Raid: World War II is an upcoming first-person shooter from a team of developers known for their work on Payday 2, and it sounds like players can expect some familiar gameplay mechanics in a WWII setting. The game now has a September release date on PC and will be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October.
"The goal in Raid: World War II is simple--sabotage, assassinate and pulverize everything bearing a swastika--mess with Hitler and steal his treasures...With the Nazi regime as the ultimate evil, Raid brings together four unique characters with play styles that complement and enhance each other as they fight and steal across Europe," said Ilija Petrusic, game director at developer Lion Game Lion. You can check out the trailer below.
The four characters you play are customizable, and players can choose between four different classes: Recon, Assault, Insurgent, and Demolitions. Each class has its own skill tree and unique War Cry which buffs your whole party. Your team will fight their way through Nazi-occupied Europe by stealthily sabotaging, robbing, and assassinating mission targets.
The game also features customizable uniforms and weapons, real-world locations like Berlin, and a special Operations Mode that lets you play extended versions of missions with gameplay modifications and new storylines. You'll also earn Challenge Cards by successfully completing raids, which let you customize the rules of future raids (providing, for example, extra ammo but increasing the amount of damage enemies can do).
Raid: World War II will be released on PC on September 26. It then comes to PS4 and Xbox One on October 10 in North America and October 13 in Europe.
Pokemon Sun and Moon players have another chance to get their hands on some rare items. Nintendo is distributing another batch of free Mega Stones via Mystery Gift right now.
As before, this set is available to players around the globe through a universal code. The four Mega Stones Nintendo is giving away this time are for Gardevoir, Gallade, Lopunny, and the mythical Pokemon Diancie. However, none of the aforementioned Pokemon can be found in the wild in Sun and Moon, so players hoping to use the items in battle will need to transfer their corresponding Pokemon from a previous title or obtain them through trading.
To claim your Mega Stones, select the Mystery Gift option from the game's menu screen and choose to receive your gift "via code/password." Input the code "POYONG" when prompted and you'll be able to pick up the items from the deliveryman waiting inside any of the games' Pokemon Centers. Nintendo hasn't announced how long this distribution will run, so players should act fast and download the Mega Stones while they can.
Last week, Pokemon fans got their first look at a new Pokemon that will debut in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon: Dusk Form Lycanroc, a third version of the popular Rock-type wolf Pokemon. Today, we learned some more details about the new monster, including how players can acquire it.
As previously detailed, players won't be able to obtain Dusk Form Lycanroc through traditional means. Instead, all those who pick up an early copy of either Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon will receive its pre-evolved form, Rockruff, as a free gift. Previously, Rockruff would evolve into either its Midday or Midnight Form depending upon which game you were playing; this particular Pokemon, however, will evolve into its new Dusk Form, making it the only way to add one to your team at this time.
Like its other two variants, Dusk Form Lycanroc is a pure Rock-type. It can learn both Accelerock and Counter, two attacks that were associated with its Midday and Midnight Forms, respectively. Unlike the other two versions, its ability is Tough Claws, which increases the power of attacks that make direct contact with an opponent.
Those on the hunt for a new game to play this weekend have a few options to choose from. In addition to For Honor's free trial, Saints Row IV is currently free to play on Steam. Developer ArenaNet is also giving players a chance to sample the newest expansion for Guild Wars 2 at no cost ahead of its release next month.
Beginning today, Steam users interested in trying Saints Row IV can give the game a go for free until 1 PM PT/4 PM ET on Sunday, August 13. If you're tempted to purchase it, you can also snag the game at a steep discount; Steam is currently offering sales on all editions of Saints Row IV. Users can pick up the standard title for $3.74 (75% off its normal price of $15), while the Game of the Century Edition, which includes all of its DLC, runs for $4 (normally $20). These offers expire at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET on August 14.
Saints Row IV
Meanwhile, Guild War 2's newest expansion, Path of Fire, is also free to preview this weekend. New and existing players can experience part of its opening story and "explore the Crystal Oasis map astride the raptor mount." Players who don't already have a Guild Wars 2 account can create a free one on ArenaNet's website and play the demo immediately. This free preview likewise ends on August 13; the full expansion is slated to launch on September 22 and introduces new zones, elite specializations, and other content to the MMO.
Lastly, PC, PS4, and Xbox One players have a chance to jump into Ubisoft's swordfighting game, For Honor, for free until August 13. Ubisoft is giving all players access to the entire game during its free trial, including its single-player campaign, five multiplayer modes, and entire roster of heroes. PS4 players need a PS Plus subscription to try the game, while Xbox One players need an Xbox Live Gold membership. Those who'd like to purchase it can also get a discount; all versions of the game are on sale for 50% off until August 14 on PC and August 20 on PS4/Xbox One. For Honor's Season 3, "Grudge & Glory," begins next week, on August 15.
If you're still looking for something new to try, a free demo for NBA Live 18 is also now available on PS4 and Xbox One. Players can face off in a standard game that pits the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a rematch of the NBA Finals. The demo also gives fans a chance to check out The Rise, a sort of prologue for The One mode. Any progress made in the demo can be transferred to the full game, which releases on September 15. Anyone who pre-orders NBA Live 18 can save 33%, dropping its price from $60 to $40.
With less than a week to go before it was set to launch, the PC version of Sonic Mania has been delayed. The PS4, Xbox One, and Switch versions are still slated to release this coming Tuesday, August 15, as previously scheduled.
Sega shared the news during a livestream today, saying that the PC version is "going in for a bit more optimization." As a result, it's been pushed back two weeks and is now due out on August 29. "The team is working really hard to make sure it works on all platforms and on a lot of things to touch it up," Sonic community manager Aaron Webber said.
"We are not going to put out a game that is not the best it can be," he added. "And we're going to maintain that level of quality and consistency and dedication to that quality. It is so important to us."
To make up for this last-minute delay, Sega will be handing out free Steam copies of the original Sonic the Hedgehog. This will be available to anyone who pre-orders Mania by August 15 or purchases the Collector's Edition. The PC version's CE will still ship on August 15, but activating the included Steam code will only get you Sonic 1 for now; Mania won't unlock until August 29.
Later in the stream, Sonic Team creative director joined to unbox the Collector's Edition and revealed some tantalizing news. Sonic Team members have signed the flap on 26 CE boxes that will be randomly sold in North America, giving you a small chance to own an extra-special version of the game.
Sonic Mania is the latest 2D Sonic game and has been positioned by Sega as a return to form for the series. It's one of two main new Sonic games on the way, with the other being Sonic Forces, a 3D title that's due out later this year.
While it is not uncommon for big-budget movies to undergo several weeks of reshoots, those for the DC superhero team-up Justice League have been notable for a number of reasons. Firstly, original director Zack Snyder stepped aside following a family tragedy, with Joss Whedon (Avengers: Age of Ultron) taking his place. Then there was the controversy over Superman's mustache. Now one of the cast has revealed that the reshoots are intended to lighten the film's tone.
In a recent interview with IGN, Joe Morton, who plays Dr. Silas Stone in the movie, explained that "the film felt too dark" prior to the reshoots. In particular, changes had been made to Ray Fisher's character Victor Stone, AKA Cyborg.
"I know that with Ray, the young man who plays Victor, there were some adjustments that they made in terms of the tone of that character," Morton said. "I think what I heard was that there was a need from the studio to lighten up the film in a way, that the film felt too dark. I don't know what that meant in terms of how it actually got translated in terms of the reshoots but that's what I heard. That's what I thought some of the reshoots were about."
Even before Justice League started production, the filmmakers had spoken about their intention to make it "more hopeful and optimistic" than the critically reviled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, Morton's comments suggest that the studio is looking to lighten the tone even further. There were similar rumors about last year's Suicide Squad when that also underwent reshoots.
It was reported last month that DC was spending $25 million on reshoots. The extensive schedule means that Superman actor Henry Cavill is working on both Justice League and Mission: Impossible 6 simultaneously, leaving the studio no option but to edit the mustache he is wearing for M:I6 out of his Justice League scenes.
Justice League also stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ezra Miller as Flash. It hits theaters on November 17, 2017. An action-packed new Justice League trailer premiered at San Diego Comic-Con last month.
Hello Games has released the latest major update for No Man's Sky, bringing a wealth of new features and improvements to the space exploration game. Coinciding with this is a sale on both the PS4 and PC versions.
On the PC side, Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store have dropped No Man's Sky from the usual $60/£40 price down to $24/£16, which matches the cheapest price it's ever been on Steam. Mind you, the GOG version doesn't get you a Steam copy, while the Humble Store does.
For those looking to play on PS4, the PlayStation Store also has the game on sale for $24/£10. If you'd prefer a physical copy, you can order one on Amazon in the US for $23 and in the UK for £14.75 as of this writing.
Whether you're picking up No Man's Sky for the first time or have owned it since release last August, you'll find a greatly expanded game as of today. The new 1.3 Atlas Rises update is out now for both PC and PS4 and revamps a number of areas while also introducing a new terraforming tool. Most significantly, it introduces synchronous multiplayer--something players expected would be in the game, only for it to be absent. Hello Games describes the current implementation as a "first step," warning that interactions with other players is "very limited" for now. That said, you can explore a planet with 16 players, who are currently represented as floating orbs.
Overwatch has been one of the most popular shooters since its release in May 2016, but until now, it hasn't featured a deathmatch mode. Today, however, Blizzard announced that it's finally bringing free-for-all and team deathmatch to the game alongside a new deathmatch-focused map.
The modes work exactly how you'd expect: players attempt to kill as many enemies as possible, and each kill counts as a point. The first player in free-for-all to get 20 kills, or the first side in team deathmatch to get 30 kills, wins the match.
Alongside the modes, Blizzard is also releasing a new map that's built for deathmatch. It's called Château Guillard, and you can see it in action in the developer update video above. In addition, Blizzard has created variants of existing maps to better support deathmatch games.
Deathmatch is rolling out now on the Public Test Realm on PC, so you can already try it out in its testing state. Although Blizzard hasn't given a specific date for when players across platforms will be able to play deathmatch, new Overwatch features traditionally go live to the public within a few weeks of being made available on the PTR.
If you're both an Amazon Prime subscriber and an Overwatch fan, today's a good day. Subscribers can now grab five free standard loot boxes for the game.
The loot is available through Amazon's Twitch Prime service, which all Amazon Prime subscribers get for free. Each month, Amazon gives away items and content for certain games. In June and July, players could snag one free Golden loot box that contained a guaranteed legendary item.
The five standard boxes that are available now operate as normal. Each contains at least one rare item or above; there's a 1 in 5.5 chance of scoring an Epic item or above, and there's a 1 in 13.5 chance of getting a Legendary item.
You can grab these boxes until September 10, but they aren't the last Overwatch loot that Prime subscribers will get. Five more standard loot boxes will be given away in October. You can claim your loot by logging into Twitch, connecting your Amazon Prime account, and visiting this website. You'll then get a code to redeem on Blizzard's site.
It's felt like an incredibly long wait for the next South Park RPG, but its release draws near. With about only two months to go, Ubisoft has shared the type of hardware you'll need--as well as what you'll want--in order to play The Fractured But Whole on PC.
As you might expect for a game that is meant to resemble South Park, the system requirements aren't extremely demanding. They are notably above those of the previous game, The Stick of Truth, for which you could get away with running Windows XP and having only 2 GB of RAM, which now sounds downright quaint.
The Fractured But Whole calls for only an i5 2400 or FX 4320, GTX 560Ti or HD 7850, and 6 GB of RAM. Keep in mind, however, that Ubisoft cites this as the baseline to run the game at 60 FPS but only at 720p resolution with low video presets and without V-Sync. That's likely a less than ideal experience, especially if you're in the majority of users who have a higher resolution monitor.
Ubisoft also provided its recommended specs: an i5-4690K or FX-8350, GTX 670 or R9 280X, and 8 GB of RAM. The publisher states this should be sufficient to run the game at 1080p and 60 FPS with high presets but, again, no V-Sync.
The Fractured But Whole launches for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 17. Unlike the previous game, which was developed by Fallout: New Vegas studio Obsidian Entertainment, it's developed by Ubisoft San Francisco. Ubisoft also has another South Park game, Phone Destroyer, in the works for mobile devices.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole Minimum Specs
Resolution: 720p @~60FPS
Video Preset: Low
V-Sync: Off
OS: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
CPU: Intel Core i5 2400 | AMD FX 4320 or equivalent
The next 3DS installment in the Monster Hunter series, Monster Hunter Stories, launches in the US on September 8. Players who'd like to sample an early portion of the game ahead of its release can download a free demo, which is available in the 3DS Eshop right now.
Unlike previous titles in the series, Monster Hunter Stories is a turn-based RPG. The game trades the series' realistic visuals and monster designs for a much more colorful, cartoony look. In this entry, players take on the role of a Monster Rider, collecting and hatching monsters rather than hunting them. You'll be able to use the different monsters you hatch to form teams and unleash "powerful combo attacks" with their unique abilities.
Unlike many other demos on the service, the Monster Hunter Stories demo lets 3DS owners play through the first few hours of the game. Those who purchase the full version once it's released will be able to transfer their save data over from the demo, including all of the monsters and items they've collected.
The latest expansion to the Pokemon Sun & MoonTrading Card Game series, Burning Shadows, launched in the US last week. To celebrate its release, The Pokemon Company has announced a special event that will take place at Toys R Us this weekend.
On August 12, players will be able to visit a Toys R Us store and pick up a free Stufful foil card, a coloring sheet, and a Burning Shadows collector's album. The giveaway runs from 1-3 PM local time while supplies last.
Burning Shadows is the third expansion for the Sun & Moon TCG series thus far. It introduces 140 new cards to the TCG, including 12 new power Pokemon-GX cards such as Charizard-GX, Ho-Oh-GX, and Salazzle-GX. These cards have higher HP and stronger attacks than their normal versions. The expansion also adds full-art Supporter cards featuring "important human characters."
Players who prefer the Pokemon Sun and Moon video games can also celebrate the launch of the TCG expansion with a free Pokemon from GameStop. From August 14-September 4, the video game retailer will be giving away a free code for a "battle-ready" Salazzle. Players can also pick up four rare Mega Stones for free right now via Mystery Gift, which can be used to Mega Evolve Gardevoir, Gallade, Lopunny, and Diancie.
Pokemon Go has received an exciting new creature: shiny Pikachu is now catchable in the wild! The downside is that the Pokemon is only available in Japan right now, with no word as yet on a worldwide release.
As you can see below, the shiny version of Pikachu is pretty similar to standard Pikachu, except maybe with a little more fake tan--he's looking pretty orange. The creature is significant for being only the third shiny monster available in Pokemon Go, after shiny Magikarp and shiny Gyarados. Shiny Pikachu do, of course, evolve into shiny Raichu.
Wild shiny Pikachu has been found spawning at The Pokemon Company's "Pikachu Outbreak" event in Yokohama! No word yet on worldwide release! pic.twitter.com/d3dqoutCPf
In other Pokemon Go news, a new update is out now, bringing with it a number of bug fixes and re-introducing Team Instinct's leader, Spark. Check out the full Pokemon Go patch notes here.
With Destiny 2's PC beta coming up very soon, developer Bungie has announced some new information about it and what players can expect. In its latest weekly blog post, Crucible design lead Lars Bakken started off by confirming that matchmaking for Quickplay and Competitive will be updated separately instead of together.
For Quickplay, Bungie is changing the matchmaking algorithms such that there will an emphasis on getting players into matches faster. This means there is less of an emphasis on skill, so you may face off against players who are much better or worse than you. This doesn't sound ideal, but waiting a long time to get into a match isn't great either. Additionally, Bakken said the winning score for the Control mode is now 100 instead of 75. What's more, the Mercy rule trigger has been extended because some matches were proving to be too short; some players never got to charge their Super, Bungie said.
For Competitive, matchmaking times will be longer, but that's because the game will take more time to find opponents who are close in skill rating and have a good connection. "These matchmaking settings may take longer, but we feel that the quality of the gameplay experience will be worth the wait."
Also in Bungie's blog post, sandbox designer Josh Hamrick listed off a number of the "major adjustments" that Bungie has made for the PC beta. You can find all of these below, with the notes written by Bungie:
FIXED: Infinite Super Glitch
Infinite Supers are all well and good until someone loses an eye.
FIXED: Warlock Glide Glitch
This bug was awesome… So awesome it hurt us a little bit to kill it. Thanks to those in the console Beta who helped us track this down.
FIXED: Infinite Grenades Glitch
Another issue found with the help of our friends in the console Beta. (Thank you!)
FIXED: Warlocks now have the same Melee Range as all other classes
With the exception of where perks directly increase their range, Warlocks will punch like the rest of us. Our PC friends will get a chance to experience a world with consistent base melee ranges. So will the rest of you, when the game launches.
TWEAKED: Globally reduced the time it takes to charge your Super
This was a big change that came directly from your feedback during the console beta. We agree it was taking a bit too long to cook up a Super.
TWEAKED: Increased Grenade Damage in PvE
Increased damage helps Grenades feel as powerful as they should facing hordes of alien combatants and, more specifically, makes the longer cooldowns more palatable. We want abilities to be slightly more rare, but worth it. In the console Beta, the "worth it" part wasn't quite there yet.
TWEAKED: Increased Power Ammo drops in PvE
This is something we had felt internally and have been slowly tuning up over the last several weeks. The PC beta has been updated with our new values and will provide much more heavy ammo in PvE than what was found before. Heavy ammo can also be directly farmed from all Yellow Bar Combatants. Go big, Guardians!
Destiny 2's PC beta starts on August 28 for people who pre-order, before opening to everyone else a day later. The full game launches on October 24, which is more than a month after Destiny 2 comes out for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The console beta was held in July.
Entertainment giant Disney is being sued over claims that some of its gaming apps collect personal information about young players and shares it illegally with advertisers. Disney says it doesn't believe the suit has any merit and will defend itself in court.
As reported by The Washington Post, Disney is listed as a defendant in the suit, alongside three other tech companies, including Upsight, Unity, and Kochava. Specifically, the plaintiffs in the class-action suit allege that Disney and is violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which protects children's privacy through online sites and apps. An injunction that stops Disney and its partners from disclosing the information without parental consent is what the plaintiffs are seeking. They are also looking to collect punitive damages and legal fees.
A Disney spokesperson told The Washington Post that this lawsuit is based on a "fundamental misunderstanding" of how COPPA works.
"Disney has a robust COPPA compliance program, and we maintain strict data collection and use policies for Disney apps created for children and families," Disney said. "The complaint is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of COPPA principles, and we look forward to defending this action in Court."
According to the lawsuit, games like Disney Princess Palace Pets and Where's My Water 2 have "trackers" inside their code that allows Disney to "exfiltrate that information off the smart device for advertising and other commercial purposes."
In 2014, Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff developer TinyCo. agreed to pay a $300,000 fine to settle charges brought against it from the FTC over claims that it violated COPPA standards.
We'll report back with more details on the Disney case it new information becomes available.
Netflix's wrestling show Glow (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) will return for a second season. The streaming giant today announced that it renewed the show, though there is no word as of yet as to when Season 2 will air or what might be new this time.
The announcement came on Twitter, where Netflix shared the teaser video below.
All 10 episodes in the first season of Glow were released at the end of June, so the renewal order came pretty quickly.
Glow tells the fictional tale of a women's wrestling federation during the '80s. It was created by Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive and is co-executive produced by Jenji Kohan. Kohan created Weeds and Orange is the New Black. You can check out our thoughts on the first episode of Glow here.
Via Collider, the show stars Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron, Sydelle Noel, Britney Young, Britt Baron, Kimmy Gatewood, Sunita Mani, Kate Nash, Gayle Rankin, and Kia Stevens.
The show features real wrestlers, too, and you can check out GameSpot's gallery here to see a roundup of all of them.
Accessory maker Gamevice is suing Nintendo over its popular Switch console. As reported by Engadget, Gamevice claims the Switch uses the patents it owns without its permission.
"According to the suit, the Switch and its removable Joy-Con controllers are too close to Gamevice's vision of a combination of detachable game controller and a device with a 'flexible bridge section,'" Engadget reported. "Not surprisingly, the lawsuit calls for both damages and a ban on Switch sales."
The Wikipad (pictured above) features dual analog sticks, an analog D-pad, and four analog action buttons. A tablet/mobile device slides into the device to allow you to play mobile games with traditional console controls.
Gamevice said it has no comment on the case when approached by Engadget, and Nintendo has yet to chime on the matter. The lawsuit was filed on August 9, and you can read the full text of it here. We will report back with more details on this case as they're made available.
Electronic Arts is once again attempting to revive the NBA Live series this year. Today, EA announced the details of an upcoming demo and revealed NBA Live 18's cover star, but more interesting is a sizable discount being offered.
Anyone who pre-orders NBA Live 18 will get 33% off--dropping its price in the US from $60 to $40. That's an unusual offer for any company, and certainly not the type of thing you'd expect to see from EA. But it's a smart move given the dominance that the NBA 2K series has over the market--an edge in price can only help to boost sales, as EA found over a decade ago when competitors like NBA 2K5 and NFL 2K5 were released for only $20.
EA today also revealed that Houston Rockets guard James Harden, the runner-up for this past season's MVP award, will be the game's cover star. (NBA 2K18 has Kyrie Irving on the cover, who may not be a Cleveland Cavalier for much longer.) Harden is technically on the cover twice; as pictured above, the artwork emphasizes that NBA Live 18 allows you to play more than just standard NBA games.
With just over a month to go before release, an NBA Live 18 demo will launch on PS4 and Xbox One tomorrow, August 11. It lets you play a standard game that features a rematch of the NBA Finals, with the Golden State Warriors facing off against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It will also allow you to check out The Rise, which serves as a prologue for The One mode. This is one of the new additions for this year's game, described as a "way to pursue your legacy, centered on the player and defined by your choices." As with NBA 2K18 and its Prelude release ahead of launch, progress you make in the demo can transfer to the full game. During the demo, limited-time live events will take place that offer "special rules, rewards, and characters."
NBA Live 18 launches on September 15. That's four days before NBA 2K18, although pre-orders for that game provide early access that also begins on September 15.
No Man's Sky might have been out for over a year, but developer Hello Games is still supporting it in a big way. A huge new update, dubbed Atlas Rises, is coming to PS4 and PC today, adding "joint exploration," a "graphical overhaul", and 30 hours of new story content.
Multiplayer was a much-requested feature after No Man's Sky launched in 2016, and finally you can play with other humans--sort of. You'll be able to see, communicate, and "explore the universe" with up to 16 other players, but they'll be represented simply by glowing orbs, and Hello Games admits that "interaction with others is currently very limited." It sounds like the developer is planning on taking this further, however, as it calls the move "an important first step into the world of synchronous co-op in No Man's Sky."
The company also says the 1.3 update introduces 30 hours of new story content. Included in this is a new quest system and a branching narrative, along with "double the lore and interactions of the existing game." New NPC guilds have also been introduced, while the economic, trading, and crafting systems have been expanded.
You can now edit the terrain of the world around you, meanwhile, using a new item called the Multi-Tool. This allows you to sculpt landscapes as you see fit, to help customize and enhance your base. In addition, the diversity and visual quality of planets have been improved, and ancient portals allow you to revisit previous worlds. Finally, space combat and low flight have received a bunch of small enhancements, and there are now more ships available to buy.
You can read all the details here, or check out the patch notes at the bottom of this article. Previous No Man's Sky updates have also been substantial, adding features like base-building and land vehicles.
Hello Games founder Sean Murray said earlier this week that it had been "an exciting, intense, and emotional year for us at Hello Games." He added: "We have been quiet, but we have been listening intently. We've spent that year working hard on free updates for this game our team cares about so much."
No Man's Sky Update 1.3 Patch Notes
Generation
Increased variety in weather, planet, and structure names
More base building parts have unique names
Prevented trees spawning on sheer cliffs
Improved object placement on slopes
Improved grass placement and density
Changed the default starting ship model
Regenerated galaxy to remove differences between survival, normal, and creative game modes
Improved building distribution
Increased distribution of heridium deposits
Improved generation of beaches along shorelines
Repositioned player bases to accommodate generation changes
Exploration
Improved balance of hazards between planets
Improved settings for hazard damage and strength
Reduce cave hazard recharge times
Added Shielding Shard to the starting player inventory
Limited the depth at which buildings can spawn underwater
Gameplay
More tech available in tech shops
Balanced tech shop standing requirements
Standing lights have a proper name when you interact with them
Increased robustness of systems for locating buildings
Increased number and types of objects which can be scanned
Increased information available about scanned foliage and creatures
Improved planet resource lists
Craftable products now sorted by most recent use
Improved differentiation of weapons
Fixed pinning product recipes and technology guides
Continued story unlocked through abandoned buildings
Added interactions and dialogue options for many structures and characters
Overhauled secondary character interactions
Joint exploration has been introduced allowing 16 players to see visual representations of each other in game. Joint exploration does not require PS Plus, and is not currently available on GOG Galaxy.
Trade and Farming
Alloys, farm products and new gas products now form separate branches of a larger craft tree
Added new valuable higher tier craft products
Added new harvester to harvest atmospheric gases
Added new trade specific products
Added new farmable Star Bramble plant
Added larger 4 plant hydroponic tray
Increased contrast between picked and unpicked resource plants to more easily tell them apart
Balanced priced of alloys, farm products and gases
Improved distributions of resources on planets
Improved scan ranges for resources on planets
Added scan markers on more smaller plutonium crystals to aid resource gathering
Freighters
Balanced freighter prices
Fixed collision on freighter bridge
Added freighter classes
Added ability to warp in your freighter
Fixed floating turrets on capital freighters
Space
Improved space heavy air
Added requirement to scan planets in order to reveal their names
Improved planet name display as you enter orbit
Fix for massive carve radius when mining asteroids
Galactic Map
Updated galactic map UI
Improved galactic map controls
Improved star names gathered in galaxy map flythrough
Improved distribution of different coloured stars
Added interstellar scan events
STARSHIPS
Added ability to summon your ship from the quick menu
Refined ship reticules
Added new holographic cockpit HUD elements: mini map, pulse drive warning and target ship
Added new ship technology
Balanced space combat
Balanced ship weapons and technology
Updated ship weapon projectile effects
Updated ship hit direction markers
Improved flare graphics on ships
Improved loot containers dropped by AI ships
Improved effects on damaged AI ships
Balanced crashed ships broken slots and repair costs
Added a more convenient swap inventory button for moving items between new/crashed ships and storage units
Updated design of Atlas pass icons
Added ability to look around the cockpit when landed
Allowed player to remain in ship cockpit after landing
Improved spawning and distribution of AI ships
Improved ship altimeter
Added in-ship communicator
Added button prompt for ship zoom
Fixed a bug where your ship could become invisible by visiting the galactic map
Improved Pirate systems including the ability to negotiate or call in support
Added low flight mode
Improved landing code
UI
Divided options menu into several pages
Revised Journey page
New Gek, Korvax, and Vy'keen medals
New medals for the merchant, mercenary and explorer guilds
Revised log page
Fixed animation on markers as they are removed
Improved binocular UI
Updated journey milestone icons
Overhauled discovery log
Added cardinal directions to compass
Added distance markers to compass
Fix for "redeem content" showing twice on Steam menu
New trade and product icons
Revised combat ship markers
Improved ship tracking arrows when flying away from targets
Overhauled conversation interface
Graphics
Improved HBAO filtering around edges
Improved TAA handling of grass blade edges
Introduced depth of field effect during interactions
Added LOD meshes and imposters to various props
Fixed texturing on the buildable door
Reduced HBAO shimmer
Reduced shadow acne
Fixed artifacts with imposter shadows
Improved double-sided normals for foliage
Improved terrain texturing and texture blending
Improved grass colour blending and integration with terrain
Improved grass and leaf materials
Improved colour palettes across several biomes
Improved planet night skies
Fixed z-fighting on small glowing plants
Various graphics optimisations and fixes
Visual improvements to Atlas stations
Replaced all terrain textures with higher detail and quality variants
Added new higher detail foliage variants to several biomes
Although the plan to shoot the third and fourth Avengers movies back-to-back was changed last year, it doesn't mean that directors Anthony and Joe Russo are having any downtime. Avengers: Infinity War wrapped last month, and now the Russos have already started production on the currently-untitled Avengers 4. They marked the occasion by posting an image of a gloved hand raising four fingers, with the caption, "Beginning the end." Check it out below:
A post shared by The Russo Brothers (@therussobrothers) on
Avengers 4 will be released in May 2019 and won't just conclude the story of Thanos and the Infinity War--it will wrap up the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. "By the time we're at Avengers 4, 22 movies will have encompassed the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Marvel boss Kevin Feige said April. "And what happens after that will be very different. I don't know if it's Phase 4, it might be a new thing."
Although it is unknown what shape the next phase of the MCU will take, veteran Marvel stars such as Chris Evans (Captain America) and Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) have hinted that they may not continue in their roles for much longer.
In an interview in June, Evans said, "I could have [left] after the third Avengers, but they wanted to make the third and fourth films as a two-parter. It's going to wrap everything up." Downey Jr, meanwhile, told Australia's News that he wants to "hang up my jersey before it's embarrassing."
Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018, and will feature a huge number of heroes from the MCU. A first teaser was screened at San Diego Comic-Con in July, but it is yet to be released online.
Xbox One's Insider Program--the scheme that allows players to test system updates ahead of their full release--is now open to all, Microsoft has announced. Until now, only select Xbox Live members have been able to take part in the program, but now anyone can sign up and take advantage of early updates.
In a blog post, Microsoft explained it's "simplifying entry" into the program, which also grants occasional early access to upcoming Xbox titles. In addition, you can now choose to move between the program's four tiers, provided you attain enough Insider XP. Some of those four tiers have been renamed--here's what they're now called and a description of each, via Microsoft:
New Group Name
New Ring Description
Old Group Name
Alpha
Invite-only access ring reserved for Xbox Insiders that provide the most customer feedback, report problems with clear repro steps, and are especially active on Xbox One consoles. From time to time, our best Beta and Delta users will get invited to join the Alpha group.
Alpha
Beta
Now open to Xbox Insiders with a tenure (time in Program) of three or more months and an Xbox Insider XP of Level 4 or higher.
Beta
Delta
The new Delta group is open to any Xbox Insider with a tenure of one or more months that has reached Xbox Insider Level 2 or higher. Members of the Delta group may also receive builds earlier in the release schedule to test service scalability and feature acceptance. This means that not all users in the Delta group will have access to the same features at the same time.
Ring 3
Omega
Anyone can join the Omega group, which will be used to test minor changes made to the previously released monthly updates. Additionally, the Omega group will usually get early access to an upcoming monthly update before the general availability release date.
Ring 4
Moving upwards through the tiers is simply a case of providing helpful feedback and being an active Xbox One owner, Microsoft says. The upper tiers gain the biggest updates earlier, though be warned that they are also subject to more frequent updates (between 15 and 20 in the Alpha ring), so you may want to remain at a lower level to save your bandwidth.
Flight Ring
Number of updates/month
Bandwidth usage/month
Alpha
15-20
60-80 GB
Beta
8-15
32-60 GB
Delta
Varies. Select users can get around three updates per week.
Varies. Around 12 GB per week.
Omega
1-8
4-32 GB
Finally, Microsoft says it's "working closely with multiple first and third-party game studios" to bring more playtests of unreleased games. Recent Xbox One Insider playtests include Paladins and upcoming multiplayer pirate game Sea of Thieves. To join the scheme, just download the Xbox Insider Hub from the Xbox Store.
Warner Bros. has announced when the Blu-ray/DVD version of the box office smash Wonder Woman will arrive and what bonus features it will contain. Starting with the release date, the home video version will arrive first, coming out on digital stores on August 29, before coming to Blu-ray and DVD on September 19, according to Collider.
As for the bonus features, one of the coolest-sounding ones is an epilogue. Titled "Etta's Mission," this scene will follow Etta Candy as she "gets the boys back together for a secret mission that could impact humanity's future."
The home video version of Wonder Woman also includes a feature called "Crafting the Wonder," in which the producers "explore the journey to create an adventure worthy of DC's greatest warrior."
There are also numerous videos featuring director Patty Jenkins; these include:
A Director's Vision: Themyscira: The Hidden Island
A Director's Vision: Beach Battle
A Director's Vision: A Photograph Through Time
A Director's Vision: Diana in the Modern World
A Director's Vision: Wonder Woman at War
Below is a list of some of the other bonus features, with descriptions from Warner Bros:
Warriors of Wonder Woman - Witness the creation of the Amazon army as the women of "Wonder Woman" transform emotionally and physically into the world's most powerful and heroic warriors.
The Trinity - Filmmakers and comic book creators explore the legend of Wonder Woman and how she stands shoulder to shoulder with Superman and Batman to create the pillars of the DC Universe.
The Wonder Behind the Camera- Meet the women behind the wonder as they welcome a group of aspiring filmmakers on set for an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Finding the Wonder Woman Within – Feel the power of Wonder Woman as award-winning poets and inspiring public figures reveal the impact and importance of DC's greatest heroine.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, and Halo: CE Anniversary are coming to Xbox One through backwards compatibility. We still don't know when they'll be added to the catalog, but fans can rest assured that Microsoft is still working on it. In the latest Halo weekly update, developer 343 gave an update on how it's coming along, starting off with, "Good news: back-compat is still a thing!"
The backwards compatibility team continues its efforts, "churning away on getting the titles prepared for public consumption on Xbox One hardware," 343 said. People internally at Microsoft have been play-testing the games in the past week.
However, there is still no word on when the games will actually be available.
Not only are all of those Halo games coming to Xbox One via backwards compatibility, but all the map packs are, too. The only issue is that the Noble Map Pack for Halo: Reach is not free as it should be. 343 is working with the Xbox Store team to fix this.
The Halo games are all already playable on Xbox One via The Master Chief Collection, which includes Halo: CE Anniversary, a Halo 2 remaster, Halo 3, and Halo 4 all running at 60 frames per second. Halo 3: ODST was also released into the package.
It's busy days ahead for Conan Exiles, as the game launches on Xbox One in the Game Preview program on August 16. That's also the day that the game's first expansion, The Frozen North, will arrive for both Xbox One and the previously released PC edition.
With the launch of The Frozen North, which will be free, Conan Exiles enters what developer Funcom says is "phase two" of the game's Early Access period. The game has been revamped "from top to bottom," Funcom says. Combat now supports light and heavy attacks, while the loot system has been revamped as well, the developer said. Check out the video below to hear directly from Funcom about what's new in Conan Exiles' "bigger and better" second phase.
The version of Conan Exiles coming to Xbox One's Game Preview program on August 16 is unfinished, just like the Early Access edition on PC. The full, finished version of the game is slated to come out on PC and Xbox One, as well as PlayStation 4, in Q1 2018.
"I am very proud of the team and the work they have done so far in Early Access," creative director Joel Bylos said in a statement. "They have really been working their arses off fixing bugs, squashing exploits, improving core features, and they have also added entire new features and content such as siege warfare, climbing, dungeons, and much more."
At E3 this year, Funcom announced that Conan Exiles will get an update for the Xbox One X to take advantage of the console's power. The console launches in November, so the update wouldn't be out until at least then.
Kotaku has obtained an internal memo from Blizzard in which the Overwatch and World of Warcraft developer announced a new "global diversity and inclusion initiative." The purpose of the campaign is to recruit and retain more women and minority groups that are currently underrepresented at the Irvine, California-based giant.
Not only that, but Blizzard said in the memo that it wants to improve the work environment for women and underrepresented minority groups.
Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime said in the email that women make up 21 percent of Blizzard's workforce currently, while underrepresented minority groups stand at 14 percent. Female developers leave Blizzard "at a higher rate than men," Morhaime explained. The executive added that the percentage of female developers and how frequently they leave is in line with the industry overall.
Morhaime went on to say that Blizzard does not plan to have "quotas" for new hires. However, Blizzard plans to work with groups like Girls Who Code and other women's groups to find candidates.
"Our diversity initiative will require a commitment from every one of us, but especially from our leaders, managers, and hiring teams," Morhaime said. "We appreciate your dedication to help Blizzard achieve this goal."
EA Sports has announced the release date and cover star for this year's NBA Live 18. The professional basketball game will arrive for PS4 and Xbox One on September 15. A demo for the game is available on both platforms starting on August 11.
As for the cover star, Houston Rockets guard James Harden will grace the box. It's his first time on the cover of an NBA Live game, but he shared the cover of NBA 2K16 with Steph Curry, so he's not completely new to being on the cover of a big basketball game.
The NBA Live 18 demo lets you play a rematch of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. You can also try out something called The Rise, which is a prologue to the game's The One mode. Progress you make in the demo can transfer to the full game. During the demo, limited-time live events will take place that offer "special rules, rewards, and characters."
Performance metrics and reviews of AMD's much anticipated high-end desktop (HEDT) processors, known as Threadripper, have flooded tech sites across the internet as it released today. These CPUs pack a crazy number of multithreaded cores relative to their price.
The Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1920X CPUs were put to the test and the results were mostly favorable, meaning there's even more competition in the PC hardware market than we've seen in recent years.
Much like the other Ryzen family of processors, Threadripper beats out its Intel counterparts handily in CPU-heavy tasks like video production and image rendering. However, HEDTs aren't necessarily the best option if for a CPU solely for gaming.
Each outlet included charts and analysis of all their test results, which included gaming benchmarks, productivity simulation tests, and multitasking. We've included the key take away from each review in this roundup.
"With Ryzen, AMD made the eight core CPU mainstream. It made an increasingly complacent Intel, which had long neglected and exploited its most vocal fans, pay attention to the desktop market again. With Threadripper, AMD hasn't just added more cores compared to Intel, it has changed the entire direction of the HEDT market for the better. It has made breathtaking levels of performance more accessible than ever and won the hearts and minds of the PC market's most vocal of communities.
"For the last decade, the last word in desktop performance has belonged to Intel. Now it belongs to AMD." -- Mark Walton (former GameSpot editor) [full review]
"The [Intel Core i9] 7900X is still a damn good CPU, particularly if a significant amount of a machine's daily use (alongside "work," whatever that may be) is actually gaming. It's just better on that front, as you'd expect and as AMD itself will admit. Now, of course, bottlenecking on the GPU does diminish that lead, but it's still present. The differences emerge especially in low-end frametimes, where we'd recommend using AMD's "game mode" to change memory access and core presence for bolstered performance. All that said of the 7900X, though, it's also slower in thread-limited render tasks (Blender), slower in encoding (Premiere), a bigger consumer of power, about the same temperature, and equal in price (1950X) or $200 more (1920X).
"AMD's done well, here. We can strongly and confidently recommend Threadripper for the above-outlined applications, given the handful of exceptions." -- Steve Burke [full review]
"In this short-attention-span world, you're probably looking for the quick answer. Unfortunately, the real answer has three parts, since CPUs fulfill a variety of purposes.
"The first is single-threaded or very lightly-threaded use, such as most photo-editing applications. In that category, the more spry quad-cores outpace Threadripper 1950X, though its relatively high clock speeds keep it very much in contention.
"The second is gaming, where we see the familiar deficit of previous Ryzen launches. AMD argues that in social gaming, such as streaming and recording while gaming, more cores are better—and we'd tend to agree. But in conventional gaming, Intel leads. The good news is that AMD's new Game Mode can help close that gap to the point that it doesn't even matter.
"That brings us to the last category: multithreaded performance. In every single multithreaded test we ran (including multitasking multithreaded tests), Threadripper 1950X outpaced all comers by significant margins. It simply destroys any 8-core CPU and makes you question how the 10-core Core i9-7900X can dare to be priced the same as the Threadripper 1950X." -- Gordon Mah Ung [full review]
"We're sure to see well-heeled enthusiasts work through the settings to find the best combinations, even if most want to use Threadripper the way it ships. Of course, we like to experiment, so we'll spend the coming weeks working on more stressful use-cases and finding the best combinations for different workloads.
"Ryzen Threadripper 1950X is a solid entrant for AMD, and the company knows it's going after a niche market here. Those who need what Threadripper offers likely already know. And if that's you, we have to imagine you're elated to know there's an alternative to Intel's steep buy-in, particularly now that AMD is winning in benchmarks it hasn't won in a very long time." -- Paul Alcorn [full review]
"The hype is now real. AMD delivers what they promised with Threadripper. With a processor choice of up-to sixteen cores and thirty-two threads combined with acceptable heat and power consumption levels the sky is the limit, and that's what you get for under a thousand USD. Now honestly, I would not label the platform as perfect, but I would label it really good as, hey, this platform is such a crazy multi-threading beast! I am also not going to state that everybody should get a PC like this either, as realistically who really needs 12 or 16 cores, right? And sure, in that respect I also have to state that this is not a gamer's platform in the sense that it offers value for money (specific to gaming though)." -- Hilbert Hagedoom [full review]
"If I were to turn around and say that Threadripper CPUs were not pure gaming CPUs, it would annoy a fair lick of the tech audience. The data is there – it's not the best gaming CPU. But AMD would spin it like this: it allows the user to game, to stream, to watch and to process all at the same time.
"You need a lot to do in order to fill 16 cores to the max, and for those that do, it's a potential winner. For anyone that needs hardcore throughput such as transcode, decode, rendering such as Blender, Cinema 4D or ray-tracing, it's a great CPU to have. For multi-GPUs or multi-storage aficionados or the part of the crowd that wants to cram a bunch of six PCIe 3.0 x8 FPGAs into a system, AMD has you covered." -- Ian Cutress [full review]
"[T]he way you view Threadripper will be largely dependent on what you do with your system. Professionals, prosumers or even gamers who need their system to crunch through other tasks while they frag away will certainly benefit from what's being offered here, especially with the 1920X. On the other hand, I can't imagine ever recommending Threadripper for someone who wants to assemble a pure gaming setup. People running a single high-end graphics card will be infinitely better served by Ryzen 7 or even the extremely versatile Ryzen 5 processors.
"And yet Threadripper isn't just about price, performance and processing performance per watt. It also happens to be about the fulfillment of hopes and expectations of countless enthusiasts. Enthusiasts who, regardless of their preference for the blue or green sides, were hoping that in some way AMD would break the cycle of the planned obsolescence, high pricing structures and egregious feature cutting in the high-end desktop market. That's exactly what happened and the end result is nothing short of spectacular." -- SKYMTL [full review]
Xbox One's Gamerscore offers players a way to compare their Achievements with friends, but for those who only play a small number of titles, it doesn't necessarily reflect their level of skill or the amount of time they've devoted to a game. Because of this, Microsoft has teased that a significant change is on the way to better showcase a gamer's accomplishments.
Speaking to Windows Central, Xbox corporate vice president Mike Ybarra revealed that Microsoft is working on "something that fundamentally changes" its approach to Achievements. "[W]e are working towards a bigger, more meaningful change about somebody's gaming accomplishments in history, as a gamer on Xbox," Ybarra said.
"[W]e can do a lot more to reflect and let people show their gaming history and their status," he explained. "Whether it's somebody who only plays multiplayer in Halo 5 at a professional level, maybe they only have 2,000 Gamerscore, you want to be able to celebrate that person. You want people to be in the know. This person doesn't play a lot of games, but they're world top ten at Halo 5.
"[W]e're going to go big in the area of letting people show off and represent their gaming history and the type of gamer that they are, far more than we do with Gamerscore," Ybarra said. As for what form this new system will take, Ybarra offered very few details. He did, however, assure that it wouldn't replace the current Gamerscore system but "complement" it.
Achievements aren't the only Xbox One feature getting an overhaul; a big update is in store for the console. Among other changes, it will ramp the system's Home screen to focus on "speed, customization, and expression." That update is scheduled to release later this year.
The next console in the Xbox family, Xbox One X, launches on November 7 for $500. Those who attend the Gamescom expo in Germany will have a chance to go hands-on with the system. Microsoft has also outlined a number of live streams and events it will be hosting prior to Gamescom, including an Age of Empires live stream that will offer "some exciting news that fans will not want to miss."
Earlier this summer, developer Playtonic Games released a big update for the PC version its retro-inspired platformer, Yooka-Laylee, which made a long list of improvements to the game that smooth over the entire experience. Today, the developer announced that the update is now also available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Among the myriad changes Playtonic made to the game is a new optional camera system, which gives players much greater control over how it's positioned. This is certainly a welcome feature, as the original camera was one aspect we took issue with in our Yooka-Laylee review.
In addition to the new camera system, the update also makes improvements to the game's flying and first-person aiming controls, gives players the ability to skip cutscenes and dialogue, introduces an option for shorter "gibberish" voice acting, and much more. Playtonic outlined the full list of changes it made to the game on its website, but some of the more notable ones include:
Pagies have added signposts to Hivory Towers to help guide players to new worlds
Design tweaks to all arcade games
Improved speed when scrolling through Totals Menu
New moves section added to pause menu, with image guide
Restart option added in the pause menu during arcade games and Kartos challenges
"Sonar-able" objects now have clearer visual identity
Laser move no longer requires player to crouch
Improved Transformation controls
Minecart control and hitbox improvements
Improved Rampo boss fight
Performance improvements
A Nintendo Switch version of Yooka-Laylee is also on the way, though Playtonic hasn't announced a release date for it yet. Last week, however, the developer tweeted a photo of the game running on Nintendo's console and said it "hope[s] to have more news" regarding that version soon. Playtonic has confirmed that all of the changes it introduced in today's update will be present in the Switch release on day one.
Titanfall: Assault, the competitive real-time strategy game for mobile, was announced a couple of months ago, and today it's finally available. Respawn and developer Particle City have released the game on iOS and Android devices.
The game replaces the fast-paced first-combat of the mainline series with top-down RTS mechanics, but it still features a lot of the elements of Titanfall that you'd expect. You'll still have Titans to call down, Pilots to control, and Burn Cards that give you boosts. Respawn has said that it's meant to feel like a Titanfall game even though it's in a new format.
Some other parts of the game that fans of Titanfall will recognize include a modification of the Hardpoint mode, where the first player to reach 100 points by holding Hardpoints or to destroy the other player's base wins. In addition, just like in the main series, the maps will feature different ways to interact with the environment. There'll be ziplines for Pilots and destructible areas that open new paths for Titans.
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