Last week's big Pokemon Go update introduced a new research quest system to the game, which gives players additional objectives to complete while playing. The system launched alongside a new storyline tied to the Mythical Pokemon Mew, but it appears that isn't the only Legendary players can discover by completing quests.
On Reddit, Pokemon Go players are reporting that the reward for their first "research breakthrough" is another encounter with the Legendary fire bird Moltres. Previously, players could only encounter Moltres in Raid Battles at Gyms. This required physically going to the location of a Raid and teaming up with other players for a chance to capture one, which is particularly a hassle for players who live in rural areas. Thanks to the new research quest system, players now have another avenue for getting Legendary Pokemon.
Research quests come in two varieties: Special Research and Field Research. The former are story-driven quests assigned by Professor Willow himself, the first batch of which leads to an encounter with Mew. Field Research, on the other hand, are distributed via PokeStops. Players can complete as many of these as they want in a day, and they will receive one stamp for the first Field Research task they do each day.
Completing research quests rewards players with a variety of items, while amassing seven stamps leads to a "research breakthrough." Niantic teased that achieving a breakthrough would unlock additional rewards, including a possible encounter with another Legendary. The developer hasn't announced what other Legendary Pokemon players will have a chance to capture through the quest system.
In addition to Mew and Moltres, another pair of Legendaries recently began appearing in Pokemon Go. For a limited time, the Eon Pokemon Latios and Latias will be available in Raid Battles in different parts of the world. The former can now be found in North America, South America, and Africa, while the latter is available in Europe and Asia. The Legendaries will swap regions beginning May 8, where they will remain until June 5.
The next Pokemon Go Community Day event takes place later this month, on April 15, and features the Electric-type Mareep. Beyond that, Niantic is partnering with Playmob to host a series of Earth Day Clean Up events on April 22. The events focus on cleaning up litter in public spaces and reward participants with in-game bonuses.
Heads up, deal hunters. Newegg is running a promotion that gets you 25% off select video games and accessories. If you dig around, you'll realize you can use it on brand-new games, too. That means you can get some of the hottest AAA games for $45 instead of $60. All you have to do is enter promo code EMCPTPT32 at checkout. But hurry up, because the code expires just before midnight Pacific time tomorrow night, April 5.
Which games qualify? We're so glad you asked. For starters, it works with Far Cry 5, which means you can take back cult outposts in open-world Montana for just $45. Check out our glowing 9/10 review along with these 11 Easter eggs and secrets.
Next up is Monster Hunter World, a game about killing enormous beasts and using their body parts to craft better gear that lets you kill even more ferocious beasts. In short, it's a lot of fun. We gave it 8/10 in our review.
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is all the rage these days with JRPG fans. Whether you're intrigued by the game's fantastic anime art style, action-heavy combat, or new city-building component, you may find it worth $45. It's a standalone story, so you don't even have to have played the first one. Here's our 8/10 review.
Remember to enter promo code EMCPTPT32 at checkout to get the discount. Newegg says the code could stop working before 11:59 Pacific time on April 5 if it run out of funds. So if a deal looks good to you, jump on it.
And if you're looking to save money on more video games, you'll probably want to look at our rundowns of the best games currently on sale on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Happy deal hunting.
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While the entirety of Westworld Season 1 was set within the Wild West-themed park of the title, it has been slowly revealed that there are other worlds that can be visited. One of these is a zone populated by samurai warriors, some elements of which were seen briefly during the final episode of the first season. We now have some further details about the area known as Shogun World, which will feature in the upcoming Season 2.
It reads: "For those for whom Westworld is not enough, the true connoisseur of gore can indulge their fantasies with the slash of a katana. Modeled after Japan's Edo period, Shogun World offers a chance for guests to embrace their inner warrior, in a landscape of highest beauty and darkest horror. Let your true self take shape in the land where self-discovery is an art form."
Shogun World was also seen briefly in the most recent trailer for the upcoming season, with Thandie Newton's character Maeve seen wearing a kimono. The Delos Experience also confirms that there are a further four parks which are currently "closed to the public." There has been much speculation about what these other worlds could be. The 1976 sequel to original 1973 movie Westworld was titled Futureworld, and it featured a number of different parks, including Medieval World, Roman World, and, er Spa World.
Westworld Season 2 premiers on HBO on April 22. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, joint showrunner Jonathan Nolan spoke about the way that fans have taken to the show, and the level of analysis that every episode of Season 1 was subjected to. "When you're working on a show like this where there are layers and there are details and you try to make every piece count, you're hoping that people will engage on that level," he said. "In our wildest dreams, we didn't expect the level of fan engagement and dialogue, [especially] that moment when they figured out the plot twist for episode 10 42 minutes into Episode 2!"
Wildly popular game Fortnite is suffering from server issues once again. In this case, matchmaking has been impacted, which could prevent you from joining a match on mobile, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Epic has taken some measures to address the problems, which include disabling a newly added playlist for the time being and matchmaking in general.
The status page on Epic's website shows that matchmaking is suffering from a "major outage." The page adds that matchmaking has been disabled as the studio works to resolve the problem, though there's no ETA for how long this will last. This move came shortly after the studio took two other steps to deal with the situation: It's turned off the Squads version of the High Explosives v2 playlist and instituted a cooldown in between attempts to join the matchmaking queue.
These issues come on the same day that Epic rolled out the 3.4 content update for Fortnite. This did not require a download but did add new content--namely, the Vending Machine--and make weapon balance changes. Meanwhile, the PS4 version received a new update to resolve a crash, although that patch was mistakenly much larger than intended.
High Explosives v2 is the latest limited-time mode to be added to Battle Royale. As the name suggests, it plays out like the earlier version of High Explosives, as players are restricted to explosive weapons only. This iteration includes some of the more recently added weapons, including Remote Explosives and the Guided Missile.
The latest Fortnite update has brought with it a new addition to Battle Royale in the form of Vending Machines. These present players with an opportunity to buy items using the materials they've gathered during the match, and you'll tend to see them in the same locations--but not always. Here's where to find them and exactly how they work.
You'll find Vending Machines all around the map--typically indoors, if our experience is any indication, though we've also found one that was outdoors. Each one has three items for sale and will gradually rotate through them. You can wait for it to change to the item you want to purchase, or you can hit the machine with your pickaxe to make it jump to the next of the three.
Vending Machines are each randomly assigned a rarity level at the start of a match, as the patch notes explain. They then sell items at that specific rarity--one for each material type (wood, stone, and metal). You'll need a specific amount of that material to buy the corresponding item, though you're free to buy as many items as you wish, provided you can afford it. That may put a renewed emphasis on collecting materials with the pickaxe, even for players who don't care about building. Here's how much items will cost at each rarity:
Common (white) items -- 100 materials
Uncommon (green) items -- 200 materials
Rare (blue) -- 300 materials
Epic (purple) -- 400 materials
Legendary (gold) -- 500 materials
In terms of finding the Vending Machines, they're scattered all across the map, but they don't always appear in the same spots. You can see what it's like to interact with some in the video above, and we've also compiled the map you see above, which combines the discoveries of Reddit user clizzythegod with those we've found ourselves. As you'd expect, you'll most easily find Vending Machines in high-density areas like Pleasant Park, Tilted Towers, Salty Springs, and Retail Row, but there are others in unnamed parts of the map.
Vending Machines were added as part of Fortnite's 3.4 content update for mobile, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This is part of developer Epic Games' new plan to roll out new content every other week. These content updates won't individually require you to download anything, as it seems the additions will be included as part of earlier patches. The 3.4 content update has also kicked off a new limited-time mode, High Explosives v2, and made weapon balance changes.
Pokemon Go is putting some of its eager trainers to work tidying the planet to celebrate Earth Day. The Pokemon Go Earth Day Clean Up is a series of events to take place on April 22, inviting trainers to meet and take care of their environment and neighborhoods.
Coordinating the event will be handled by Playmob, which is partnering with community organizations. Each event will focus on gathering garbage and debris in public spaces. Those who participate can receive a special avatar item, and a collective prize will be awarded to all trainers if enough of them participate. If 1,500 trainers participate, everyone will get double catch Stardust for Ground, Water, and Grass-type Pokemon for 48 hours. If more than 3,000 participate, it will become triple.
You can find the event closest to you by visiting the official site. Niantic and Playmob are also encouraging fans to donate to the Mission Blue Foundation ahead of the April 22 events. Mission Blue is an organization that raises awareness and support for marine protected areas.
"We know gaming can be an amazing force for good" Playmob founder Jude Ower said in the announcement. "It's a pleasure to work with such a purposeful and innovative studio and the inspirational and devoted teams behind Mission Blue and all the supporting NGO partners, collaborating on what we see as the start of a bigger movement towards global solutions through play."
As she's strong with the Force, maybe her parents were Jedi--perhaps even Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) himself. In the end, though, they were nothing. "Filthy junk traders," as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) put it. For director Rian Johnson, this was the only possible answer. "We're not here to give Rey an easy time; we're here to put her on the hard path so that she has to," he previously explained. "Because that's the path of a hero."
However, it seems there was another plan at one point. After directing The Force Awakens, Abrams had his own ideas about Rey's parentage and how it would play out in the Star Wars universe. Simon Pegg, who appeared in the film in a minor role of Jakku junk trader Unkar Plutt, claims as much on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
"Well, I know what JJ kind of intended, or at least what was sort of being chucked around. I think that's kind of been undone slightly by [The Last Jedi]," the actor says. "There was some talk about, you know, a kind of relevant lineage for her. But I honestly don't know, and I don't know if anybody knows. We shall see."
Given that Abrams could retcon Rey's parents when he returns to direct Episode IX, it will be interesting to see if his vision for that particular story ever comes to the forefront. Don't expect to find out any time soon, though. There's still almost two years before Star Wars: Episode IX arrives in theaters on December 20, 2019. Then, get ready for a new trilogy of movies in the franchise from Johnson.
By Anonymous on Apr 04, 2018 11:20 pm Erick and Ben check out the free games for April for PlayStation Plus members including Mad Max and Trackmania Turbo.
A huge sale is currently going down on the Nintendo Switch eShop, which means you can buy games big and small at substantial discounts. It even has a big first-party Nintendo game on sale--and Nintendo games are notorious for keeping their value well past their release dates. So let's dive in and see which discounted games are worth adding to your collection.
The big Nintendo game that's currently on sale is Arms, which is available for $42 instead of its typical price of $60. This game asks what would happen if every character in a fighting game had springs for arms that could stretch across great distances. The answer is: a lot of quirky combat. Read our Arms review for a full rundown of the game. And act fast if you want it, because it goes back up to normal price Friday, April 6.
Another highlight is the SteamWorld franchise sale. On Switch, you can buy SteamWorld Dig for $5, and SteamWorld Dig 2 and SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition for $15 (that's $5 off their normal prices). The Metroid-style SteamWorld Dig 2 is probably the best of the bunch, but the turn-based SteamWorld Heist is also highly esteemed. The 3DS and Wii U versions are discounted as well.
Other notable price drops include Rockstar's detective game L.A. Noire for $37 instead of $50 and the "soccer with cars" game Rocket League for $15, down from $20. The music game--or, as the developer calls it, "rhythm violence" game--Thumper is down to $12 instead of its usual $20.
Far Cry 5 has become the fastest-selling game in franchise history in its opening week, according to Ubisoft. The company claimed $310M USD in its first week, double the opening sales of previous franchise record-holder Far Cry 4. That also makes it the second-biggest launch ever for Ubisoft, behind The Division.
The announcement also mentions a few other launch week stats. Far Cry 5 was streamed for more than 55,000 hours. Players were were ambushed by 8,651 skunks, caught 5.1 million fish, and spent 1.1 million hours with Cheeseburger the bear. The most popular gun for hire was the pilot Nick Rye, while the most popular animal companion was Boomer the dog–which makes sense, given that he's a very good boy.
We heard just this week that Far Cry 5 had hit the top spot on the UK sales charts, so this announcement isn't too surprising. This is the first time the open-world series has taken place in America. It's set in the fictional Hope County, Montana after an attempt to arrest the leader of a doomsday cult goes awry.
In GameSpot's Far Cry 5 review, Edmond Tran praised the vast open-world exploration and precise gunplay, though he found some story missions to be a chore. Fortunately there appears to be lots to see and do, including some clever Easter eggs to find. Currently the first live event has you burning animals to a crisp. If you're thinking of picking it up, make sure to check out our tips for beginners.
Epic Games has revealed the latest additions coming to Fortnite. But unlike in the past, this won't come as part of a new update you have to download; instead, it's like a delayed rollout for the contents of the previous patch. The first such "content update," as Epic calls them, has arrived on all platforms and introduces the Vending Machine, among other changes and additions.
With the 3.4 content update's release, Vending Machines will be scattered across the island in Battle Royale. These will each randomly pick a rarity and then sell three items at that level in exchange for materials. The higher the rarity, the higher the price. There's no limit to how many items you can buy, provided you can afford it. Here's how much items will cost at each level:
Items found in a Common (white) version will cost 100 materials.
Items found in a Uncommon (green) version will cost 200 materials.
Items found in a Rare (blue) version will cost 300 materials.
Items found in an Epic (purple) version will cost 400 materials.
Items found in a Legendary (gold) version will cost 500 materials.
Each material type--wood, stone, and metal--will have a corresponding item that it can be exchanged for. The vending machine will display one at a time and slowly rotate through them. To buy what you want, you can either wait for it to show up, or you can hit the Vending Machine with your pickaxe to skip to the next of the three items. They don't always appear in the same locations, but we have a guide to finding Vending Machines.
This content update will also introduce a new limited-time mode, an altered version of the explosive weapon-centric playlist High Explosives. More importantly, balance changes are being implemented for weapons. A number of them are gaining "first shot accuracy," which means the first round fired will be 100% accurate, so long as you haven't fired recently, aim down the sights, and are standing still. Here are the new weapons to gain first shot accuracy:
Suppressed Submachine Gun
Tactical Submachine Gun
Pistol
Suppressed Pistol
Revolver
Hand Cannon
Assault Rifle
Burst Assault Rifle
These aren't simply buffs for the weapons, as damage falloff--the distance at which their damage is reduced--has also been altered. You can see the specifics in the full patch notes on Epic's website.
The 3.4 content update is out now on mobile, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For more, check out what the full 3.4 update added recently, as well as the recent PS4 patch--which mistakenly turned out to be much larger in size than intended.
Rare has rolled out a new update for Sea of Thieves. Following a round of maintenance, patch 1.0.2 is now available to download on Xbox One and PC, and it primarily addresses a number of bugs and performance issues.
The patch weighs in at roughly 450 MB on each platform. The most notable change it makes is to a ship's respawn distance after it sinks. Following the update, ships will now respawn "outside of visible view" of the ship that attacked it. "This is in response to lots of player feedback which highlighted that the previous spawn distance was resulting in 'griefing' behaviour and stalemates at the forts," Rare said.
In addition to that, the update tweaks the mermaid teleport function. Now, players will have to drop any treasure they are carrying before a mermaid prompts them with the option to return to their ship. Rare says the reason for this change is because it "wanted to make it more clear that when you teleport you leave your treasure behind."
Finally, the new update fixes a number of server and crashing issues. It also addresses an assortment of bugs, such as one that would cause a player to fall through their ship and into the ocean if they repeatedly jump on a mid-deck barrel or chest. You can find the full patch notes on the official Sea of Thieves website.
PS4-exclusive Spider-Man is set to release on September 7. First announced at E3 2016, Ratchet & Clank Developer Insomniac's game adaptation of the famous web slinger has been a longtime coming. And with the upcoming release of God of War, all eyes are starting to turn towards Spider-Man.
In the last two decades, Spider-Man has seen more good game adaptations than bad ones. Memorable high points include Spider-Man 2: The Game and Web of Shadows, but it's clear Insomniac has a high standard of quality to live up to. After all, the studio has been responsible for many of Sony's most iconic franchises, so fans have eagerly hoping the studio can deliver. But what does Insomniac need to do to make a new Spider-Man game stand out? We have a few more than a few ideas, seen in this gallery of nine things we want from the game.
Greater Emphasis On Gadgets And Abilities Over Fisticuffs
Much like the Batman Arkham series, combat in Spider-Man games has leaned toward beat-em-up style brawling. Yes, Spider-Man does tend to finish his fights with some sort of webbing-based flourish but it would be a positive change if his other talents and gear took the spotlight. Better combat integration of his even his most well-known powers like wall crawling and superhuman reflexes would add depth.
It Feels Like An Insomniac Game
We'd love to see Insomniac's talents for imaginative weapons and gadgets make their way into the game, even if it sounds weird for Spider-Man at first blush. From webware to spider-bots, there's five decades worth of gadgetry to dive into, ripe for reinterpretations by the talents responsible for Ratchet & Clank. And we hope Ted Price and his crew have the creative license to invent new gadgets for Peter Parker.
A New Kind Of Spider-Man Open World
Insomniac is also experienced in open-world designs, a high point being Sunset Overdrive. There are a number of Spider-Man games with expansive open worlds but none interpreted with the same surrealist and involving flavor as Sunset City. As a standalone game with no attachments to any of prior Spider-Man stories (including last year's Homecoming film), Insomniac's can make this one of the most original video game interpretations of New York City in a long time.
No Random Muggings
Just because it seems mandated that open-world Spider-Man games have to be set in New York City doesn't mean that it has to always have random muggings. It was an especially involving component in The Amazing Spider-Man 2's morality system, where your status as a hero or menace was determined by how many crimes you stopped. This feature ultimately felt like a chore, where disinterested players were unfairly classified as a menace. Being guilted into saving someone from a mugging doesn't always make for great gameplay, especially when you were in the middle a more compelling story mission.
No Origin Story
It seems like anyone with a remote interest in Spider-Man already knows his origin, with some thanks to the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield films. Not only is the classic origin tale involving Uncle Ben unnecessary but so is any kind of origin-focused exposition. It'd be great to jump into the game with a version of Peter Parker who has already has a grasp of both his great power and responsibilities.
Focus On Peter Parker (And Miles Morales)
Speaking of Peter Parker, not enough games have paid attention to Spider-Man's real identity and his young adult challenges, particularly with his love life. It wouldn't be a stretch to hope for story-driven interludes that take inspiration from Life Is Strange or the many episodic Telltale games. And the fact that another Spider-Man, Miles Morales appeared at the stinger of the E3 2017 video for the game only makes the prospect of a Parker-Morales meet-up all the more intriguing.
Classic Spider-Man Attitude
One of the qualities of the better Spider-Man games in the past was their well-crafted dialogue, often bringing out Spider-Man's moxie, much to the frustration of his foes. This next game is all the more promising thanks to its experienced writing staff, which includes veteran comic book writers Christos Gage and Dan Slott. From what we've seen and heard, this latest handling will portray the web-slinger as the familiar smart aleck fans expect.
Mixing Up The Villain Roster
Yes, Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin are popular for a reason, but for a series that's been around since the early 1960s, there's a wealth of sinister source material to mine. Having Mister Negative is a good start but how about Boomerang or even Crime Master? Insomniac can give the recurring villains like Black Cat, Rhino, Shocker, and Scorpion a break.
Side-Missions That Matter
Just because side missions are optional doesn't mean they're not worth the player's time. Some of the best side missions in the Arkham games have through-lines that last the entire length of the game. Speaking of mission choice, there'd be great replay potential if the narrative locked you out of one mission if you accept another, and with endgame repercussions. For example, what would happen if you flaked out on a date with MJ because you decided to stop a bank heist?
The Sniper Shootout event may have recently ended, but a new limited-time mode is now underway in Fortnite: Battle Royale on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and mobile. For the next few days, players can take part in High Explosives v2, a modified version of the explosive-centric playlist that ran back in December. [Update: Server and matchmaking issues have caused Epic to disable the Squads variant of High Explosives v2 for the time being.]
As its name implies, High Explosives v2 is all about blowing things up. All non-explosive weapons are disabled in this mode, leaving the Grenade, Impulse Grenade, Remote Explosive, Rocket Launcher, and the recently added Guided Missile as the only weapons players will be able to use.
In addition to that, the wait time for the first four storms has been shortened by 1:50, and friendly fire has been disabled. Loot spawn rates have also been adjusted in the mode; supply drops spawn 50% more consumables and 100% more materials, and the material drop rate has been increased by 50%. Solo and Squads versions of the mode are available. You can read more about it on the official Fortnite website.
High Explosives v2 arrives alongside the 3.4 content update, the first of Epic's new bi-weekly content schedule for Fortnite. This update also introduced Vending Machines to Battle Royale, which are scattered around the island and dispense weapons in exchange for materials, as well as some balance changes for certain weapons.
A new Fortnite patch is also now available for PS4, which fixes an unspecified crash. However, an issue with the patch is causing it to be much larger than Epic intended. Despite this, the developer says the update is "safe to download" and the size issue should be resolved soon.
Spider-Man is one of the most-anticipated PS4 exclusives of the year, and now we know when the superhero game will launch. Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man will come to the console on September 7, 2018.
Few other new details have been revealed about the game as yet, though the game's box art has been revealed--take a look at it below. Spider-Man was unveiled at E3 in 2016, and it will tell a completely new story that's not tied to any one movie or comic. It contains an open world to explore, and you can use your environment to your advantage by, for example, throwing nearby objects at enemies. Post-launch DLC and special editions will also be available and have just been detailed.
The adventure game is being developed by Insomniac, the company behind big games such as Sunset Overdrive, Resistance: Fall of Man, and the original Spyro the Dragon games. The company says Spider-Man's open world will be much larger than that of Sunset Overdrive.
Erick and Ben check out the free games for April for PlayStation Plus members including Mad Max and Trackmania Turbo.
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