication towers. In the three hours I had with the game I barely scratched the surface of what I could do in each area, and spent a lot of time messing around on ziplines and stealthily sneaking around practicing headshots with my bow in addition to completing side missions.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a playground, and the more you do, the better you do by Lara. Fighting enemies and crafting earn Lara skill points, which can be attributed to abilities on three separate branches of Lara's skill tree: the Brawler, Hunter, and Survivor. These are self explanatory: the Brawler tree is for combat abilities and how much damage you can deal and take; the Hunter tree is for long range weapon skills; and the Survivor tree focuses on Lara's ability to recognize and read relics, craft weapons, gear and ammo, and how much damage she'll take when falling from heights. I focused on beefing up her Brawler skills, and when I realized I was using up more ammo that I should, I picked a Survivor skill that allowed me to create poisonous bombs to booby trap corpses with. Each tree is designed to make her tougher in a different way, and there's enough variety in each to make you really feel like the Lara you grow is "My Lara."
Driven by her need to atone for neglecting her father's dreams, and perhaps because she's moved on from her former life, the Lara Croft we see in Rise of the Tomb Raider is steadily moving towards her destiny. The sheer amount of options available to you, from a deep specialized skill tree to open-ended environments and missions, means that this is not so much Lara's journey as it is yours. One way or another, she'll become the famous Tomb Raider, but how she gets there is up to you.
One of this summer's big movie success stories was Furious 7. The seventh film in the already popular Fast And Furious franchise took the series to a new level when it passed the $1.5 billion mark in terms of global box office, making it the fifth most successful film of all time.
Despite this success, producers Universal are having trouble finding a director for the next film. The Hollywood Reporter have reported that James Wan, director of Furious 7, has declined "life-altering money" to return for another instalment of the action series, opting instead to make the sequel to his 2013 horror hit The Conjuring.
Justin Lin, who directed four of the previous parts, has declined too, moving onto the latest Star Trek movie, Star Trek Beyond. Non-Stop director Jaume Collet-Serra was also approached, but was not available.
Furious 7 had a notoriously troubled production, with star Paul Walker dying in a car crash halfway through shooting. The film was completed using a rewritten script, body doubles, and elaborate effects, but The Hollywood Reporter notes that the difficulty of the two-year production period may have had a detrimental effect on Wan's health. In addition, sources for the site state that star and producer Vin Diesel was "extraordinarily difficult," questioning many of the complex action sequences in tiny detail. Representatives for both Diesel and Wan have denied that there were on-set problems.
The eighth Fast & Furious film is currently scheduled for an April 2017 release. In December last year, Deadline reported that Universal were looking for a director to helm a "multi-part production," with several movies shooting simultaneously, but it is unknown if this is still their intention.
Ahead of NBA 2K16's release next week, 2K Sports has now announced the game's top-rated overall players. There aren't many surprises here. LeBron James leads the pack with a 94 overall rating. Rounding out the top five are Stephen Curry (93), Anthony Davis (92), James Harden (92), and Kevin Durant (91).
While a lot of Microsoft's focus no doubt is on the Xbox One's upcoming November dashboard update, that doesn't mean the company is forgetting about its other Xbox portals. Microsoft has rolled out a new update for Xbox.com that adds some nice new functionality, the first of which is support for voice messages.
You can now listen to voice messages through Xbox.com. Simply click on the voice message and it will play. It doesn't look like you can send voice messages, but you can now listen to them at your desktop.
The other new feature available now on Xbox One has to do with game demos. When you search for a game through the website, the results will now let you know if a demo is available. You can then start your download directly from your browser. This is surely handy if you're undecided about a game.
Microsoft notes that these changes are a direct result of fan feedback the company received through the Xbox Feedback website. In fact, Microsoft has a Feedback page dedicated to Xbox.com.
What do you make of these new Xbox.com changes? Let us know in the comments below.
The release of Spectre, the 24th James Bond adventure, is less than two months way, and now a new action-packed behind-the-scenes featurette has been released.
Entitled The Action of Spectre, the clip focuses on some of the stunt and effects sequences that fans can expect when the film hits cinemas in November. Check it out below:
Director Sam Mendes stresses that Spectre won't rely on extensive computer generated action, unlike many of its contemporaries. "The traditional for Bond is always real stunts, real action, real explosions," he says in the clip. "And that remains the case here."
"The ultimate goal is the kind of visceral excitement you can only get from live stunts."
The video follows a similar one released in August, called The Bond Women of Spectre, which profiled the leading actresses in the new movie.
In addition, the new Bond song, titled "The Writing's on the Wall" and sung by Sam Smith, will be released on September 25. Earlier this week, a short clip gave a taste of what the new theme will sound like.
Spectre stars Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, and Ralph Fiennes. It will be released on November 6, 2015.
Joining ESPN, Turner Broadcasting has announced that it will air competitive gaming matches on TBS. Turner has partnered with WME/IMG to create its own esports league with events to be televised nationally every week on Friday evenings. The first year will focus on Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
As explained by The Hollywood Reporter, the league will be made up of two 10-week tournaments that will begin in 2016. Like traditional sports, this will include a regular season and playoffs, culminating in a championship match. The actual tournaments will take place at Turner Studios in Atlanta.
"I don't think there's been an investment at this level ever in this space," Turner Sports president Lenny Daniels said. "What it's going to do is really propel the sport. This is not just about TBS. This is about building a league from the beginning to the end and really remaking how people think about esports play, how they get involved, and how the stories are told."
On top of the televised matches every Friday evening, TBS will produce "competitive gaming content" Tuesday through Friday on digital platforms. Fans can also expect "companion content" during the actual weekly matches on Friday nights. In addition, TBS is tapping its Bleacher Report website to create "behind-the-scenes" event coverage, including player profiles and more.
WME/IMG is a huge talent agency that represents people like Lady Gaga and Peyton Manning, among many others. Earlier this year, the company acquired Global esports Management, a talent agency for competitive gamers. Head of the company's esports division, Tobias Sherman, said TBS is a good fit for gaming because their demographic--primarily males--is an "absolutely perfect" match for gaming.
They chose Counter-Strike as the first game to be broadcast because it's "really easy to digest" for people who have never watched competitive gaming before.
More details about the new TBS gaming league will be revealed later this year. We also don't know what teams will participate; presumably those details will come later.
TBS and its networks already cover traditional sports such as basketball and golf. The network is also home to Big Bang Theory, Family Guy,and Seinfeld reruns, among a whole host of other content.
1997's Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, the first game in the platforming series from developer Oddworld Inhabitants, is now free for everyone on Steam. You'll need to act quickly, as the freebie offer ends today at 10 AM PDT / 1 PM EDT / 6 PM UK. Once you install the game, it's yours to keep forever.
In the game, you play as a floor-waxing worker named Abe who tries to escape from his overlords. GameSpot's review scored the game an 8.1. Our reviewer found that the game balanced its action and puzzle elements perfectly to make it "intelligent, engaging, and, best yet, fun."
If you'd rather buy Abe's Oddysee, it's on sale right now for just 74 cents. This deal is good until September 25. There are also some bundles available; head to the game's Steam page to learn more.
In addition, the latest game in the series, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, is on sale for $10 through September 25. A variety of DLC is also marked down. Visit the Steam page to see all the offers.
Posted online by ICXM, the image shows Star Wars: Battlefront will launch on EA Access on November 12. The game will then be released to the general public on November 17.
Need for Speed, meanwhile, will be available on October 29, with the public release following on November 3. Finally, NBA Live 16 will be playable for EA Access subscribers on September 24. The game will then be released on September 29.
EA has not yet announced these dates officially. GameSpot has contacted the publisher for confirmation.
Previously, subscribers were able to play FIFA 15 a week early for a total of six hours. Saved data and progress from this period carried over for those who later purchased the full game.
EA Access also gives subscribers free games, with past titles including Battlefield 4, Need for Speed Rivals, and Peggle 2. Customers have unlimited access to these titles for as long as their membership lasts.
Payday 2 developer Overkill Software has apologised to Xbox One players impacted by recent matchmaking issues and promised it is working on a solution.
In an Xbox One Hiester Update video, producer Almir Listo reiterated statements made at a Payday convention.
"We know you guys are having issues matchmaking in the game. It's frustrating for us, but it's obviously even more frustrating for you," he said.
"We're making some radical changes to how the matchmaking works in Payday 2 in order to ensure you, in a simple way, can join games going forward. We're working on these changes right now and we hope to add them as soon as possible, no later than the end of the year."
Posting on Reddit, Almir further addressed the issues and Overkill's plans, revealing the solution was a "full remake" of matchmaking.
"We are currently working on a radical change - a full remake of the matchmaking system which will simplify the way you join games and improve the matchmaking," he explained.
"This is a solution that is built from the ground up, as the previous matchmaking system we have for PS4 and PC doesn't work well with [Xbox One]."
He continued: "Right now this is our number one priority. Our ambition is to go live with the new matchmaking system and additional fixes within the coming weeks, and no later than the end of the year. Does that mean that we want to release it on 31st of December? Absolutely not, we want to get it done ASAP."
"The systems and mechanics all have small flaws and limitations," said review Chris Watters, "but they come together to set the stage for exciting heists that you'll want to pull again and again.
"As long as you can find some felons to fight alongside, Payday 2 is an addictive and challenging criminal pursuit."
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