Microsoft's Netflix-style subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, has been available for some time now, but it took on new value when the company announced plans to launch its first-party exclusives on day one through the service. That started with last week's release of Sea of Thieves, but due to a new problem that has popped up, the game isn't currently playable for Game Pass members.
As long as you have a Game Pass subscription, you can ordinarily play Sea of Thieves on Xbox One or PC in its entirety just like anyone who owns a digital copy of the game. However, players opening the game right now are presented with the same type of message you see when trying to play something you don't own. "Do you own this game or app?" the error message asks. "If you have a game disc, insert it now. If you bought this online, make sure you're signed in to Xbox Live. If you don't have rights for playing it, you'll need to get it at the Microsoft Store." This also presents you with the 0x803f8001 error code, which directs you to a support page for this otherwise standard problem.
The issue is currently specific to Sea of Thieves; the Xbox Live status page confirms that Game Pass access to the title isn't working correctly right now. That page has an unusually terse message stating that the issue is being worked on, and the official Sea of Thieves Twitter account also states as much: "Our team are currently investigating an issue affecting Game Pass players and are working to resolve it as soon as possible. We'll update you as soon as we can."
We don't know how long the issue will persist or if it's related to the new Sea of Thieves update that was just released. Regardless, it means that Game Pass members are unable to play the game right now. We'll report back as more details are shared. In the meantime, check out our Sea of Thieves review.
Sea of Thieves developer Rare has scrapped plans for a proposed change, after harsh feedback from the community and a realization that their messaging around it was confusing. The "Death Cost" was included as a coming update in a set of release notes, suggesting that the Captain of the Ferry of the Damned would charge a small fee for each death.
The community was not pleased and let Rare know, loudly enough that producer Joe Neate issued a mea culpa and let fans know the Death Cost won't be coming after all.
Letting everyone know we've heard the feedback and the proposed 'Death Cost' in #SeaOfThieves is, well, dead. We messed up with the messaging around this, and it's now gone. Thanks for the honest feedback & discussion on this. https://t.co/83pYg5HPbq
The release notes have been updated as well. It's careful to note that the plan was never to charge players for PvP deaths, since it would have such an impact on player experience. But it also echoed Neate's point that the team fumbled the messaging.
"We understand that this addition to the release notes was a little confusing, and in the future we will ensure that any future updates we discuss give you a better understanding of how and why we're implementing it," the notes read. "Sea of Thieves is constantly evolving, and any feature we will test, monitor data and listen to your feedback to ensure we're making the right decisions."
That spirit of constant evolution is needed, as we've found it fun but in need of more content so far. The team has shown themselves to be pretty nimble, issuing a comedic "day one patch" just for kicks. You can try swashing some buckles for free with a 14-day trial of the Xbox Games Pass, which will get a new batch in April. Before you heave ho, be sure to check out some tips for landlubbers.
Blizzard has another expansion for Hearthstone on the way, a journey into the haunted forest of the Witchwood. The studio has gone mostly quiet since its debut, but today it kicked off two weeks of planned card reveals with a livestream debuting some of the new set.
The stream revealed 10 cards in all, including two class Legendary cards and the one and only new Hero Card of the expansion. The Hero is a Shaman alternate, Hagatha the Witch. She deals 3 damage to all minions upon entering the field, and then has a passive Hero Power that gives you a random spell for each minion played. This was described as the main character of the expansion, since she's the witch of the woods.
The other two Legendaries revealed today were the Hunter card Houndmaster Shaw, which gives your other minions Rush, and the Warlock card Glinda Crowskin, which gives Echo to all the minions in your hand as long as she's in play. Those two keywords are also new additions to the expansion. Another kooky new reveal was Nightmare Amalgam, a card that belongs to every tribe in the game, letting it synergize with anything from Pirates to Murlocs to Mechs to Dragons and beyond.
For the next two weeks, cards will be revealed at a regular pace leading up to the expansion's release. You can see the schedule of reveals to follow along. Also during that two-week period, Hearthstone will be granting free packs for completing daily quests, giving you a chance at some of the recent expansions or even Witchwood packs. The dev recently told us its core idea is to make everything feel overpowered.
The third Pokemon Go Community Day has come and gone, but players already have an idea of what to expect from next month's event. Developer Niantic has announced the first details for the next Pokemon Go Community Day, including what bonuses and special Pokemon players will be able to earn this time.
The event takes place on Sunday, April 15, and as usual, it will be held during a three-hour window of time. Typically, Community Days run at different times depending on your region, but so far, Niantic has only revealed the time frame for North America. Like this month's event, the next Community Day kicks off in the region at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET and concludes at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET.
During April's Community Day, any Lure Modules that are activated will last for three hours. In addition to that, Eggs will hatch at a quarter of the distance they typically require, allowing you to hatch Pokemon much more quickly for the duration of the event.
The featured Pokemon during April's Community Day will be the Electric-type sheep Mareep. Niantic hasn't revealed what exclusive move it will be able to learn during the event just yet, but if the previous two Community Days are any indication, there's a good chance players will need to evolve Mareep into its final form, Ampharos, before the Community Day ends in order to learn the special move.
Before the next Community Day rolls around, players still have a chance to participate in Pokemon Go's Easter-themed Eggstravaganza event. From now until April 2, Pokemon that typically hatch from 5 km or 10 km Eggs, like Wynaut or Ralts, can be found in 2 km Eggs. April 2 also marks the day the Legendary Pokemon Lugia will leave Raid Battles. The Diving Pokemon returned to the game earlier this month with the "newly improved" Sky Attack move, and this time it's easier to capture if players manage to defeat it.
With interest in Destiny 2 seemingly having dropped off greatly since launch, developer Bungie continues to work on revamping the game. Following the first DLC and subsequent updates meant to address fan complaints, another major update is now being rolled out that makes some significant changes--including letting players generally deal more damage and move more quickly.
Full patch notes for update 1.1.4, which is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, have been released, and they are quite extensive. As outlined in a recent video (below), Bungie wants players to feel more empowered. To accomplish this, PvE damage for numerous weapon types has been increased, in some cases significantly--shotguns deal 35% more, linear fusion rifles deal 50% more, and sniper rifles deal either 20% more (against yellow bar enemies) or 40% more (against red bar enemies). These buffs coincide with other weapon balance tweaks, like being able to store more ammo and increasing accuracy or aim assist. Specific weapons and perks also see adjustments.
Each class has also been touched to varying degrees; Hunter's Arc Staff Super and Warlock's Dawnblade Super should be more effective, and the various Warlock glide abilities have been improved. All players, regardless of class, will now get their Super more frequently, and the so-called melee Supers--Fist of Havoc, Sentinel Shield, and Arc Staff--each enjoy a movement speed boost.
It's not just those Supers that see a bump to movement speed, though. Bungie says it's increased the "output of every increment of the Mobility stat, from 2-10." Provided you invest in that stat, it allows for "a significant boost in player speed."
Unique rewards are being introduced for Nightfalls, presenting you with Legendary weapons and Exotic accessories that can be earned only from specific missions. You'll also no longer face the same Nightstrike back-to-back when playing through a Strike playlist. And, in another extremely welcome change, Exotic repetition has been reduced, and you should no longer ever get the same Exotic when decrypting consecutive Exotic Engrams.
Crucible has also been updated in a variety of ways. You should see maps repeated less often, and Iron Banner is now 6v6, as was the case with standard Crucible matches in the first Destiny. Quickplay matches now have a 10-minute time limit (with score limit adjustments to match). Power ammo will spawn more quickly in Control, Clash, and Supremacy matches, and you'll be able to obtain Power ammo by killing a player who is carrying it in any mode. Now, when someone with Power ammo dies, they'll lose all of it, and 50% of what they had will drop on the ground for 30 seconds for anyone to pick up.
You can see everything that's changed in the full patch notes on Bungie's website.
Though it has yet to be announced, it's widely expected that Shane McMahon, who has been serving as commissioner of Smackdown Live, would insert himself into the Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn match at Wrestlemania 34. Chances are, though, there is going to be a major change in that plan.
On Monday, WWE announced that McMahon had been hospitalized after developing a "massive infection due to acute diverticulitis." According to the report, he was also suffering from an umbilical hernia that would surgery once the infection had been taken care of. With less than two weeks before Wrestlemania 34, it seems unlikely that McMahon would be cleared for in-ring competition by then.
At the very least, Shane is able to get up and move around, as he posted an update on Instagram. In a photo with his sons, he writes, "Thank you everyone for the get well wishes. It truly helps. I'm healing up, and I have the best medicine in the world with me."
What's WWE to do without McMahon to utilize at Wrestlemania 34, though? The answer is pretty simple, actually: Daniel Bryan. After he was cleared to wrestle, many believed Bryan and Shane would both be added to the match with Owens and Zayn, creating a tag team bout. Without Shane, WWE could either bring in a replacement partner--paging Samoa Joe--or simply do a triple threat match between Bryan, Zayn, and Owens.
Whatever the case, there are a number of possibilities for WWE when it comes to Wrestlemania 34 and, though Shane will be missed on the show, there's no doubt that he'll be back sooner or later. After all, he is way too committed to jumping off of things to never come back.
The year began with superhero fans expecting 2018 to deliver no fewer than three movies in the X-Men universe: Deadpool 2, The New Mutants, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. But now only the first of these will arrive before the end of the year. It has been announced that Dark Phoenix has moved back to February 2019, while the already-delayed New Mutants has shifted back even further into next year.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix was originally scheduled to arrive on November 2, but Fox have confirmed that it will now hit theaters on February 14, 2019. The movie is directed by Simon Kinberg, who will make his directing debut after years as a writer and producer on X-Men movies. It's set to tell the classic Dark Phoenix story from Marvel's comic books, and stars Sophie Turner, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence. While we are yet to see any footage from the movie, some first images were released in December.
As for The New Mutants, the movie was originally due next month. A trailer and several viral tweets were revealed late last year to promote it, before the release was moved to February 2019. But with Dark Phoenix now pushed to that month, The New Mutants will now open on August 2, which is 16 months after first scheduled.
Earlier this month, New Mutants star Anya Taylor-Joy spoke about her frustration with the delays. "The only thing that I could say, without being in trouble, is that it being delayed is disappointing, frustrating in fact, because we were all very excited for it to be released on April 13," she said. "I don't mean just disappointing for me, but I'm sure there are a lot of other fans that were looking forward to seeing it."
Taylor-Joy also confirmed the rumor that part of delay was due to reshoots that will introduce a new character. "I don't think it being delayed is a bad thing because it's definitely more important to make sure that we get it right than rushing to make a date," she said. "So, hopefully, all of these reshoots and adding of the new character that will give the fans an altogether satisfactory, wonderful product."
While Far Cry 5 remains loyal to the series' most well-established tenets, it manages to make some big changes to exploration, progression, and combat. When you first start the game, some of these new elements may seem disorienting. To help clear the initial confusion, we've gathered nine essential tips on how to best play Far Cry 5.
Got any tips that you don't see here? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check back often as we put up our final Far Cry 5 review--as well as more guides--in the coming days.
If You Explore the World, More Activities Will Open Up
A lot has changed since the days of Far Cry 3 and 4, when you climbed towers in order to populate the map with dozens of activity icons and collectibles. In Far Cry 5, you now discover everything by simply exploring. In addition, the 3D map is now detailed enough that you can clearly see major landmarks and locations, which makes it easy to identify and mark new areas to explore.
And as you're traveling, keep an eye out. Road signs reveal hunting spots, maps found inside building mark nearby buildings for you, and magazines tell you about fishing and hunting areas. If you talk to nonplayer characters, they'll tell you about nearby missions, outposts, and prepper stashes. Far Cry 5 is game that wants you to live in its world--so make sure to explore every interesting landmark or curious detail. You never know what you'll find!
Complete the Side Missions for Special Unlockables
Far Cry 5 ditches the repetitive, activity-based open-world structure of previous Far Cry games. For the first time in the series' history, Far Cry 5 brings in actual side missions, each with their own unique dialogue, narrative arcs, and gameplay. From simple missions like saving people from drugged up bears, to letting cows have sex to Marvin Gaye music so you can chop off their testicles for the annual Testicle Festival (yeah, that's a real thing in this game), you'll find plenty of mini-adventures to embark on. If you ever stumble upon any side missions, make sure to complete them, as you can also get some pretty sweet rewards -- like new weapons or beefed-up vehicles with guns attached to them that you can't normally find anywhere in the world.
Get the Weapon Slot Skill Upgrades ASAP
As in past games in the series, you want to prioritize expanding the number of weapons you can carry as soon as possible. These upgrades are acquired via the game's skill tree, as opposed to the crafting system. The sooner you can unlock these skills, the sooner you can start wreaking havoc with a more diverse set of weaponry.
Get the Lockpick and Repair Torch Perks
Far Cry 5 has plenty of locked doors and safes for you to open. Most times, you can find a key or combination hidden nearby, or blow a safe open with explosives. But if you want to avoid the trouble, try investing in both the Lockpick and Repair Torch skills. Both are handy for accessing hidden stashes containing weapons, ammo, or money. Heck, you can even use the Repair Torch to repair broken-down vehicles.
Make Money Quickly by Hunting or Uncovering Prepper Stashes
Money doesn't naturally accumulate as quickly as it does in previous Far Cry games, but you can still make a lot of money if you know what to focus on. A go-to method is hunting and skinning animals. No longer are skins used to craft things like a new wallet; instead, you sell them for direct profit. If you kill an animal with arrows or melee attacks, you'll obtain double the skins that you normally would by killing it with a gun. And when used in conjunction with the Harvest Master perk (which doubles your rewards from animals), $200 worth of feathers becomes $400, and $450 worth of cougar skins nets you $900. This comes highly recommended if you're going to resort to hunting as your main source of money-making.
Aside from hunting, you should also keep an eye out for safes, which are usually inside buildings. With the Repair Torch or Locksmith perk, you can easily open them to access their valuables... but in a pinch, placing an explosive on them will also do the trick.
The final method is Prepper Stashes, which are side missions that task you to solve some light environmental puzzles in exchange for a pile of loot. Whether it's by swimming across a river, shooting the lock off a door from afar, or navigating a barn full of beehives, your reward is a stack of cash, a couple of magazines that give you free Perk Points, and other goodies like new weapons. We highly recommend pursuing Prepper Stashes; not only are the rewards well worth it, but they're some of the best missions in the game.
Keep an Eye on Your Vehicle's Health
It's difficult to tell how much damage a vehicle can take before it's completely undrivable. A plane or truck is liable to go up in flames after a few bumps, so be prepared to abandon the driver's seat at a moment's notice. And if you can bail in time to launch your vehicle straight at an encampment of enemies, all the better.
If keeping track of a vehicle's health is too much trouble, you can take a perk that allows you to make vehicles auto-repair as you drive. Otherwise, you'll have to resort to the Repair Torch perk for repairs.
Mark Enemies and Place Waypoints with Your Binoculars
Situational awareness is essential to your navigation through the hostile territory of Hope County. The binoculars are a useful tool, as you can use them to tag enemies, animals, and even notable interactables in the environment. If you're ever uncertain about what you can use in your immediate area to benefit your approach, your binoculars can shed light on the possibilities. You can also use them to place a waypoint onto a location in the distance--it's similar to placing beacons or stamps in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Take Advantage of Specialists
Expanding upon the buddy system from Far Cry 2, Far Cry 5 features a robust cast of Specialists, which are AI-controlled allies that you can call in for combat assistance. You'll find nine Specialists throughout Hope County; to unlock them, you need to complete their associated story missions. All of their missions are marked on the map from the beginning of the game, so it's relatively easy to find them.
Each Specialist has two abilities associated with them. For example, Boomer the dog can tag all nearby enemies and fetch their weapons for you, making him a both a useful scout and a very good boy. The Specialists all sport a variety of skills, so pick the ones who best support your playstyle. And if you acquire the the Leadership perk, you can have up to two Specialists following you at any given time.
Lastly, each Specialist has their own perk that decreases their cooldown time, so be sure to upgrade your favorites.
Utilize Guns for Hire
Outside of the Specialists, you have three slots that you can fill up with Guns for Hire, which are civilians that you can save and hire. Like Specialists, they have two abilities; however, these can only be unlocked by increasing their kill count as they fight alongside you. It's also important to note that the abilities they receive are random, so if you end up not liking what they earn, you can always dismiss them and hire someone new.
Epic's aggressive rollout of new content for Fortnite: Battle Royale continues. With a Starter pack now available for purchase, Epic has teased the next bit of playable content that will be added, and it's another explosive weapon.
As teased through the in-game updates screen, something called the Guided Missile is on the way to Battle Royale. You can see a small image of it below; the description states, "Remote control destruction from above."
Beyond that, we don't really know what to expect from this weapon, including just how it will work. Is this a homing rocket? Or, more likely, are you able to aim the rocket after you fire it? What rarities does it come in? Whatever the particulars, we'll know before long, as the tease also states that it will be released "soon." That could mean another weapon will be "vaulted"--removed from the game temporarily to avoid having too many items active at once--as has been the case recently with some other items.
While players' arsenal will expand further with the Guided Missile's release, one thing that we still haven't gotten yet is the Jetpack. This was intended to have launched weeks ago, only for Epic to delay it at the last minute. We unfortunately still haven't gotten an update on where development on it stands, though this hasn't stopped Epic from releasing more new weapons, cosmetics, and limited-time modes like the just-concluded Blitz.
As the month of March is winding down, there's still plenty to keep you busy on Netflix. While the streaming service isn't adding any original programming this week--which is a surprise, given how many Netflix TV shows and films seem to arrive every week--there's still a lot of additions to binge.
There are only a couple of movies being added this week, including The Good Son and In Like Flint. The most notable addition, though, is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The Wes Anderson classic arrives on streaming just as his latest film, Isle of Dogs, debuts in theaters.
As for TV, seasons of Life in Pieces, Friends with Benefits, Salem, The Carmichael Show, and Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life can all be streamed this week. Additionally, the one and only season of The Finder--a spinoff of Bones--will begin streaming on March 31.
Part of Fortnite: Battle Royale's success stems from the fact that it's free-to-play; anyone on PC, PS4, or Xbox One--and now, some on mobile--can dive right in and start playing. But there are a number of ways to spend money on the experience if you so choose, and now there's a new option in the form of a Starter pack that provides good value.
In-game purchases in Battle Royale are all done with V-Bucks, a currency you can earn through Save the World mode and the game's Battle Pass but is primarily purchased with real-world money. The Starter pack centers around this: For $5 / £3.19, you get 600 V-Bucks. Those can be spent on cosmetic Battle Royale items, put toward the Battle Pass (which provides access to weekly challenges), or spent on Save the World items, schematics, and characters.
The Starter pack also includes two cosmetics for use in Battle Royale: the Rogue Agent outfit and the Catalyst Back Bling (a recently introduced type of item that, as the name suggests, puts a decoration of some sort on your back). You can see what those looks like in the images below.
The pack is a pretty good value if you're looking to spend money on the game. Pricing on V-Bucks varies, as larger bundles get you more for your money, but the cheapest bundle costs $10 / £8 for 1,000 V-Bucks. Getting 600 for $5 / £3.19 is thus a nice deal, even if you're not interested in the two cosmetics. However, this won't be a reliable source of V-Bucks for you, as the bundle can only be purchased once per account.
You can now purchase the Starter pack on all platforms, including mobile (which remains an invite-only test on iOS). Meanwhile, a new weapon is on the way to the game "soon" called the Guided Missile, though we don't know when it's set for release.
PUBG Corp. has rolled out a new update for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on PC. The patch arrives shortly after the one-year anniversary of PUBG's Early Access release, and the developer is commemorating the occasion with a free item for all players.
For a limited time, PUBG players will receive a special weapon skin in honor of the game's first anniversary. Everyone who logs in before the first week of May's maintenance period will get the Year One - SCAR-L skin, which dresses up the weapon with yellow paint and the game's most coveted phrase, "Winner winner chicken dinner." You can take a look at the skin in the screenshot below.
"A lot of things have happened in the world of PUBG in the last year," the developer wrote in a post on the Steam forums. "On the 23rd of March, 2017, we launched on Steam Early Access and so many of you have joined us in the best Battle Royale experience out there. Throughout our journey, we went from a pre-alpha build that only a few select players knew about to one of the most popular games in videogame history."
Weapon skins are the big new addition in PUBG's Update #8. These can be found in two new types of loot boxes: Triumph and Raider. The former is a random, weekly crate that can only be opened with a real-money key, while the latter is a non-random loot box that doesn't require a key to unlock. You can take a look at the weapon skins we've acquired so far in our gallery.
In other news, PUBG Corp. says it is "considering" implementing region-locking in order to "provide a better gameplay experience." The developer has also recently introduced a Fortnite-like limited-time event mode in the PC version. The first event took place this past weekend and featured eight-player teams with a doubled rifle drop rate.
This year's MLB The Show pushes the franchise's visuals, mechanics, and authenticity to new heights. Marginal updates to the Franchise mode and some of the same quirks in Road to the Show persist, but overall this is a shining baseball game that's worthy of attention.
America's pastime is all about the details, and MLB The Show 18 proves to be an authentic sim thanks to small but impactful touches throughout. There are new crowd animations like the "Judge's Chambers" cheer at Yankee Stadium. Spectator logic is also updated so that fewer people show up for a Tuesday game or when one or both of the teams is out of the postseason hunt. One of the better and more notable aesthetic additions this year are situation-specific home run animations. If you hit a dinger in an important spot, the player will celebrate accordingly instead of just jogging around the bases like it was an inconsequential home run during a blowout.
Batting stances are also customizable now, giving you options to tweak things like the positioning of your hands and elbows. Want a little more bat-wiggle? You got it. It's fun to tweak a stance and find something that is aesthetically pleasing and uniquely yours, even if it doesn't have an impact on your overall attributes. What's more, the crowds for the most part are no longer just bland, boring background elements, and the stadiums are replicated with an incredible attention to detail. From top to bottom, MLB The Show is a gorgeous-looking baseball game.
All the core mechanics and fundamentals of baseball--hitting, fielding, catching, throwing, and pitching--give you the kind of control that you would expect from an advanced sports sim. Mechanically, Sony San Diego's commitment to refining and improving mechanics continues this year. In particular, hitting remains a challenging thrill. The hitting mechanics never feel unfair, as you only have yourself to blame if you're going for a power swing when you should be protecting the plate. It takes some work to get the hang of hitting--and you'll want to try the three available control options to find the one that works best for you. Connecting with a pitch and sending it ripping through the gap or over the fence--or even picking up a single in the clutch--remains one of the most enjoyable parts of the game.
In the field, particularly the outfield, players move like actual humans with inertia, so if you don't get a jump on a fly ball or take the wrong path when playing a ball off the wall, you might find yourself giving the baserunner extra time or even make a costly error. Like the hitting mechanics, this never feels unfair or overly difficult, thanks in part to controls that reward practice and responsiveness.
The commentary team this year adds MLB Network analyst and former player Mark DeRosa--and he is a very welcome addition. DeRosa takes the place of Harold Reynolds, who is out after just one year, and the broadcasts feel more informative and entertaining as a result. DeRosa does color alongside Dan Plesac, and they're joined by play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian. The three recorded lines in the same studio space this year, and this pays dividends; the back-and-forth conversations feel more natural and organic. Baseball commentary is never going to be exciting in a way that it is for other, faster sports, but these three do a good job. That being said, after only a few games, you'll begin to hear the same lines again and again.
The returning RPG-like Road to the Show mode builds on the narrative, documentary-style "Pave Your Path" from last year's game. You can import a character from MLB The Show 17 or start anew on a fresh journey from AA to the big leagues. Notably, you aren't a top prospect this time around, but rather a dark horse. You're not on scouts' radar to begin with, so it's imperative you perform well from the start if you want to get called up to the bigs--and it can be a struggle. You start by creating a character (you can customise loads of things, down to the number of pimples on your face or creases on your forehead). But new for MLB The Show 18 is that choosing an archetype for your character that has pros and cons. I went with "Good Hands," which meant my path was more focused on fielding and making contact at the plate with speed as my weakness. Once you get started, RTTS plays out in the familiar fashion: with scenes narrated by a Sam Elliott sound-a-like and narrative sequences that are quite cheesy and overly dramatic.
In previous years, you assigned training points to level up your character that you could purchase with real money through Stubs. But training points and Stubs are completely gone from RTTS (and so are microtransactions), and instead attribute points are automatically added--or subtracted--based on your performance during AA and AAA seasons. Make an error in the field or fail to make solid contact at the plate and your related skills will fall. You'll even have points subtracted if you swing at a pitch way outside of the zone. You do still have some amount of manual control of your character's progress, as "Focus Training" opportunities will pop up throughout the season to improve your skills of choice. MLB The Show 18's overall drive to be an authentic baseball sim extends to RTTS. It shouldn't be easy to go pro--and it isn't. It took me four seasons of AA and three of AAA before I eventually got the call.
At various stages you'll have sit-downs with your manager to talk about your progress. You can make light dialogue choices, and these serve to flesh out your character's personality. Generally speaking, you can choose to be brash or reserved. In one case, I was asked to switch from shortstop to left field. I was told it would be good for my professional development and to show I was a team player, but I refused--and was benched as a result. Actions have consequences (you might even get traded if you push back hard enough). If you want to make it to the big leagues, you have to believe in yourself and your abilities, but also to listen to advice and make reasoned choices about your future.
One change I appreciated is the inability to max out your character to level 99 in all areas. In the past, you could essentially create a super-player if you worked hard enough (or spent enough on microtransactions). But now you can't, and it feels more realistic as a result. Some players will never be big-hitters or the best fielders. Ultimately, it was rewarding to see my character grow and evolve, and by the end of my journey I felt satisfied to have brought my guy to the league. RTTS lacks the kind of overall polish and refinement of similar modes in other sports games such as The Journey (FIFA) and Longshot (Madden), but it is still an engaging, challenging, and ultimately rewarding experience when you get through it. Given how many different archetypes there are to choose from and positions to play, it's exciting to think about starting over again and again to see the story play out in different ways.
MLB The Show 18's Franchise mode, which lets you run as team as its GM and control all organisational decisions over a 162-game season, doesn't add much to the well-established formula from previous years, and in fact it removes something--online play. One of the only notable new additions is the ability to play through a Franchise season in Retro mode, which is the 8-bit mini-game mode that was added last year. Beyond streamlined and more aesthetically pleasing menus, one of the only other other new feature is "phases," which is a system that allows you to track specific points in a season like Draft Day, Spring Training, All-Star Race, and the Postseason. It's a nice addition that gives you yet another way to manage your team and follow their progress on a more granular level. Overall, MLB The Show 18's franchise mode remains a deep experience that gives aspiring managers a lot to work with and enjoy, even if they can't take things online.
The card-collecting Diamond Dynasty mode adds new reasons to keep you coming back. There are more legendary players this year such as Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Nolan Ryan, and Chipper Jones, among others. Elsewhere, Diamond Dynasty has more missions you can complete to earn extra items, while the head-to-head online mode is a fun way to test your squad. Diamond Dynasty doesn't add much new or particularly interestin, but it remains a unique thrill to put together a fantasy team with players from past and present on the same roster. Babe Ruth and Ken Griffey Jr. were never even alive at the same time, but in MLB The Show 18 they can be teammates, and the sheer number of dream combinations provides a reason to keep playing and keep collecting.
Sony's flagship baseball franchise has never been better. With its best-in-class controls and visuals, and impeccable attention to detail for the small stuff, MLB The Show 18 is worth catching for any baseball fan.
It's hard to pin down exactly what makes Far Cry so appealing. Is it the gunplay? The open-world sandbox? Perhaps the compelling villains? Or maybe it's a combination of the three.
As a series, Far Cry has stood out for the ways it combines so many elements. So before we dive headlong into the latest in the series, Far Cry 5, let's look back at its predecessors and examine how Far Cry's unlikely formula has evolved in unexpected ways.
Released exclusively for PC, the original Far Cry--developed by Crytek--touts beautiful outdoor environments that had rarely been seen before in first-person shooters. These massive levels not only looked impressive, but they allowed you to approach combat in a variety of ways: on foot, in a jeep, on a boat, or even from the air. Large groups of enemies can be avoided entirely or lured in ambushes, which was the ideal way to play due to the enemy's impeccable aim and your fragile health reserves. Scouting out enemy camps and planning out attacks is critical, but stealth isn't always reliable. There are no melee attacks and no silenced submachine gun until a few levels in. Alerted soldiers will activate alarms and some fire flares to summon helicopters with reinforcements. There are flaws, however. Once stealth is broken, enemies always seem to know exactly where you are, a frustrating problem that's exacerbated by the lack of a manual save function.
The game's plot involves ex-special forces Jack Carver, who ends up marooned on an island that he must try to escape. However, he soon finds himself dealing with the evil Dr. Kieger, whose botched genetic experiments created mutants called the Trigen.
The game became a success upon release, and Ubisoft soon acquired the rights to the series from Crytek.
Far Cry Instincts (Xbox, 2005)
Instincts was a remake of the original Far Cry for consoles. It was originally planned for PS2 as well, but that version was ultimately canceled.
Instincts' basic premise and characters are the same as in Far Cry, but levels are less open-ended and more linear due to the limitations of console hardware. There were, however, a number of changes and improvements to gameplay. Stealth is expanded upon to include a proper melee option and you can lay down traps to take out unsuspecting enemies. If you still prefer the all-guns-blazing approach, most weapons can now be dual-wielded. Finally, Instincts introduced a series of mutant powers known as Feral Abilities. These granted buffs such as increased speed, quicker health regeneration, and night vision. While overall less impressive than its PC ancestor, Far Cry Instincts still impressed for a console game of the day and sold well.
Far Cry Instincts: Evolution (Xbox, 2006), Far Cry Instincts: Predator (Xbox 360, 2006), Far Cry Vengence (Wii, 2007)
A slightly less well-received follow up, Far Cry Instincts: Evolution added some new weapons and vehicles, but otherwise provided more of the same. Released on the same day was Far Cry Instincts: Predator, a next-generation bundle for the Xbox 360 that packaged together Instincts and Instincts: Evolution. Finally, Evolution (the follow-up to the original Far Cry: Instincts, if you've lost track) got a Wii port called Far Cry Vengeance, which added motion controls.
Far Cry 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 2008)
During the release of all these console spin-offs, a numbered Far Cry sequel was in the works. Crytek had moved on to work on Crysis, so Far Cry 2 was developed by Ubisoft Montreal.
When Ubisoft surveyed players of the first game, many said they didn't find very Jack Carver very memorable or likeable. So in Far Cry 2, you pick from a group of silent protagonists. As a mercenary for hire, you fly into a fictional war-torn African country to kill an arms dealer called The Jackal. Your mission goes south after contracting malaria, leaving you near-dead and The Jackal on the loose. While not as memorable as subsequent Far Cry villains, The Jackal was the series' first true attempt at a charismatic foe.
The majority of the game is about taking on missions for the two warring factions, helping out other mercenaries, and trying to surviving the harsh African environment. While not a full-on survival game, Far Cry 2 attempts to offer a more realistic experience and a tone that feels oppressive. Everything is old and falling apart. Vehicles need to be fixed regularly and guns degrade over time leading to them jamming during inopportune moments or even breaking entirely. This encourages you to spend your hard-earned diamonds on newer weapons from arms dealers rather than scavenging from dead enemies. There's also the personal maintenance you need to carry out to keep your malaria in check. You'll receive Malaria attacks randomly throughout the game and if you run out of pills then you'll need to take on special missions to get more.
Outside of the warring factions' cease fire zone, everyone is hostile towards you except for a small group of fellow mercenaries. Not only do you take quests from them but you have a special buddy who will show up and help you if you die. However, your buddy can also get hurt and if you don't have any healing kits left you'll have no choice but to put them down.
All of this is compounded by a punishing save system:you can only save at designated save houses, raising the stakes of each firefight as more progress could be lost at any moment. You might decide that dead buddy isn't worth loading the save for after all.
Far Cry 2 is a game that wants to you live in its world. You can't simply fast travel anywhere, but instead need to take the bus to stations on the map. And while later entries have eclipsed it on a technical level, the deep brown and orange color palate of the African Savanna is a beautiful and unique setting for a game. There's a day / night cycle and impressive fire propagation tech, where wind can carry a flame across an entire field.
Far Cry 2 has perhaps the most mixed reputation in the series. Some found its save system and demanding gameplay too punishing and frustrating. The random malaria attacks, while in theory a great idea, could often be an annoyance and in some cases prevent you from progressing at all. It does however have dedicated fans, who love it for its dark tone, and who still consider it to be the series' high point. In many ways Far Cry 2 created the base that future games would follow but its sequels would take a radically different approach to tone.
Far Cry 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 2012)
Far Cry 3 takes its cues from the Far Cry 2 formula, once again taking place in a large open world. After criticism of the last game's hardcore mechanics, Far Cry 3 tweaks everything to offer a more fun-filled playbox. You can now save anywhere you want and instantly fast travel to previously discovered locations. Guns no longer degrade and you will gradually accrue a massive arsenal of weapons. Far Cry 3 is also a prime example of the Ubisoft world structure that we recognize today. Borrowing from the Assassin's Creed series, you'll climb radio towers to reveal the map and locations of nearby activities and outposts. Scoping out a base, tagging enemies, planning out your attack, and then executing it is a satisfying way to exert your influence upon the world. Thanks to the game's improved stealth you can take out whole bases without being detected, something that wasn't as viable in previous games.
Far Cry 3's island hosts a large variety of animals that can be used to your advantage. Hunting down and skinning animals feeds into the game's crafting system, which you can utilize to upgrade the number of guns and amount of ammo you can hold, among other buffs. Introducing light RPG mechanics, completing objectives and killing enemies levels you up and puts points into an upgrade tree, which is visually represented as a growing sleeve tattoo.
The game's narrative returns to a fixed protagonist named Jason Brody, a 25-year-old Californian rich kid who gets kidnapped by pirates. Much of the game's story fell flat for some players, but its main villain, Vaas, is hugely memorable. Vaas's playfully sadistic nature and memorable monologues made him one of gaming's great antagonists.
While Far Cry has already been a well-known and loved in the gaming community, Far Cry 3's playful sandbox opened it up to a larger audience and made it into the massive franchise it is today.
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 2013)
A standalone expansion, Blood Dragon is an 8 hour independent slice of Far Cry 3 decked out in all things '80s. Set in the dystopian future of 2007, you play as Cyber Commando Rex 'Power' Colt, voiced by '80s action star Michael Biehn. Rex must fight his way though an army of cyber soldiers and deadly blood dragons to take out his former commander, Colonel Sloan.
Every aspect of Blood Dragon is a play or homage to the '80s, such as the game's scanline overlay, VHS tracking loading screen, and cheesy action movie plot featuring intentionally terrible dialogue. Completing the whole package is the excellent soundtrack from synthwave duo Power Glove, who invoke the sounds of films like Terminator and Escape from New York.
Blood Dragon doesn't add anything particularly new to the Far Cry formula, but its over-the-top aesthetics and dialogue is enough to carry its short campaign. As a fun standalone experience it won people over with its '80s charm and quickly sold over 1 million copies, becoming one of Ubisoft's fastest-selling downloadable titles.
Far Cry 4 (PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PC, 2014)
Released only two years after Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 carries over much of the same structure as its predecessor while offering a brand-new story and setting. Its protagonist, American-raised Ajay Ghale, returns to where he was born--the fictional Himalayan country of Kyrat--to spread his mother's ashes. But in typical Far Cry fashion he gets himself involved with a rebel movement and a civil war with the Royal Army and the Kyrat King Pagan Min. After the overwhelming positivity towards the charismatic Vaas, Far Cry 4 recreated much of that success with Pagan Min. Unlike Vaas, Pagan Min is more complex, with his status as the 'bad guy' being called into question over the course of the game. It also didn't hurt to get excellent voice actor Troy Baker in to bring Min to life.
Unlike the more linear narrative of Far Cry 3, 4 has branching choices that determine which member of the Golden Path rebellion you follow, leading to different missions and story paths. Far Cry 4 has a variety of ways it can conclude, including a secret ending you can trigger in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Gameplay is similar to Far Cry 3 but with a couple of new additions. Thanks to the added elevation of the rocky Himalayan mountains, Ajay has a grappling hook you can use to scale certain cliffs, and he acquires a small helicopter that lets you go almost anywhere on the map. Or you can choose to take the scenic route aboard an elephant.
Expanding on previous games' outposts, there are four major fortresses the player must capture in Far Cry 4. While these larger, tougher camps can still be done solo, you are also given the option to bring in a co-op buddy to help you take them down. The explosive mayhem of Far Cry is greatly enhanced with a buddy, but you can't do any story missions co-op and player two won't carry over any progress back to their game.
Far Cry 4 sold well and was praised as an improvement over 3 but some were disappointed in how it felt merely like more of the same, which is understandable given the short time gap between the two games.
Far Cry Primal (PS4, Xbox One, PC, 2016)
There's something to be said about Far Cry's willingness to try new and interesting settings with each new game and the peak of this is Far Cry Primal. Set in 10,000 B.C., you play as a primitive human tribe's hunter, seeking revenge on a tribe of cannibals that destroyed his village. It's impressive the lengths Ubisoft went for the authenticity of the setting, going so far as to invent their own dialect based on a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language.
Without any guns, combat has greater focus on melee but otherwise many of the Far Cry staples fit right in. You're still climbing towers to reveal the map and taking over camps to unlock new activities. The newest change is the ability to tame and summon animals. Birds can scout out camps and tag enemies for you, and a sabertooth tiger can rush in with you during an attack.
The response to Far Cry Primal was a rather mixed one. Some love the game's unique setting and enjoyed the ability to tame animals. Others feel it was simply another Far Cry with a different skin. Being released only a year-and-a-half after Far Cry 4, the fatigue people were already starting to feel towards the series grew even stronger. Ubisoft would give the series a longer break before it would return.
Far Cry 5 (PS4, Xbox One, PC, 2018)
Announced in 2017 and releasing on March 27, 2018, Far Cry 5 takes the series to the USA in fictional Hope County, Montana. The area has been taken over by a militia doomsday cult run by Joseph Seed who has established himself has a religious figurehead. For the first time you get to create your own protagonist, and you must then team up with the locals to help them take back their homes.
The timing of Far Cry 5's setting and themes created quite a stir given the current political climate of the US. Ubisoft's says there's no connection with current political events, but it understands that comparisons will inevitably be drawn.
The gameplay expands co-op further than we saw in Far Cry 4, and when not playing with another human, there are AI buddies you can summon to assist you. These include Nick the pilot or animals such as Boomer the dog and a bear named Cheeseburger. Towers have been removed, with new sections of the map unlocked by simply exploring and talking to the area's cast of characters. Otherwise, Far Cry 5 provides much of the same fun Far Cry we've all gotten to know.
For 14 years, Far Cry as a series has evolved and changed in dramatic ways. It's not afraid to try new and weird settings, and even though its narratives have never been top-notch, they typically feature interesting and compelling characters. It continues to push its open-world sandbox and expand upon the freedom of player expression though gameplay. Everyone loves Far Cry for their own reasons, and lets hope the series continues to push forward and evolve in the future.
A new patch is now available for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Following a round of server maintenance, developer PUBG Corp. has deployed Update #8 for the PC version, adding new weapon customization options and a few other features to the popular battle royale game.
The centerpiece of the update is the new weapon skin system, which gives players the ability to customize their guns' appearance with a variety of new skins. These can be acquired from loot boxes and applied to weapons from the Customization menu. You can take a look at some of the skins we've gotten in our gallery.
Players can find weapon skins in two new types of loot boxes: Triumph and Raider. Triumph is a type of random, weekly crate that requires a real-money key to open; Raider, meanwhile, is a non-random loot box that can be unlocked without a key. PUBG Corp. has outlined the drop rates for each crate and the skins they contain on the Steam forums.
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of PUBG's Early Access release, PUBG Corp. is offering players a free anniversary weapon skin. Everyone who logs in to the game for a limited time will receive the Year One - SCAR-L skin, which you can see above.
In addition to that, the new patch addresses a handful of bugs, including one that would cause a player who is exiting a slow-moving vehicle to be treated as if they were hit by it. PUBG Corp. has also said it is "considering" implementing region-locking to "provide a better gameplay experience." You can find the full patch notes on Steam.
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