We're rounding up the best gaming deals from this week's sales circulars, along with a few choice selections from places like Amazon and Steam.
Best Buy has a buy one, get one 50 percent offer on anime games from Bandai Namco. Choices include fairly recent games like Tales of Berseria, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Dragon Ball Fusions, and Digimon World: Next Order. This deal stacks with the Gamers Club Unlocked discount.
Titanfall 2
Both the Xbox One and PS4 can be had for $50 off at most retailers right now as part of limited-time offers from Microsoft and Sony.
GCU prices at Best Buy refer to Gamers Club Unlocked, which grants 20 percent off on new games.
PS4
PSN's weekly deals are still available until Tuesday, February 21, when they'll be replaced by a new set of offers. The current discounts include low prices on a ton of Final Fantasy games, as well as Borderlands: The Handsome Collection for $20 and XCOM 2 for $30.
Dirt Rally's new VR mode is out now. If you don't own the game, you can pick it up from the PlayStation Store for $30 ($24 with PlayStation Plus) or in a bundle with the VR DLC and some other add-ons for $43 ($37 with Plus).
This week's Xbox Store deals are still available, discounting Grand Theft Auto V to $30, Final Fantasy XV to $39, and more.
Halo Wars 2 launches this week. There aren't any deals to be had on it currently, but remember that digital copies feature Xbox Play Anywhere, letting you play on both Xbox One and PC.
If you're still interested in Halo 5's ostensibly "limited" collector's edition, it's down to $140 at Best Buy, or $112 with the Gamers Club Unlocked discount. That's a far cry from the $250 it was originally sold for.
Rise of the Tomb Raider -- $20 (Best Buy - $16 GCU)
Bethesda Game Studios' latest titles, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) and Fallout 4 (2015), each still have "millions" of daily players, game director Todd Howard told GameSpot in a new interview.
Also in our interview, Howard talked about returning to the Skyrim series with the Special Edition after so many years of working on Fallout 4. "It was like seeing an old friend from high school and realizing how much you missed spending time together," he said.
"When you're making a game like Skyrim, it's your whole life, and you start losing perspective on, is this fun? Is this not fun? What's good? What's bad? Being able to come back to it, you really see it--it's kind of one of those rare times when you sit down and you see something you made as a gamer. You kind of forget all the versions of a certain feature or what it took to get it there and you're just playing it for what it is."
Howard also talked about the unique qualities of both Skyrim and Fallout 4, saying Skyrim was more about letting the player forge their own story.
"I think Skyrim is a little bit more of 'find your own way.' It's more inviting for the type of character you want to play," he said. "Whereas Fallout 4 probably tells a stronger but specific story."
Asked what Skyrim does better than Fallout 4 and vice versa, Howard said, "How content is presented; they both have their strengths and weaknesses. We're very critical of our own stuff."
Additionally, Howard talked about how telling stronger stories in open-world games is among the things that Bethesda Game Studios is thinking about for its future projects.
"How do we tell a better story in an open world? With each of our games we've had successes and failures and if you ask us internally, we have new ideas that we want to explore in the future because we feel like we haven't really cracked it yet the way we think it could be," he said.
"So we really break it down and say, 'Going forward, what do we think the best way to proceed is?' Where were the times where we spent a lot of time on something, innovating, but you can't really tell; it doesn't show up on the screen for the amount of time that we put into it. And there are other things that we didn't put a lot of time into that are really shining through and we should have made that one stand out even more because that was a better design feature or better bang for our development buck."
According to The Sixth Axis, producer Naoki Yoshida said Square Enix wants to bring the MMORPG to as many systems as possible. But this doesn't necessarily mean it will come to the Switch.
"The main limitation [is] that they absolutely don't want to create a boxed off version of the game that can't interact with the others. If that could be overcome then they'd be very interested in discussing a Switch port," The Sixth Axis reported.
As for the PS4 Pro patch, Yoshida said Final Fantasy XIV will make use of the console's extra horsepower to boost performance.
"Rather than using the PS4 Pro's power to adapt to say 4k display, we're thinking of using it for game performance," he explained. "We've begun work on a Pro patch and hope to have details soon."
Final Fantasy XIV's Stormblood expansion launches on June 20 for PS4 and PC--PS3 support is soon coming to an end. In addition to the Samurais and new areas to explore, Stormblood also adds another new class (the Red Mage), raids, dungeons, a residential area, and more.
In a statement to IGN, Nintendo said the people responsible have been fired and are currently being looked into by law enforcement groups.
Here is the full statement:
"Earlier this week, individuals claimed to prematurely purchase a small number of Nintendo Switch systems from an unspecified retailer. Nintendo has determined these units were stolen in an isolated incident by employees of a U.S. distributor, with one system being illegally resold. The individuals involved have been identified, terminated from their place of employment, and are under investigation by local law enforcement authorities on criminal charges."
"Nintendo Switch will launch worldwide on March 3, 2017, and we look forward to everyone being able to discover the wonders of the new system for themselves at that time."
Spider-Man actor Tom Holland really does not want to be responsible for any Avengers: Infinity War leaks. The young actor recently shared a video of himself torching the superhero action movie's script to help protect the secrets on the pages.
"Rule number one… hand in your script," Holland wrote in the Instagram video's caption (via EW). In the video, he said, "Marvel [would] like to keep everything a secret. So, to all the producers who are probably freaking out because I forgot to hand in my script, here is evidence that I am destroying it."
Holland first played Spider-Man in 2016's Captain America: Civil War in a cameo role. He'll get a lot more screentime as the web-slinger in this summer's Spider-Man: Homecoming. Holland is currently filming Infinity War, which started shooting in January.
"Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe that started in May 2008 with Iron Man," Marvel boss Kevin Feige said. "Thanos shows us why he is the biggest, the best, the baddest villain that we've ever had. And the most frightening villain that the Avengers have ever faced."
Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018, while the untitled fourth Avengers movie follows on May 3, 2019.
A big update is on the way soon for Titanfall 2, and Respawn has now released the full patch notes. These detail some welcome changes to abilities, Titan and weapon balancing, and more.
Holographic decoys now work a bit differently to make them a more viable choice. They can be deployed on ziplines, don't run along the top of dome shields, and are visible with the threat scope and sonar grenade pings. Titans that are invulnerable during an execution gain a flashing gold health bar so that other players are aware of their state. While editing your loadout, you should no longer lose your mod choices when switching guns.
On the Titan balance side, Tone's Salvo Core does less damage, but its rockets no longer suffer damage falloff. Ronin and Northstar's dash regeneration rate has increased, while Northstar also sees the removal of damage falloff on Flight Core rockets. Aiming down the sights with Scorch's weapon will give you an indication of where the projectile will land.
As far as weapons go, the Archer's homing speed has been fixed. The MGL's projectile speed has been lowered and the fuse time has been increased, while the Devotion has been nerfed with lower long-range damage and more recoil.
There are also new control options, including the ability to toggle one that requires you to hold the Use key/button in order to rodeo a Titan.
You can see everything changing in the full patch notes below.
Despite releasing the patch notes already, Respawn doesn't yet have an exact release date for the update. We know it's intended for release this month, but it said it doesn't want to provide a date until the update passes the certification process. Beyond that, more free updates and content are on the way.
Titanfall 2 Live Fire Update Patch Notes
New Content
Live Fire: A new Pilot vs Pilot elimination game mode! It's a 6v6 round-based with no respawns, you will have one minute to eliminate the opposing team in order to win the round. You can also win the round if your team is holding the neutral flag when the round timer ends. The team to win 5 rounds first wins the match.
New Live Fire Map - Meadow, a lush location with grassy lanes and rocky outcroppings that provide site lines for long engagements and sneaky routes for flanking. Also zip lines are back!
New Live Fire Map - Stacks, an industrial location of open areas that sandwich a dense center point framed by towering structures. The verticality encourages attacks from above and rushes from the outside lanes.
New Faction Leader animations! Faction Leaders now play a randomly selected animation during the beginning dropship animation.
New Audio for the DLC Commander Intros.
Added a new execution, "Late Hit". Deliver a flurry of Stim fueled punches that pummel your enemy to the ground .
New Features
Mixtape Matchmaking: A complete overhaul of our multiplayer matchmaking. This new feature will allow you to create your own "mixtape" of modes to your heart's desire.
Gamepad: Custom Button Mapping (Pilot & Titan)
Gamepad: Crouch Button - "Hold to Crouch" Option ("Toggle" is still default)
Gamepad: ADS Button - "Toggle" Option ("Hold to ADS" is still default)
Controls: "Hold <use> to Rodeo" Option ("off" is still default)
Advanced Hud: Disable Party-Member Coloring on HUD (some colorblind players may prefer this)
Community FAQ: New section of the FAQ to highlight upcoming patches, DLC drops, trailers, and creations from the community
New Sounds for the Stim Pilot Execution, "Late Hit".
Added Film Grain Slider
New ambient environmental sound effects to bring the livefire maps to life. Meadow is a fusion of virtual reality and natural forest ambiences while Stacks is a fusion of virtual and industrial sounds.
Game Improvements
Holo pilot decoy can now deploy on ziplines.
Holo pilot decoy is more resilient when stepping over things and colliding with walls at certain angles.
Holo pilot decoy is now visible in the threat scope and sonar grenade pings.
Holo pilot decoy no longer runs on top of dome shields.
Holo pilot decoy no longer crashes into the ceiling and dies when running through doorways.
Holo pilot decoy should be more resilient when started during wallruns.
Kraber can no longer be shot as a semi-automatic if the player presses the reload button at the same time as the fire button.
Titans that are invulnerable while performing executions will have their lifebars colored gold and flashing to communicate their invulnerability.
Added some out of bounds triggers and props to block off areas for Crashsite and Complex.
FOV is now saved per-user.
When switching weapons while editing a loadout, the game will now preserve your mod choices if possible.
Ronin now shows his sword in the loadout menus.
Credit purchasable items now show a credit symbol instead of a lock symbol.
Friends' names will now show up green in chatroom and in-game.
Prime Titans can now use Nose Arts.
Network Admins can send messages to the network in-game, rather than only through titanfall.com
Added extra text to make clear that Warpaints are not supported on Prime Titans.
Capped max range of Reapers' weapons in Attrition.
Toned down the excessively loud dropship sounds in Attrition.
Adjusted Volume Falloff of Cluster Rocket Explosions so you don't hear them from across the map anymore.
Added some lobby text notifications to inform players that they are waiting on the party leader before restarting matchmaking.
Nuclear Eject damage no longer fills your Titan Meter.
Reduced the area affected by the Nuclear Eject screen shake.
Increasing crit damage Pilots deal to Reapers in Multiplayer.
Titan Balance
Tone
Reduced Salvo Core's damage.
Removed the damage falloff from Salvo Core rockets.
Increased the cooldown of Sonar Pulse.
Reduced the projectile size of the 40mm.
Tone Burst Loader Improvements:
Slight presentation tweaks.
Updated audio cues.
Leaving ADS now clears the charges
Northstar
Removed the damage falloff from Flight Core rockets. This should make her more consistent in dealing high damage.
Increased dash regen rate.
Ronin
Increased dash regen rate.
Scorch
ADS'ing with his primary weapon will display the projectile's path.
Ion
Fixed a bug with Vortex Shield where reflected bullets would deal a high amount of splash damage.
Weapon Balance
Devotion
Added very far damage settings, reducing its damage at distance.
Added more kick to the first shot to make using single shots more difficult.
Increased view kick during sustained fire to create a slightly larger spread.
Archer
Fixed the homing speed so it will once again track targets as expected.
MGL
Reduced the projectile speed.
Increased the fuse time.
Bug Fixes
Fixed being able to be shot by snipers behind the cover of the amped wall if the shooter is really close.
Fixed sentries so they now properly track targets through the amped wall.
Fixed tracers not showing up when shooting through friendlies with bullet weapons.
Fixed the MP R201 not dismembering stalkers and ultimately being less effective as other similar weapons against stalkers.
Fixed bug with using A-Wall/Hard Cover while phase shifted.
Fixed some cases where players could plant turrets in mid-air.
Fixed HUD display incorrectly showing number of Electric Smoke charges.
Fixed case of scoreboard counting a Titan termination on a piloted Titan counting as 2 pilot kills.
Fixed MOTD not displaying over a certain character limit.
Fixed Charge Rifle with Quick Charge mod skipping cooldown after firing and switching weapons.
An elusive Nessie has still not been found…last seen in the mission Blood and Rust…
Fixed bug with getting doomed with Stealth Auto Eject while in the midst of melee. Also fixed rare case of being stuck permanently in a "Ejecting Titan" cockpit animation.
Fixed some cases of being stuck inside of level geometry with Rodeo.
Fixed Grenade indicators not showing up sometimes.
Fixed incorrect bullet hit detection immediately after being damaged.
Fixed some cases of being stuck inside of level geometry with Phase Rewind.
Fix asian languages not always word wrapping correctly.
Fix input duplication between chat messages and the game.
Fix pick up ammo sound incorrectly playing in MP.
Fixed issue with browse not highlighting a network when clicked from lobby.
Fixed hover FX not playing in NPC kill replay.
Fixed Ion's Laser Core FX appearing offset from crosshair.
Fixed showing the turret placement hint when player spawns, but doesn't have a turret, due to watching a kill replay with the turret placement hints.
Fix camera becoming disoriented when navigating the store.
Fix formatting issues in stats page.
UI bugfixes when browsing networks and in the chatroom.
Fixed a bug with the nose art menu that left the player on a blank page sometimes.
Fixed a bug with SP achievements not correctly counting all Pilot Helmets collected. (Will trigger when opening main menu)
Fixed some stats related issues with player melee.
Platform-Specific Fixes
PS4
Accepting a game invite while the game is not running will now properly connect you to the invited lobby.
General stability improvements.
PS4 Pro
Increased sun shadow resolution.
Xbox One
Stability improvements when browsing the store.
Fix not being allowed to start multiplayer after resuming the game from suspend when the player's profile is not linked to an Origin account.
Fixed being able to accept invites to a game that the player is already participating in.
General stability improvements.
Correctly grab the system voice permissions from Xbox and honor it in game.
PC
Added Adaptive Supersampling. When enabled and running faster than the FPS target, the game will dynamically increase rendering resolution up to 2x the target resolution to improve AA quality. If the maximum supersampled resolution exceeds 16K in either dimension (e.g. when running at Eyefinity/Surround resolutions), this option will be unavailable.
Added Very High to the Model Quality tiers.
General stability improvements.
Added Model Draw Distance to allow pushing draw distances further out.
Added description for Triple Buffered in the VSync description text.
In an effort to reduce hitches from texture streaming, the "Texture Quality" setting has been renamed to "Texture Streaming Budget" to more accurately reflect the setting's function, and the tiers have been renamed to indicate the VRAM amount needed. A warning has also been added when the game detects that the chosen tier uses more memory than currently detected. The goal is to only use about ~75-80% of the VRAM when the game is running to avoid GPU memory management hitches.
Spun D3D texture creates off onto a dedicated thread to avoid driver stalls and added throttling to the number of textures that are made live by the streaming system every frame. The throttling mechanism is simplistic and can be improved, but we want to get this out earlier to see if we're on the right track in reducing texture streaming stutter before investing more engineering effort. If you were previously experiencing stutter, please provide feedback on whether stuttering has noticeably improved after this patch.
Adaptive Resolution FPS Target is no longer capped by max monitor refresh rate and instead caps to maximum supported FPS (144).
Improve VRAM detection accuracy.
Improved SLI/Crossfire compatibility. Players are recommended to not use TSAA when running in multi-GPU mode because TSAA can negatively affect performance scaling.
Improved frame rate stutter detection tools.
Enabling adaptive resolution while VSync is set to Double Buffered should now reliably force VSync to Triple Buffered.
The game now prevents the screensaver/lock screen from coming up due to idling while the game is running.
Added additional info to rare startup error "Failed to CreateGameWindow. Resolution Unsupported?" and a speculative fix for it.
Fixed adaptive res FPS target incorrectly resetting to 60.
Fixed texture streaming being disabled on GPUs with < 2GB of detected VRAM.
Fixed the game crashing on startup if a user has AMD GPU drivers installed, but is no longer using an AMD GPU as the primary adapter.
Fixed memory leak experienced on Crossfire setups.
Fixed various UI scaling issues when running in Eyefinity/Surround ultrawide resolution.
Added text clarifying "Invite friends" functionality doesn't work while the Origin overlay is disabled.
Final Fantasy XIV's upcoming Stormblood expansion introduces a new Samurai class, Square Enix has announced.
The news was revealed as part of FFXIV's Fan Fest event by director Naoki Yoshida. The Samurai is a melee DPS type that uses katanas and isn't associated with any other class. Players who create a Samurai will start at level 50 (Stormblood increases the level cap to 70), though that specific number may still change.
Yoshida shared this news while dressed up as Final Fantasy X's Auron, as you can see in the image above from the official FFXIV Twitter account.
Square Enix also shared the full opening cinematic from Stormblood, which you can watch below. You could be forgiven for thinking the first half was from a Final Fantasy fighting game. The latter half provides a look at a new Asian-style city from the expansion and gives a taste of some Samurai action.
Stormblood launches on June 20 for PS4 and PC--PS3 support is soon coming to an end. In addition to the Samurais and new areas to explore, Stormblood also adds another new class (the Red Mage), raids, dungeons, a residential area, and more.
A new DLC expansion is now available for the PS4 version of Dirt Rally that adds PlayStation VR support, among other things.
Unlike many of the VR updates that have been released for other pre-PSVR games, this one makes the entire game playable in virtual reality, not just a single mode. However, it does come at a cost: The DLC pack will run you $13.
In addition to playing the existing content in VR, the VR DLC introduces a new co-op mode. This sees one player playing with PSVR while another plays along on the screen, serving as the co-driver.
Those with a PS4 Pro will see unspecified visual enhancements when playing with PSVR. This is exclusive to the VR mode--playing the standard game on a Pro won't be any different than before.
Dirt Rally is currently discounted on the PlayStation Store to $30 (or $24 if you're a PlayStation Plus member). If you're looking to pick up both the game and the new VR DLC, there's also a $70 bundle that's currently on sale for $43 ($37 with Plus). This includes the base game, the VR DLC, and three other DLC packs that cost $2 a piece on their own. Those each provide access to an upgraded version of a car with a special design.
No comments:
Post a Comment