Rewards for completing Destiny's new Nightfall Strikes are, in creative director Luke Smith's own words, "underwhelming." As such, Bungie is going to adjust the system through a future update to deliver more substantial rewards to players who complete the challenging missions.
"Nightfall Rewards can be underwhelming," Smith said on Twitter. "Runes/low # of coins/no reputation burst/weak legendaries all feel like losing. We're gonna fix it."
The Taken King received high praise at launch in September, but not everyone was happy with the changes made to Nightfall events. Before, drops were random, but you always received a reputation buff with whatever you received. With The Taken King, however, this reputation buff was removed.
Instead, players receive consumable items like Strange Coins or an allotment of Three of Coins for their efforts. With the current rewards system, some feel like they wasted their time doing the new Nightfall Strikes because the reward isn't as compelling as it once was.
Thankfully for fans, this is going to change in the future. However, Smith has not provided any specifics regarding how Bungie will "fix" the existing setup.
ArenaNet's PC MMO Guild Wars 2 is the latest game to have its own dedicated competitive league. The developer on Wednesday announced a partnership with the ESL Pro League for a professional tournament series with $400,000 in prizes. The initiative is officially called the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League.
League play begins in November with open qualifiers, culminating in a Season Finals LAN event held at ESL studios. A second season will run later. The $400,000 in prizes is divided between the two seasons. After the two seasons wrap up, ArenaNet will hold a World Championship event to determine an ultimate winner.
Further details, including the specific timing and venue, will be announced later. The ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League replaces the previous World Tournament Series
"We're seeing massive growth in players joining Guild Wars 2 and competitive play is the fastest growing segment in the game," game director Colin Johanson said in a statement. "Working with ESL to develop this tournament is a natural next step for us, inviting more players from this growing community to come take their shot at being elite."
An open qualifier tournament to determine four of the eight teams to be featured in the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League will begin in mid-November. The other four teams will be drawn from World Tournament Series finalists and the best-ranking teams of October's Go4GuildWars 2 Cups. Every team that makes it to the finals is guaranteed a slice of the $200,000 prize pool for each series.
For more on the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League, check out a full rundown of rules, schedules, and eligibility information here.
Blizzard has announced the start date of the closed beta for its upcoming team shooter, Overwatch. The closed beta will kick off on October 27 in the Americas region, with a small number of testers to get regular access to the beta. More players will be gradually added to the testing phase. The closed beta test phases will be coming to the Europe region next, and the Asia region will be getting it at "a later date."
Blizzard will also be conducting numerous Beta Test Weekends for a second, wider group of players. These will be for the purpose of testing the server hardware to make ensure "they can withstand the assault." The Beta Test Weekends will be available for various parts of the world, and the first one will kick off not long after BlizzCon ends.
The Overwatch beta will be accessible from the Battle.net desktop client for Windows users only. Selected users who are invited to participate in the closed beta phase or Beta Test Weekend will receive an email with further instructions. Participants will be chosen from Battle.net users who have opted in to the beta on their account.
Overwatch was first announced in November last year, debuting with a Pixar-esque introduction video. The game is Blizzard's first new franchise in 17 years. More recently, the studio release new 1080p gameplay footage featuring the characters Hanzo, McCree, Mercy, and Zenyatta. Overwatch does not currently have a release date, but is being developed for Mac and PC.
The Overwatch beta kicks off shortly before the start of Blizzcon, which takes place on November 6-7 this year. GameSpot will be covering announcements from the event as they roll out, so be sure to stay tuned to the site for more information.
The new Humble Bundle is comprised entirely of Capcom games, letting you get a handful of games for any price you choose. You can get more if you beat the average, or everything included if you spend $15 or more. A portion of the proceeds go to charity.
PlayStation Silver Wired Stereo Headset -- $22.49 (Amazon)
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.
Mary is back from Tokyo and she's brought back a ton of awesome goodies from Japan. So we're putting it all together in a fabulous swag bag for one lucky GameSpot member.
How do you enter to win? Simply fill out our forum for your chance. But, if you REALLY want this amazing swag bag and are looking for some bonus entries, go ahead and follow us on Twitter or on Instagram for bonus entries to win!
It's important to note that some of these items are in Japanese.
Apart from a single shot from an international teaser and a 15-second Instagram clip in August, it's been many months since there was any new footage from the forthcoming Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. This may be about to change however, with reports that a new trailer could appear within the next week.
ScreenCrush are reporting that the trailer will drop on Monday October 19, which will also be the day that tickets for the sci-fi blockbuster go on sale. The site's sources state that the trailer will debut online, before hitting theatres alongside the James Bond movie Spectre on November 6. This will be the final trailer before the film opens in December.
In addition, there are reports that theatre chains are gearing up to sell tickets to The Force Awakens on the same day. Earlier this week, Cinemark accidentally released a Spanish-language graphic announcing the October 19 sale, before pulling the information. ScreenCrush also states that the managers of several AMC theatres have informed staff that tickets will go sale that day.
Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens will be released on December 16 in France and December 17 in the UK, before rolling out across the US on December 18. It stars John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill.
Cloud Imperium Games has released the opening cinematic for PC space game Star Citizen's campaign mode, Squadron 42, showing off veteran actor Gary Oldman's character delivering an emotional speech. Watch as Admiral Bishop addresses the senate with a moving speech about war and its costs.
Oldman is not the only A-list actor featured in Squadron 42. He's joined by Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), and Mark Strong (Kingsman), among others. Even more actors will be announced later.
The crowdfunding campaign for Star Citizen started three years ago. To date, Cloud Imperium has raised more than $92 million. A release date for the final version of the game has not been announced.
What do you make of this cinematic? Let us know in the comments below.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is currently available as a free download on Xbox 360 for Xbox Live Gold members. But very soon it won't be. You have all day today and tomorrow to download the game before it returns to its full $20 price on October 16. Start your download on the Xbox Marketplace here.
DICE has acknowledged that Star Wars Battlefront's Walker Assault mode is not very well balanced, favoring the Imperials side over the Rebels, and has pledged to address this for the final game.
Writing on Twitter, one fan claimed he never won a Walker Assault match as the Rebel side during the beta. He asked, "Does this mean I suck?" DICE community manager Matthew Everett replied, "Nope! It's a balancing issue within the beta."
Lead multiplayer designer Dennis Brännvall added: "Yeah, it's too tough. We'll make changes based on the feedback and data. Asymmetric modes are tricky and risky but potentially awesome, that's why we want beta test help."
In the 40-player Walker Assault mode, the Rebel side tries to destroy two Empire AT-ATs by securing outposts to call in Y-wing bombers. Empire forces, meanwhile, try to keep the Rebels from activating the command posts. It would appear the Rebels have the tougher job.
DICE has not said how specifically it will change Walker Assault to make it more fair and balanced.
Fallout 4's "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." video series is coming to an end soon, as Bethesda has now published the sixth video in the seven-part series. Today's movie is focused on Agility. As you'll see in the video, cultivating your Agility skills has a number of benefits to help keep you alive in the wasteland. Agility will improve your VATS shooting efficiency and can assist in sneak attacks against unsuspecting foes, among other things.
Fallout fans looking to buy an Xbox One soon may want to hold out for the recently announced 1 TB Xbox One console bundle. The $400 system comes with copies of Fallout 4 and Fallout 3.
Check out the list below to see some marquee offers. A full list of this week's deals is available here, while there are also a range of discounts available to PlayStation Plus members. See them all here.
Bandai Namco has issued a notice of service termination for free-to-play fighting game, Rise of Incarnates. In-game currency is no longer available for purchase and the game will become unplayable from December 15, 2015, according to a statement from the publisher.
"We must regretfully inform all users of the closure of Rise of Incarnates," it said on the game's Steam page. "We offer our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported this game . We will be keeping the servers open until December 15, 2015, so please continue to enjoy Rise of Incarnates until the very end."
Rise of Incarnates was announced in August, 2014 and was heavily inspired by titles such as Gundam Extreme Vs. Instead of mechs, however, players selected from super-powered heroes and villains, before facing off against each other in two-versus-two brawls.
The title was designed by SoulCalibur, Tekken and Gundam Extreme veterans, giving the it a fighting game pedigree. Despite this, Rise of Incarnates failed to make a splash or develop a large audience.
Bandai Namco has made numerous efforts to move into the free-to-play genre. In addition to new properties such as Rise of Incarnates, classic gaming franchises such as SoulCalibur and Tekken have been rebuilt with the microtransaction business model in mind.
While the company's free-to-play plans seem to be in flux, its upcoming slate of traditional console games includes Dark Souls 3, which is scheduled for release in early 2016, and Pokken Tournament.
PC military shooter Arma III has now sold more than 2 million copies, developer Bohemia Interactive has announced. This is up from 1 million copies sold as of May 2014. The game was released in September 2013.
Alongside the new sales number announcement, Bohemia has revealed a content roadmap for the game's next year of updates. Two free updates are coming, called Nexus and Eden, while the next paid expansion, Apex, is due to launch in the Q2 2016, meaning it should be out before the end of June 2016.
The Nexus update is slated to arrive in November. It will introduce "significant improvements" for features such as stamina/fatigue and protective equipment, among other things. The Nexus update will also add an updated version of Arma III's End Game multiplayer mode that originally arrived earlier this year. On top of that, the update will include an in-development version of the game's web-based social service, Units.
The Eden update, meanwhile, is scheduled to launch in early 2016. It adds a new Eden 3D Editor, which Bohemia says will give players "far more control" over what they build than the previous 2D Scenario Editor featured in past games. The update also adds "several" usability tweaks, as well as an "overhaul of how players discover and join multiplayer sessions."
Following these two updates will be Arma III's next paid expansion, Apex. It features a 100km2 South Pacific map called Tanoa. This was initially revealed at E3 2015 during the first-ever PC Gaming Show. In addition, players can expect a new co-op campaign, as well as more vehicles, weapons, and characters. Though Apex is a paid expansion, all players can expect a free quality-of-life update alongside it.
More details about Apex, including its price point and early access availability, will be announced in 2016. Apex is Arma III's fourth paid expansion, following Marksmen (April 2015), Helicopters (November 2014), Karts (May 2014), and Zeus (April 2014). The complete Arma III content roadmap can be seen in the image above.
"In any direction you go, there's loosely structured fun to be had," critic Nick Capozzoli said. "It's there where the islands Bohemia Interactive have created are put through their paces, stretched and warped by the collective whim of the internet, unconstrained by the expectations that burden the words 'modern warfare.'"
There's no fewer than four new Marvel movies in the pipeline before the next Thor movie arrives in late 2017, but already some details have emerged about the hammer-wielding Avenger's third standalone adventure.
BMD are reporting that Thor: Raganrok will be a "dark, serious" movie that focuses upon the end of the Norse world. This seems to be the reason for the surprising choice of Taika Waititi as director. Waititi's previous films are the low-budget New Zealand comedies What We Do in the Shadows and Eagle Vs Shark, a world away from the spectacular superhero action of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. BMD's sources suggest that Waititi has been brought in to "balance out the grimness" of the Thor: Raganrok script.
It has also been rumoured that the Hulk will play a big part of the film's story. The Hulk is the one major Marvel character that hasn't had any further standalone movies announced, which some have suggested is because Universal still own the distribution rights to any future Hulk films, rather than Disney.
But JoBlo.com have now revealed that the Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, will "feature prominently" in the next Thor movie. It will also see Tom Hiddleston return as Loki, the villainous brother of Chris Hemsworth's title character.
The previous Thor movie, Thor: The Dark World, was released in November 2013. It has earned more than $644 million worldwide, making it the sixth most successful of Marvel's films to date. Thor: Raganrok is due to be released on November 3, 2017.
Battlefield Hardline, the latest entry in the longrunning shooter series with a new cops-and-robbers theme, is now available for free on Xbox One through EA Access. The game launched in March 2015, making it the most recently released of the 14 free EA Access games.
Last night's episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert featured a musical performance by The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, Nintendo's touring orchestra dedicated to the adventure series. Watch the video below to see the group perform never-before-heard music from upcoming Nintendo 3DS game The Legend of Zelda: TriForce Heroes, as well as the main theme that you're surely familiar with.
It's a nice video, and the music of course is great. But the video's caption on YouTube may not sit well with everyone. It reads: "Rejoice, nerds! This is the music that awaits you in heaven." Also, be sure to stick through to the end to see an awkward handshake between Colbert and the symphony conductor.
TriForce Heroes launches on October 23, while the Symphony of the Goddesses tour is currently running across the US and Europe. The 2016 leg of the tour, Master Quest, was just announced this week. Check out the symphony's complete touring schedule here.
The Movember Foundation, the charity that helps raise money and awareness for men's health, today launched a mobile game based on the "Movember" phenomenon. For those unaware, Movember is a campaign that runs every November and challenges men to grow a mustache for the duration of the month.
The game is called Run Mo Run! It's available today for iOS devices, with all proceeds from its microtransactions and advertisements going to men's health charities. An Android version is also on the way, but it doesn't appear to be available yet on Google Play. We'll add a link here when it is.
Run Mo Run! is of course inspired by men and mustaches. Players journey through "different mustache-themed worlds," grabbing coins and avoid obstacles. The goal is to defend your mustache and upgrade it. The microtransactions take the form of special power-ups and other customization options.
Since its formation in 2003, the Movember Foundation has raised more than $650 million. These funds have been delivered to more than 1,000 programs across the world to help provide services related to prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and physical activity.
The first of Nintendo's new smartphone games that it's making in collaboration with DeNA will be announced "soon." That's according to DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako, who teased this week at the GamesBeat 2015 conference that fans don't have to wait much longer, though he didn't share any other details.
"Soon, we should be able to announce the game," Asako said, according to VentureBeat.
Nintendo previously said it expected to launch the first of its smartphone/tablet games before the year is out. It's already the middle of October, so an announcement coming soon is no big surprise.
As for why Nintendo is getting into the smartphone gaming business at all, after so many years of refusing to do so, executive Scott Moffitt previously said the company simply could not deny the ubiquity of the market.
"We can't deny the massive install base of smartphones out there, and some fans that aren't old enough yet to afford their own gaming console, perhaps for those consumers they can start to appreciate some of our content and build a relationship with some of our characters and our franchises," he explained in August. "We feel it's going to be an additive to our console business."
Production has begun on the Assassin's Creed movie. The film is adapted from the massively popular Ubisoft games, and now the first image from the set has been released. The picture was tweeted by Azaïzia Aymar, head of content for the franchise at Ubisoft, and shows the distinctive Abstergo Industries logo.
The film stars Michael Fassbender in the two key roles from the game, Callum and Aguilar. It is directed by Justin Kurzel, who recently helmed Macbeth, which also featured Fassbender in the lead role. His Macbeth co-star Marion Cotillard will also appear, alongside Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, and Michael Kenneth Williams.
Last week, Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet explained that Fassbender's role in the production would go beyond simply playing the lead. "We told him we were going to build the project together," he said. "We have a huge brand and we want to make a make a film with references to feature films like Batman Begins and Blade Runner. He was promised that he could work with the writers, we would associate it with all key creative choices."
Assassin's Creed is due for release on December 21, 2016. Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the next game in the series, arrives on October 23, 2015.
Destiny's new microtransactions are currently limited to emotes only. Though Bungie may one day expand the offerings, don't expect to be able to buy items that buff drop rates for the new King's Fall raid.
Writing on Twitter, The Taken King creative director Luke Smith said, "We aren't (nor are we planning) on selling consumables that buff King's Fall drop rates for Silver."
His comments come after players discovered (via IGN) new items in the raid, such as buffs for armor and weapon drops, well as one that lets you acquire additional Moldering Shards. Some thought Bungie might sell these items for Destiny's new in-game currency, Silver. But that's not going to be the case.
One of Capcom's Resident Evil teams is working on establishing a foundation for virtual reality experiences, with hopes it can create "must-play games" that are a "half-step ahead of user expectations," and explore ideas that aren't borne out of marketing data.
On October 13, the corporation published a report detailing strategies for growth in the future. Included in the document is a message from Jun Takeuichi, head of Development Division 1 and producer of recent Resident Evil titles, who said the team is working on a VR engine.
"At present, we are focusing our energy on challenging the virtual reality game market. In this terrifying world, you can twist and turn as you like, but there's no escaping the creatures closing in on you…until you remove your VR headset and return to reality, that is," he said.
"We delivered this very experienced with our Kitchen VR technical demo at E3 2015. The response was excellent. Currently, we are building a new game development engine able to support VR, which is the hottest market right now, while simultaneously developing titles for current game consoles. We have just set sail on our latest voyage."
Project Kitchen is a PlayStation VR experience that places players inside a kitchen along with another nefarious presence. It is set up to be a SAW-like scenario, giving the player no context for the events, leaving them to experience the horrors of the scenario.
"We're currently not at a state to talk about it," added producer Masachika Kawata when asked directly about Resident Evil 7. Discussing the idea that the Resident Evil series is "losing its horror touch," Kawata seemed to agree, and indicated Capcom wants the franchise to return to its horror roots.
"Since there's been more spinoff titles, I can see how it can be perceived in such a way. And of course I believe that we should produce titles that bring out the horror. I'm thinking about it and also preparing for it."
Hearthstone developer Blizzard will make a significant edit to one of the game's most divisive minions, the Warsong Commander, in a bid to counter the growing dominance of the Patron Warrior strategy.
In what could be the most significant card change yet since Hearthstone left beta in March 2014, the Warsong Commander is set to lose her unique ability to give charge to any minion with 3 or less attack. Following an upcoming patch for the game, the minion's new ability will read: "Your Charge minions have +1 Attack."
Such a change will singlehandedly weaken the potential of the Grim Patron minion, which has 3 attack and duplicates itself whenever damaged. Many Hearthstone competitors who play as the Warrior tend to play Warsong Commander and Grim Patron together, thereby creating a small mobile army in a single turn. This strategy, widely known as "Patron Warrior", can be made even deadlier with Warrior-specific cards that deliver damage to the entire board (as shown in the video above).
Grim Patron was added to the Heartstone in April, via the Blackrock Mountain adventure add-on, and since then the Patron Warrior has become a dominating deck in Hearthstone.
The meta shifted towards this control strategy even further after it was discovered the Frothing Berserker, another Warrior-exclusive card which gains +1 attack each time any minion takes damage, has remarkable potential in the Patron Warrior deck. This is because a Warsong Commander can give it immediate charge, while the war machine of Grim Patron can then buff the Berserker's attack way beyond thirty damage. That results in instant kills, regardless of opponent's health.
It remains a possibility that Warrior fans will still play Frothing Berserker and Grim Patron following the upcoming nerf. Players have discovered numerous strategies to capitalise on both minions. However, the change to Warsong Commander will mean that Patron Warrior decks will have lost virtually all their burst, which should significantly limit its effectiveness.
Writing on the official Hearthstone forum, a Blizzard community manager going by the name 'Zeriyah' said that the studio chooses to nerf cards "only when they are completely necessary."
She wrote: "The direction of gameplay and the metagame should be defined by our players, and as the meta is evolving, many different types of decks can emerge.
"Going forward, we will continue to stand by our stance that we will only make adjustments to cards when we feel it is completely necessary and allow the injection of new cards into the game help our players define what the meta evolves into. In the case of Warsong Commander, we felt this change was necessary to help expand both future design space and to stand by our overarching game philosophy that battles between minions and fighting for board control is what makes Hearthstone fun and compelling."
Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Pacific Rim director Guillermo Del Toro has discussed the experience of working on Silent Hills with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, saying that many of the ideas they came up with for story later appeared in games such as The Last of Us, giving him confidence they had something special.
Speaking to horror site Bloody Disgusting, Del Toro said the game would have been "remarkable."
"We had a great experience and had great story sessions with hundreds upon hundreds of designs," he said. "Some of the stuff that we were designing for Silent Hills I've seen in games that came after, like The Last of Us, which makes me think we were not wrong, we were going in the right direction, The thing with Kojima and Silent Hills is that I thought we would do a really remarkable game and really go for the jugular."
"We were hoping to actually create some sort of panic with some of the devices we were talking about and it is really a shame that it's not happening. When you ask about how things operate, that makes no f**king sense at all that that game is not happening. Makes no f**king sense at all."
Although Konami initially declined to comment on the cancellation of Silent Hills, it later released a statement.
"Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles," it said, "however the embryonic Silent Hills project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued."
It added: "In terms of Kojima and del Toro being involved, discussions on future Silent Hill projects are currently underway, and please stay tuned for further announcements."
Valve has launched a steam sale offering deep discounts on a selection of recent and classic stealth games. Highlights include Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3, which are available for £2.49 and £3.74 respectively, while the more recent Far Cry 4 has been discounted by 33 percent and is listed as £20.99.
On the indie side, Mark of the Ninja is available for £2.74, Gunpoint for £1.50, and Volume for £10.04. Those looking for some turn-based stealth can pick up Klei Entertainment's Invisible, Inc. for £8.99.
Ion Storm's critically acclaimed RPG, Deus Ex, is also listed for 99p. On October 13, Square Enix authorised and released a fan project to update the game by improving graphics and introducing new world details.
"Where other projects fill in detail around the edges of the game by tuning gameplay mechanics or improving textures, we focus on the visceral core of the Deus Ex experience, bringing new level design, aesthetic direction, and world-building detail," John French, lead at developer Caustic Creative, said in a statement.
EA has confirmed that Star Wars Battlefront will not offer its own in-game chat system on consoles or PC.
A tweet from the official EA Star Wars account said the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Battlefront will use the "PlayStation 4 and Xbox One built-in party system for in-game chat." Meanwhile, DICE has instructed PC players to "choose your favorite third-party software to communicate with friends on PC."
There are a variety of solid VoIP options for PC players, including a built-in voice chat system on Origin. Console players who want to chat, on the other hand, will need to join a party. Strategy and communication for Battlefront's 40-player Walker Assault mode is particularly important, especially on the Rebel side.
We have followed up with Electronic Arts in an attempt to get more details. We'll update this post with anything we hear back.
Battlefront's beta ended today, October 13. Through six days of availability, more than 9 million people played it across all platforms, making it the largest beta in EA's history.
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