As the end of Fortnite Season 4 draws near, Week 8 challenges are now available for players to tackle, provided they've purchased the Season 4 Battle Pass. There are a variety of tasks for Battle Royale players to complete on PC, PS4, Xbox One, mobile, and (as of E3) Nintendo Switch, including Hungry Gnomes and searching between a bear, crater, and refrigerator shipment. Here's where to find the locations of the key challenges and how to complete them all.
First up is one that asks you to search Hungry Gnomes. This is as simple as approaching one of these gnomes and searching it in the same way you'd open a chest, but it of course involves tracking them down first. You need to search seven in all, and luckily, there are many more than that on the map; however, there's no in-game indication of where you should begin your hunt. The one bit of help you do receive is a telltale noise the gnomes make when one is nearby, as it says "yummy yummy" in an odd voice. Among the locations where you'll find gnomes:
arena east of Junk Junction
Greasy Grove
Lucky Landing
Retail Row
Risky Reels
Tilted Towers
Tomato Town
Week 8's other more difficult challenge is one that's labeled as Hard by Epic. It asks you to search between a Bear, Crater, and a Refrigerator Shipment. As always, that's the only clue you get--you'll need to know the map well if you hope to do it on your own. In this case, the location you want to head to is just on the border of the I6 and I7 zones, southeast of Retail Row. The Battle Star you have to collect can be found just north of a house next to a gas station, as pictured below.
The remainder of Week 8 is fairly straightforward, though that doesn't necessarily make all of it easy. Search chests in Salty Springs is as simple as repeatedly landing there at the start of a match and grinding your way to the seven you need--be sure to head for rooftops so you can easily check attics. If you're hoping to do the related challenge, search seven chests in a single match, you'll want to avoid Salty Springs--other players are likely to be swarming the area in search of chests. Instead, your best bet is to head far away from the Battle Bus's flight path and avoid conflict at all costs.
Another challenge has you deal 250 headshot damage to opponents; just do your best to aim high, and you can grind your way to this one. Likewise, you can get three suppressed weapon eliminations by just getting your hands on one and using it at every opportunity. And again, that's true of eliminating three opponents in Pleasant Park--start enough matches there, luck into a weapon before someone else, and you should be able to take care of it without too much trouble. For both of the elimination challenges, your best bet is to attempt this in a solo playlist, so that you can avoid dealing with revives.
If you're looking to complete older challenges, check out our complete Season 4 challenge guide. Doing these allows you to rank up your Battle Pass, unlocking new skins and other rewards.
Fortnite Season 4, Week 8 Challenges
Deal Headshot Damage to opponents (250) -- 5 Battle Stars
Search Chests in Salty Springs (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Search 7 Chests in a single match (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Search Hungry Gnomes (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Hard: Search between a Bear, Crater, and a Refrigerator Shipment -- 10 Battle Stars
Cyberpunk 2077 was easily the most talked about game of E3 2018. With the reveal of a new trailer at the Microsoft Press Conference, showing off many of the vibrant and equally grim locales in the game, the developers at CD Projekt Red have gradually painted a clearer picture of their highly anticipated RPG. We had the chance to check out a private demo, and saw just how ambitious and impressive the world of Cyberpunk 2077 is.
Based on the original Cyberpunk 2020 pen and paper RPG, its creator Mike Pondsmith has been a regular collaborator with CD Projekt Red on the new game, which he states has been an amazing experience. During E3 2018, we were able to talk with the creator about the development of the game, his work with the Witcher devs, and just how much effort goes into bringing Cyberpunk 2077 to life.
For more info on CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077, and all other games we saw during E3 2018, be sure to visit GameSpot's E3 Hub page.
Can you talk about the collaborative process of working with CD Projekt Red on fleshing out the fiction of Cyberpunk for 2077?
Mike Pondsmith: Well, to be honest, it was actually pretty simple because of part of my job. I'm there to tell people what makes the world in the books work. What makes the original pen and paper work. Things we learned about it, styles, to reinforce the ideas that are really valuable about it, for example, people commented in the various reaction videos, people have seen beyond the trailer, but they've actually seen the play.
How dense things are, and that's because Night City is basically a major character in the world and they nailed it. They nailed that whole sense that the city itself, it doesn't just sleep, it comes, it beats you up, it robs you, it takes your money. So, part of my job is to make sure people are able to see that, I'm there on call, kind of like a walking encyclopedia, when people not only need to know the facts that would be in any of the dozens and dozens of cyberpunk wikis out there, but they need to know what the 'feel' is. They need to know what was important. So, that's part of my job.
I love it because I get involved with the art teams, I get involved with the animation teams, I get involved with the vehicle teams, the weapons teams, everybody in the group, and it's a huge group now, is there to talk to and exchange ideas and it's more than just you approve it. It becomes, "Okay, so how does this work, what do you think about it." It's been very inclusive, which I really have enjoyed.
From the trailer, you can tell that the game has very colorful and vibrant look. Usually when you think of the Cyberpunk genre, it tends to have a darker aesthetic. This game in particular feels like a clear change from that.
And that was actually intentional from the beginning of the original cyberpunk. Don't get me wrong. My favorite movie is Blade Runner. I have five different versions of Blade Runner, and more Blade Runner stuff than I could shake a stick at, but sometimes you need to have it not just be wet, rainy, cold and totally oppressive, because there isn't new ground for your characters to go to. There's not new ground for people to explore.
Cyberpunk 2020 creator Mike Pondsmith.
It's funny, people occasionally realize that I set Night City in what was effectively Bay Area California years ago. That was deliberate. I wanted a place where sometimes you have oppressive fog and half light. Sometimes it was bright and sunny, sometimes it was rainy and miserable. I wanted that variability because a real world has variability. If somebody were to ask me what my favorite time in Night City is, it's basically around six or seven o'clock when the sun is almost down, the lights are coming out and you see all the neon and I'm looking at my 234 floor apartment and going, "Okay, get my stuff, let's go out."
You need to have a lot of variation to make a real world. You don't necessarily have to have that in a Blade Runner, because you're only taking basically a small slice of what's happened day to day in that world. I also think that you need to vary it and change it up a bit because otherwise, people get what they expect and when people get what they expect, they tune it out. They go, "Oh yeah, another cyberpunk thing."
From the beginning, the RPG has been designed as part cyberpunk classic, part rock and roll fable, part hell raising, ass kicking crazy. It's a lot of things. All of them are valid. It's not one thing, one genre, otherwise we could do one book and we could all go home. When I wrote the original books, that was the idea, was I wanted to show a lot of different facets. I had to. I had to, because I was saying in another interview, when I look at Blade Runner, but I look at it and go--the hero of Blade Runner is Roy Batty.
Weirdly enough, Deckert is, he's a protag, but you don't want to be Deckert, because Deckert gets kicked around and he does not ever win against the system, but at the end of it, Batty--even though he dies--he wins on his own terms. He isn't gunned down like a dog. He wins his humanity. He is basically, what I believe, an archetypical cyberpunk character, you pick what you believe and you stand for it.
Do you feel like CD Projekt Red brought a lot to the table in helping you flesh out the fiction of Cyberpunk 2020?
Oh yeah. CD's incredibly collaborative and I love it because they come and go, "Hey, we want to do this," and I'll go, "Hey, that's insane, I never thought of that before, yeah, what the heck." There are so many I can't even count, but it's really great when I go over to Warsaw and we're walking around the studio and somebody say, "We're going to be doing this," and I'm going, "Hmm. Okay, that's really pretty slick. How about if we also did that?" "Yeah, that's pretty good." We throw stuff back and forth.
I love the fact that they do dense stuff. When we first were checking them out to see whether we wanted to go with them as a licensee, we got a copy of Witcher. This is Witcher 2 and I went, "Damn, this is really good." One of my jobs at Microsoft was basically dealing with external studios, so I was pretty aware of what to look for and I went, "These guys really have their stuff together." Then, we saw Witcher 3 and it was like, "Oh my God. This is really on that master class level." It impacted us so much that my son and other members of the company came to me when CD PR was looking for somebody to do a Witcher table top, they said, "You know anybody?" I said, "We don't do fantasy," and they said, "No, we're doing this." They put together a pitch.
My son went, put together a pitch, went to CD PR during one of our meetings over cyberpunk and said, "I want to do Witcher, and this is how we'll do it." That speaks of a lot of exciting world and character that people want to interact with.
One thing that was surprising to see was that the game is a first-person experience, which is a big change from CD Projekt Red's last games. Do you feel the change to first-person was a necessary thing for Cyberpunk?
This is where I put my designer hat on, and I get to put on both my table and my video game designer hat, both. This is why it's important. The one thing is the state of the character, the interfaces they use, the drugs they take, the way they deal with their implants--it's all very, very internal to the head of the character, and if you step out of that out [into a third-person view] it becomes a busy hub that you're tracking. On another technical level, the world is massively immersive and if you're stepped back from that into a third person avatar dummy, you are not really part a part of it.
I'll give you an example. I went and walked over at one point to another character's car and as I was walking, somebody that I never actually saw in the crowd, makes a comment and they're talking about some problem they're having with their girlfriend, and it was peripheral, it was in my hearing. I didn't see the person and I really was interested in this story that was going on. I wanted to know more about this. My belief is that third person, has a lot of good places. In this particular case, I think first-person was best because it could provide more than just the immersion, it could provide the tools for you to perceive the world and make decisions that were proper within that world. If I have 360 view, I see everything and I know where the bad guys are coming from all the time, it is kind of a shooter where we're setting up the targets.
If I am immersed in it, then I'm having to take split second decisions that feel real because in real life, you don't know what those guys, 300 feet away are doing. If one pulls out a gun, you have to make a decision. You. That's important if you're going to be immersed in a world and particularly when you're dealing with a game that is so heavily role playing driven as this game is.
It's been so long since the last trailer was released. What's it like seeing the game, which is based on your original material, come to life in such a big way?
Probably seeing the actual play session that you guys have seen now in the internal sessions. Seeing that and going, "Damn, yeah, okay," and mainly because what I saw in there was all the potential. It wasn't just, "Wow that's a really cool gun, wow, that's a really good army jacket, yeah I really like V and it's a great character. It was also seeing all the potential ways you could go with that story and with those characters. That was amazing. It was sort of like saying, "Okay, they got it," I'm watching somebody else's cyberpunk game right now and they're running a pretty damn good game that I want to be playing in.
Online shopping is likely to get more expensive in America soon. The United States Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states may now require online retailers to collect state sales taxes. The 5-4 decision sided with the state of South Dakota against online retailers Wayfair, Overstock.com, and Newegg.
CNET reports that this overturns a standing 1992 decision that prevented states from collecting sales tax from online retailers that had no physical presence in their state. Instead, consumers themselves were expected to voluntarily submit the required taxes--and many did not.
States have long complained that they were losing millions in tax revenue, while giving online retailers an advantage over brick-and-mortar shops. This ruling is likely to lead other states to start requiring sales tax from online retailers, which in turn will be required from the consumer at checkout.
In the majority decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that the realities of consumer habits have changed drastically since the 1992 decision. Mail-order sales in 1992 were only $180 billion, while online sales last year topped $450 billion. Kennedy also said the previous ruling effectively created tax shelters for retailers. In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that this change could disrupt online marketplaces as a whole, and therefore should be in the hands of Congress rather than the courts.
South Dakota's suit stemmed from a law requiring sales taxes for any out-of-state seller that delivers more than $100,000 worth of goods. That position was to target huge retailers, without hitting smaller shops who sell their wares through eBay and Amazon.
Stocks for several major online retailers dropped in response to the news, including Amazon, Wayfair, and eBay.
Some things are simply too good to be true. With the latest wrinkle it's adding to its service, MoviePass is quickly becoming one of those things. Though it originally announced it would allow users to see a movie every day for the price of $10 a month, the months that have followed have brought caveats as MoviePass tries to recoup some of the money it's spending on tickets.
Among the changes the service has attempted is a revamped plan that offered only four movies a month, removing the option to see a film more than once, blocking access to certain movies, and changing lineups of theaters the service can be used in. However, the newest change is likely going to take money out of the pockets of customers.
According to Business Insider, MoviePass will be introducing surge pricing on certain films beginning in July. That means movies with a high demand will also require MoviePass customers to pay an extra fee--which starts at $2--for a ticket. This is troubling for a few reasons. First and foremost, while the charge could start at $2, MoviePass doesn't note a ceiling on the surge prices. Furthermore, it will be up to the service to determine which movies are "high demand." So if you enjoy seeing big movies on opening weekend, get ready to pay.
"At certain times for certain films--on opening weekend--there could be an additional charge for films," MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe explains to Business Insider.
To soften the blow of the new charges, MoviePass is also adding some new features, which will arrive in August--but watch out, those are also going to cost you extra money. The service is planning to add options to add premium options like IMAX and 3D by the end of August, for small fees. Additionally, MoviePass is expected to add an option that allows you to buy an additional ticket for a friend that's not a member of the service. According to Lowe, the second admission will cost "somewhere near the retail price of the ticket."
These changes comes as MoviePass begins facing even more competition in the movie ticket subscription space. Previously, Sinemia made a splash by allowing admission to any theater and any format--including IMAX and 4DX--but for fewer tickets in a month. Now, the AMC theater chain has also announced its own service, which offers three tickets a week to any screening at the chain's theaters.
Sometimes a movie gets so close to greatness you can taste it as strongly as the goopy spit dripping from the mouth of the dinosaur whose face is hovering directly above yours as you lie prone and helpless on the jungle floor. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a hell of a ride, an exciting, terrifying, and funny follow-up that will have you at full attention until it ultimately sags in its third act, drooping under the weight of promises it makes, but fails to follow through on. That's what third movies are for, apparently.
Fallen Kingdom's basic plot has been somewhat unclear in some trailers, so I won't spoil it. But the setup is that, following the new park's destruction in the first Jurassic World, the now dinosaur-filled island has grown volcanically active. All the dinosaurs there are going to die in the impending eruption, effectively triggering a new extinction event, unless someone intervenes. Bryce Dallas Howard's returning character Claire Dearing now works as an activist looking for any way to save the dinosaurs. And she's wearing highly sensible shoes this time, as the movie deliberately conveys.
There's a note of satire in the early scenes, as Claire talks to members of Congress on the phone and Jeff Goldblum (in his one meager appearance in this movie) gives a grandiose speech about life finding a way without technically uttering those exact words. A news ticker underneath makes a vague joke about the president being an idiot. But the movie's social commentary lacks any real bite--unlike its CG stars--which serves to tangibly blunt its impact later on.
As Claire gets roped into a dubious rescue scheme, she of course can't do it without on-again/off-again beau, the unstoppable "beefcake" (to borrow the movie's own term) Chris Pratt as Owen Grady. Pratt continues to be utterly, inoffensively charming, while Grady is still a less funny version of Star-Lord. They're both would-be white knights, too, although much like Gamora, Claire proves she's plenty capable of fighting her own battles.
Anyway, all that story basically takes place in the first act, and from there, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom goes to some surprising places. Its biggest problem is that it simply doesn't go far enough; there's some fantastic setup in the first half for things that wind up going differently than you'll hope, or events that they clearly wanted to save for Jurassic World 3. This movie's climax almost goes in a fun new direction from what we've come to expect in this movies, but instead limply falls back on the familiar: a rain-drenched, pseudo-horror cat-and-mouse between a singularly dangerous dino and a handful of human characters. It's well done, but we've seen it before, and Fallen Kingdom diverts its own great setup to get there.
The dinosaurs themselves have never looked better, from a briefly glimpsed underwater leviathan to Owen's hyper-intelligent raptor pal, Blue. Fallen Kingdom frequently places its characters--and the camera--uncomfortably close to the CG beasts, and their every detail stands out wonderfully. The original Jurassic Park--which is 25 years old--holds up incredibly well today, but it's amazing to see how far special effects have come.
Fallen Kingdom's action actually peaks fairly early in a jaw-dropping sequence whose nature I won't spoil, but which runs the gamut from dino jaw-snapping narrow misses to an explosive chase/escape sequence that had me on the edge of my seat for several minutes on end. There's a weightiness to the action that some CG-heavy movies lack, with dinosaurs and people alike throwing their weight around appropriately. Given the gargantuan subject matter, it's much appreciated.
Fallen Kingdom also introduces a handful of new characters of varying disposability, including James Cromwell's aging dino philanthropist Ben Lockwood (who apparently was John Hammond's partner in Jurassic Park lore, though he hasn't appeared before now), Justice Smith's sniveling Franklin, Rafe Spall's buttoned down Eli Mills, and more. Daniella Pineda stands out among the new additions as a young activist/dinosaur doctor who doesn't hesitate to pick up a gun and start getting s*** done the second she feels threatened. She's the polar opposite of Claire in some ways, although the movie thankfully feels no need to pit them against each other in any contrived ways.
Like many a sophomore film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom serves most of all as set-up for a third, potentially very exciting dinosaur movie. From its opening scene, the movie gets one thing across with extreme effectiveness: There's always a bigger dinosaur. And given Fallen Kingdom's success--despite its faults--we're going to keep paying to watch those dinosaurs eat people for the foreseeable future.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is out now in the UK, and hits theaters June 22 everywhere else.
Following a series of cinematic trailers, Sony debuted the first look at gameplay from The Last of Us Part II during its recent E3 2018 press conference. What Sony and developer Naughty Dog showed is just as gruesome as the previous trailer for the sequel; on top of a man getting eviscerated, we see Ellie perform a number of brutal takedowns and kills. It's definitely a lot to take in all at once, and it's also cinematic--it can be hard to tell what's pure combat and what's a cutscene-like transition.
While at E3 2018, we had a chance to speak to co-directors Anthony Newman and Kurt Margenau about the game. They gave us insight into what exactly we're seeing in the trailer in terms of combat, and as it turns out, much of what looks cinematic--Ellie's perfectly timed dodges and pulling an arrow out of her shoulder--is actually within your control. That looks to be a key component in framing and shaping the intense violence in The Last of Us Part II, as well as something that can add greatly to Ellie as a character.
"In classic Naughty Dog style, we always try to contextualize animations, so the dodge and shoot play away from the arrow is a different animation from when the blade is about to hit her," Newman said when asked about the variety of movements seen in the new gameplay. "There's an extremely complicated system that goes into making each of her dodges."
"Every strike has its own dodge based on the angle, how high it is, different things [like that]," Margenau added. These dodges in particular make certain combat sequences in the trailer look scripted, but the co-directors say that this movement is mapped to a specific button.
We also asked about what looks like a healing mechanic, when Ellie vaults over a store counter and then pulls an arrow out of her shoulder before continuing. But Newman and Margenau said that this is an entirely new mechanic separate from healing. A lot of it has to do with the new bow-and-arrow enemies, which didn't appear in the original Last of Us, and what happens when one of their arrows becomes lodged somewhere on Ellie's body.
"It's not distinctly a healing animation [in the trailer], it's a particular status effect," Newman said. "You'll notice in the lower right, there's a little arrow icon, and it's like you're afflicted with 'arrow-ness.' It disables your listen mode and it totally screws up your aim, so you have to try and find a safe spot to take the arrow out."
This status is specific to arrows. The co-directors did not give other examples of similar mechanics, but they did talk a bit more about the returning listen mode, which the arrow status impacts. "We're looking at ways to refine it... we're always trying to balance against how much information we give the player in a stealth scenario," Margenau said. "We've got some cool ideas to make it more grounded, more realistic."
All of this points to an involved style of combat with more factors to consider than in the original game, and that in turn says a lot about Ellie. Ellie in The Last of Us is young, naive, and learning how to survive; Ellie in Part II is an experienced killer with a lot of anger behind her strikes. Learning about who she's become is one of the most enticing things about The Last of Us Part II, and combat seems to be a huge part of that.
The Steam Summer Sale is now live, which means you're either jumping for joy at the money you'll save, or locking your wallet in a safe until the sale ends. One way or another, the PC game deals during the annual sale have a knack for making your money disappear. The sale runs between June 21 and July 5, so make sure to grab the games you want before it's over.
Things appear to be more straightforward than usual this year. Instead of having daily deals and flash sales on certain games, all of the deals seem to be permanent from the beginning to the end--at least so far. That might make this sale a little less exciting than in past years, but it's nice that you don't have to keep checking in multiple times a day to see if anything you want to buy is on sale. There is, however, a free browser game you can play on Steam's homepage.
The sale isn't limited to software, either. The Steam controller is on sale for $34 (down from $100), and Steam Link--which lets you stream Steam games to your TV--is on sale for $2.50 (which is 95% off its usual price of $50).
That only scratches the surface of this year's Steam Summer Sale. You can view the whole thing here.
It hasn't been especially long since Overwatch's last new character and map were added, but Blizzard seems to already be teasing what the shooter's next playable hero or locale. It's very all very mysterious for now, but based on the teasers released in the past, we can expect several follow-ups in the coming days.
This first teaser is accompanied by the words "Calm before the storm." It shows what looks like an alleyway with a variety of sprays and posters on the wall. Among these is one of Lucio, one calling for rights for Omnics (essentially robots), and another calling for "no robots." It's possible some hidden clue awaits, but there's nothing that immediately stands out. Check it out for yourself below.
As it stands, Overwatch has a total of 27 characters. The most recent of the bunch was Brigitte, a Support character who can can heal teammates, equip a barrier shield, and stun enemies. So far, Blizzard hasn't given any indication of what to expect from the next character, nor do we know when they will be released. As always, though, any new addition to the roster has the chance to dramatically shake up the game, both for casual players and on the competitive/Overwatch League side.
We can expect new characters for Overwatch to continue to roll out, as Blizzard doesn't seem keen on moving on to an Overwatch 2. "What people might not realize is the team now is significantly bigger than what it was when we shipped the game, and we have put all of that into working on the live game and the new maps, heroes, and events like Anniversary," the studio said recently. "At least for the time being, [supporting Overwatch] is our focus right now, and we're excited to work on this game."
With the recent launch of Fortnite: Battle Royale on Nintendo Switch, Sony's reluctance to allow cross-play has again become a hot topic. As was the case following Rocket League's release, the company has yet to offer a satisfying reason for why PS4 players can't join up with those on Xbox One and Switch. With a newly updated version of Minecraft now available for Switch that enables cross-play with Xbox One, a new trailer doesn't waste its opportunity to tout that functionality.
Indeed, the entire purpose of the new 34-second ad, which you can watch above, is to drive home the fact that you can seamlessly play Minecraft with Xbox One players on Switch (and vice versa). In fact, we even see an Xbox One controller used by a player throughout, and the video ends with a bisected screen featuring the Xbox One and Switch's signature green and red colors and their respective logos. Nintendo subsequently sent out a tweet mentioning Xbox, which you can see below.
This is no doubt meant to tout the game rather than serve as some sort of veiled shot at Sony, though it's likely to only encourage fans to keep up the pressure on the company to reverse its decision. Sony does allow cross-play with PC and mobile, but throughout this generation, it has prevented support for the feature with competing consoles.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 21, 2018
John Smedley, a former developer at Daybreak Game Company (formerly Sony Online Entertainment), recently stated that Sony's decision is all about money. "[W]hen I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money," he said in a tweet. "They didn't like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a Playstation. simple as that. dumb reason, but there it is."
Smedley also encouraged fans to continue pressuring Sony, though it's unclear if that will have any effect. Sony has provided a range of reasons over the past few years for why it doesn't allow cross-play. Most recently, amid the frustration that stemmed from Fortnite's release on Switch, Sony released yet another statement that reveals very little.
"We're always open to hearing what the PlayStation community is interested in to enhance their gaming experience," a Sony representative said to the BBC. "Fortnite is already a huge hit with PS4 fans, offering a true free-to-play experience so gamers can jump in and play online.
"With 79 million PS4s sold around the world and more than 80 million monthly active users on PlayStation Network, we've built a huge community of gamers who can play together on Fortnite and all online titles. We also offer Fortnite cross-play support with PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, expanding the opportunity for Fortnite fans on PS4 to play with even more gamers on other platforms."
Like other battle royale games, Fortnite: Battle Royale offers a wide variety of ways that any match can play out. But come to the final circle of a round, and you likely know what to expect: Players building elaborate defenses and wielding shotguns and rocket launchers. It can get a bit tiresome, and Victory Royales can feel out of reach for those who aren't experts at building. Developer Epic Games is aware of all this, and it's looking to mix things up.
In a post on Fortnite's website, Epic explained that it plans to "continue to make changes to evolve the game to give players multiple ways to counter each other in combat, and create more strategies to win the game." It also specifically addresses the notion that building is the only way to win: "It's important to support a variety of late game strategies, that don't boil down to 'just build lol.' We strongly believe that the evolution of Fortnite supports a wide range of play styles and counterplay. Currently, the superiority of shotguns, rockets, and uncapped building are such a dominant play style in the final circle that most other strategies are being drowned out."
Epic said it's already made some changes to address these concerns and will continue to do so. Weapon balance is being looked at, as is the resource economy, which it said includes something like a cap on the number of resources you can hold. The "next few weeks" will see Epic continuing to look at changes it can make, and it says it wants to hear from players about what they want to see.
"You should be able to find Victory Royales through multiple strategies," it said. "Shotguns should be strong, but other weapons have room to grow. Not every encounter should have to end in a build-off. We want to empower you to showcase your skill, strategy, and tactics in all variety of ways."
The ability to build ramps, walls, and floors was initially the thing that most distinguished Fortnite from competitors like PUBG, but Epic has done an impressive job in expanding the game since launch last year. Just how much it's willing to deemphasize the need to build to win remains to be seen, but it's a positive sign to see that it's willing to address what can feel like a stale endgame experience.
The indie gaming hub Itch.io is having its Summer Sale right now. Between June 19-26, you can pick up a whole heap of independent PC games at discounted rates. Nearly all genres are accounted for in the sale, plus a bunch of games that don't fit neatly into any genre.
What games might be worth a look? Necrosphere is on sale for $2.50. It's billed as a super-challenging Metroidvania with only two buttons: left and right. Before you buy, you can play a web version here to see if you like it. The vampire-hunting game Slayer Shock puts you in a college coffee shop in Nebraska and has you run missions save humans and hunt bloodthirsty enemies. It's on sale for $6, down from $20.
The quirky Twine game Arc Symphony is on sale for $2, as is the retro-style arcade shooter R-Coil. If ancient horrors are more your speed, you can grab the Lovecraftian game Eldritch for $1.50 as well. Or there's always the "first-person destructive cat simulator" Catlateral Damage, on sale for $2.50.
As you can probably tell, there's a lot of variety on offer here, so no matter what kind of games you're into, you can find something worth trying. You can see the full list of games on sale here or check out some of the ones that caught our eye below.
A new month has arrived, which means a new slate of games are on the horizon. Between the excitement of E3 2018 and this month's upcoming releases, gaming fans have a lot to look forward to in June. This month sees some notable titles arrive on each platform, from the Switch port of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus to a new Mario sports game and the latest title from Life Is Strange developer Dontnod.
As always, we've rounded up a list of the biggest games launching this month below, giving you a handy way to keep track of what's in store for Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC in June. For a broader look at all of the major games coming to each platform throughout the rest of the year, be sure to check out our comprehensive list of game release dates in 2018.
Jurassic World Evolution (PS4, Xbox One, PC) -- June 12
Arriving on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on June 12, Jurassic World Evolution is a theme park sim that challenges players with managing their own Jurassic Park. They can choose which types of dinosaurs they'd like to hatch and what types of attractions and amenities they'd like to build to attract guests to their park. The game also features Jeff Goldblum reprising his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm.
This month's big Switch release is Mario Tennis Aces, the first Mario sports game to arrive on Nintendo's hybrid console. Developed by Camelot, the studio behind every previous Mario Tennis game, Aces introduces a number of new mechanics, such as the time-slowing Zone Speed and the powerful Zone Shots. It also features the first story mode in the series since 2005's Mario Tennis: Power Tour.
Rounding out this month's biggest releases is The Crew 2. Ubisoft's open-world racing game arrives on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on June 29, and it builds upon its predecessor with a few new mechanics, most notably vehicle transformations. In this installment, players can switch between a car, boat, plane, or other vehicles on the fly to seamlessly race across different types of terrain.
According to Twitter, there were nearly 15 million #E3 tweets during E3 2018. The largest spike occurred on June 12 between 9-10 AM ET when Nintendo's Direct was airing. In that one hour, there were 890,000 tweets using the E3 hashtag. Most of them originated from the United States. Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, and France followed.
Nintendo also generated the most conversation in Twitter moments during E3. The most popular Twitter moment focused on the release date for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Though neither moment reached the same height, both the announcement of Ridley as a Super Smash fighter and The Elder Scrolls VI's trailer reveal were also quite popular.
Despite Nintendo taking the gold for Twitter coverage this year, @Bethesda, @Ubisoft, @PlayStation, and @Xbox were all the number one worldwide trend during their respective press conferences.
During E3 2018, the most Tweeted about topics were:
Following its reveal during Nintendo's E3 2018 presentation, Bandai Namco has announced a release date for the Switch version of Dragon Ball FighterZ. The acclaimed fighting game launches for Nintendo's hybrid console on September 28.
As was the case with the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions, players who pre-order Dragon Ball FighterZ for Switch ahead of its release will get a few bonuses. First, reserving the title will grant immediate access to two characters--Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta--at launch.
On top of that, those who pre-order the Switch version will get an exclusive bonus: a digital Japanese copy of the rare Dragon Ball Z game Super Butoden, which was released for the Super Famicom (Japan's equivalent of the SNES) back in 1993. You can see a screenshot of the game running on Switch below.
Despite the Switch's comparatively weaker hardware, Dragon Ball FighterZ holds up well on the console. We had an opportunity to go hands-on with the Switch version just prior to E3 and found it to be a strong port that maintains the feel and style of the game. You can watch footage of us playing it in tabletop mode above.
Dragon Ball FighterZ first released for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in January. The game was developed by Arc System Works--the studio behind the BlazBlue series--and was a critical and commercial success. GameSpot awarded it a 9/10 in our Dragon Ball FighterZ review and called it "a Dragon Ball fighting game that can go toe-to-toe with the best of the genre."
In other Dragon Ball news, Bandai Namco revealed a new DLC pack for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. A release date for the pack hasn't been announced, but it is slated to arrive for all versions soon and will introduce a new playable character to the game: Super Baby Vegeta from Dragon Ball GT. You can see screenshots of him below.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is available for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch. It was likewise well-received by fans and critics. GameSpot gave it a 7/10 in our Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and said it is "among the best games to emerge from this beloved franchise."
Twitch Prime continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Each month, Twitch users with Amazon Prime get a bunch of freebies, ranging from games to in-game items for titles. Perhaps the most exciting is free Fortnite gear, such as the Fortnite Twitch Prime Pack #2, which Epic Games has just announced. It includes exclusive free cosmetics and other items for Fortnite players, including the newcomers on Nintendo Switch. Here's what you can still get and how to obtain it.
Twitch Prime subscribers can now grab Fortnite Twitch Prime Pack #2. To claim your pack, link your Epic and Twitch accounts, then click on the crown next to the search bar on Twitch. Here's what you'll receive:
Exclusive Battle Royale Trailblazer Outfit
Exclusive Battle Royale True North Back Bling
Exclusive Battle Royale Tenderizer Pickaxe
Exclusive Battle Royale Freestylin' Emote
Note that, according to Epic's announcement, "While you can only claim your Twitch Prime loot on a single platform (PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One), your content is shared and available to use across PC/console and mobile, as long as you use the same Epic account. Content is not shared between Xbox One and PS4, even if you use the same Epic account."
Now is a good time to hop into Fortnite, thanks to the arrival of Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War. If you'd like some help completing this week's challenges, be sure to check out our guide to Fortnite's challenges for Week 2 of Season 4.
The Xbox Gaming Set is a collection of accessories created to fit any American Girl Doll. Now your kid can play video games with their plastic best friend.
The set comes with everything needed to transform a doll into the perfect gaming partner. The set includes a pretend Xbox One S controller and console. The controller is small enough to fit perfectly into the doll's hands and the console can project scenes from 10 different games. The 10 games are divided between two game discs, which can be stored in two colorful game cases when not in use.
The set also includes a faux-leather game chair and fake wireless mic. The chair has built in speakers and comes with a cord that allows you to plug in your own personal devices to play whatever music or sound effects you want.
A new week means a new batch of PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and even PS Vita games has gone on sale over at the PlayStation Store. This week finds sales on the Call of Duty and Sonic the Hedgehog series, along with an assortment of other deals. If you're a PlayStation Plus member, you'll get an extra 10% off some of the deals. Read on for our picks of the best PS3 and PS4 game deals of the week.
FIFA 18 is down to just $24 this week, regardless of your PS Plus status. The arcade-style racing game Redout: Lightspeed Edition is available for $20, while Sonic Forces will only set you back $24.
Nintendo is famously stingy when it comes to sales and price drops on its first-party games. Until the company releases a Nintendo Selects edition of a game, you can generally expect to pay full price, regardless of how long ago it came out--especially digital versions. So it's nice to see Nintendo offering a pre-order bonus for Mario Tennis Aces, which is set to launch June 22.
If you buy the game on the Nintendo Switch Eshop between now and June 21, you'll get 300 bonus Gold Points, for a total of 600 Gold Points for the purchase. That's worth $6 in Eshop credit you can use on any future purchases.
Granted, this doesn't amount to a huge savings, especially compared to Amazon's 20 percent off game pre-orders with Prime. It's also limited because you have to spend it on future Eshop orders instead of getting an immediate discount. But seeing as this is an unreleased digital Nintendo game, it's surprising to see.
Nintendo offered a demo/beta of sorts for Mario Tennis Aces earlier this month. By participating, you were able to unlock a free bonus costume in the full game. You can look for our review in the coming days.
It's a new week, which means there are new movies and shows to watch on Netflix right now. The streaming service has a slew of fresh titles arriving, including a highly anticipated new season of a Marvel favorite. Of course, that's not the only Netflix original to be on the lookout for.
Naturally, the biggest new arrival of the week is the new season of Marvel's Luke Cage. The second season follows the titular superhero in the aftermath of Defenders, as he grapples with his fame, while also coming up against a new threat in Bushmaster. If that's not enough of a Marvel fix for you, the fifth season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD also arrives on Netflix this week.
As for other originals, the competitive cooking show Cooking on High debuts this week. The unique spin on this particular food show is all of the recipes include cannabis as an ingredient. The original movie Brain on Fire also arrives on June 22, along with Season 2 of Heavy Rescue: 401. Lastly, don't forget to revisit Disney's Tarzan when it begins streaming on June 23.
Microsoft has launched another set of games to be added to its all-you-can-eat Game Pass service on Xbox One, this time for June 2018. Those include a brand-new co-op dungeon crawler along with several other games joining the service.
The headliner of the bunch is Next Up Hero, a co-op dungeon crawler that has you gather loot and upgrade your skills. Every time you die you'll leave behind an echo, which can be raised by the next hero to fight as an AI companion. It will come sometime in June, alongside its debut on the store for non-subscribers to purchase.
Microsoft has been adding a handful of new games to the service every month, often with a single headliner new release that's added the same day as it becomes available to purchase for non-subscribers. Microsoft's first-party Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 were both the big-ticket items of their respective months.
Season 4 of Fortnite: Battle Royale is finally underway. In addition to taking part in matches like normal, there are a number of special challenges to complete. Beyond the regular Starter and weekly challenges, Season 4 also presents some extra ones: Blockbuster and Carbide. Here's everything you need to know and details on all of the challenges revealed so far.
All Fortnite players on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile are eligible to complete the Starter challenges. These are relatively run-of-the-mill and offer different rewards, including Battle Stars and various minor cosmetics. The Battle Stars allow you to rank up the Battle Pass, which is where the vast majority of Season 4 skins and rewards are located, such as the coveted Omega skin pictured below. However, the free tier has a very limited number of goodies on offer. You'll need to purchase the full Season 4 Battle Pass for 950 V-Bucks to be able to obtain all of the rewards as you level up.
Purchasing the Battle Pass also entitles you to all of the weekly challenges. Another set of these opens up each week during the season and can be completed anytime between now and when Season 4 ends on July 9.
Some of the rewards available in Season 4
That's how things have worked in past seasons, but Season 4 also has new types of challenges. Blockbusters involve completing all of the challenges from a given week. Doing so earns you an additional reward on top of what you'd get from finishing those challenges anyway. The first Blockbuster challenge you finish pays out a loading screen, which serves as a clue that directs you to an in-game location where you can get a free Battle Pass tier. To find that, though, you'll have to actually complete all of the challenges from a week.
Also new in Season 4 are Carbide challenges. One of the rewards you immediately get for buying the Battle Pass is the Carbide skin. As you reach certain level milestones during Season 4, you'll complete Carbide challenges, which unlock different "styles" that let you customize the look of the Carbide skin. Completing three Carbide challenges also nets you a matching pickaxe.
Below, you'll find a complete list of all Season 4 challenges to be revealed so far, along with links to our maps and guides that will help you complete them all.
Fortnite: Battle Royale Season 4 Challenges
Starter
Outlive opponents (1,000) -- 5 Battle Stars
Play matches with friends (10) -- 5 Battle Stars
Deal damage to opponents (5,000) -- 5 Battle Stars
Land at different Named Locations (10) -- 5 Battle Stars
Play matches (50) -- Ace of spades cosmetic item
Play matches with at least one elimination (10) -- concept art
Hard: Win a match -- #1 cosmetic item
Reward: 5k XP (after completing four challenges)
Blockbuster
Complete all challenges in a week -- #1 loading screen
Complete all challenges in 2 different weeks -- #2 loading screen
Complete all challenges in 3 different weeks -- #3 loading screen
Complete all challenges in 4 different weeks -- #4 loading screen
Complete all challenges in 5 different weeks -- #5 reward
Complete all challenges in 6 different weeks -- #6 reward
Complete all challenges in 7 different weeks -- #7 reward
Shopping carts have been a fun addition to Fortnite: Battle Royale, but they've also proven to be a problematic one. Epic Games has had to disable them a number of times due to problems that have arisen, and that's the case once again.
Epic confirmed the temporary removal of shopping carts in a tweet, stating, "Due to ongoing issues, we'll be disabling Shopping Carts again. We'll update you when this issue is resolved." There's no time table shared for when they might be added back in, but at this point players have become accustomed to seeing shopping carts--Fortnite's first vehicle--yanked from the roster of active items. This came just ahead of Week 8's challenges going live.
It's not uncommon for Epic to disable items; some are rotated out to make way for new ones, while others--like the guided missile--have been removed to provide the studio with time to work on balancing them. But shopping carts have been temporarily pulled several times now in a relatively small window of time. Among other things, they've been utilized to glitch into areas of the map that players should not be able to access, which is extremely problematic in a competitive game. With Fortnite's massive popularity continuing to rise, it's no surprise Epic is fast to pull anything that might upset its competitive balance (and thereby impact its growing success).
Since the launch of Battle Royale last year as a free-to-play mode in Fortnite, Epic has steadily and frequently rolled out new content. Some of that comes in the form of new weapons, as with the recently added Stink Bomb, while others serve different purposes, as with the shopping carts and Hop Rocks.
During E3, Fortnite: Battle Royale was released on Switch, joining the existing PC, PS4, Xbox One, and iPhone versions. Fortnite Mobile is also on the way to Android, although a release date for that version has not yet been announced.
PS4 has been on the market for quite a few years now, and we've reached the point in its lifecycle where Sony is prepared to introduce a standardized line of budget-priced versions of games. Much as it did with its Greatest Hits/Essentials lines in the past, Sony has announced a PS4 equivalent called PlayStation Hits, and it consists of some quality games for the console.
Games in the PlayStation Hits line will receive specialized box art with a red strip along the top, and the case itself will be red, rather than the usual blue. There are some terrific games included, although the specifics vary by market. In the US, you'll find Bloodborne, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Yakuza 0, Doom, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience. You can find complete lists for US and Europe below, or head to the official website to see the lineups in the US, Canada, and Europe (where specific availability varies by country).
In the US, PlayStation Hits will be priced at $20; in Canada, $20 CAD; in the UK, £16; and in Europe, €20. These will be available at both retail and on the PlayStation Store, with the first going on sale in the US/Canada on June 28 and in the UK/Europe on July 18.
Sony says more games will be added to the Hits line in the future, although it didn't share how often it will do so or how it decides what to include. A special PlayStation Hits PS4 bundle will be released that comes with a 1 TB system and three of Sony's first-party PlayStation Hits titles, but it will only be available in certain European markets.
There's been little news on the Xbox One backwards compatibility front as of late, but with E3 in the rear-view mirror, it's time for something new. Microsoft has announced a new addition to the BC lineup, and it's a pretty big one in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Major Nelson confirmed the news on Twitter, saying the Xbox 360 shooter is now playable on Xbox One. It joins a growing list of classic Call of Duty games that are playable on the console, although curiously it doesn't complete the Modern Warfare trilogy. 2009's Modern Warfare 2 has not yet been added to the list, so if you're looking for a chronological playthrough, you'll have to continue to wait for that to happen.
If you already own Modern Warfare 3, you can simply pop in the disc or head to the Ready to Download section of the My Games and Apps area to download it. Alternatively, you can purchase a copy right from the Xbox Store. As it happens, Modern Warfare 3 is a part of this week's Deals With Gold lineup. It's 50% off for Xbox Live Gold members until June 25, letting you get it for $15 / £12. Meanwhile, its DLC packs are all 33% off.
Backwards compatibility is a notable feature for Xbox One, but with a seemingly endless array of new games to tout during its press conference, Microsoft didn't focus on it at E3. It features prominently last year, as the company announced plans to introduce support for a select number of original Xbox games. Following the initial debut of that last year, another batch were released this spring. You can check out everything that's playable on Xbox One in our full list of backwards compatibility games.
E-Line Media, the studio behind the Iñupiat-inspired platformer Never Alone, has unveiled its latest effort: Beyond Blue, a narrative-driven underwater exploration game developed in collaboration with scientists and the BBC. The game was formally announced during E3 2018 and is slated to launch for PC and consoles early next year.
Envisioned as a "thematic cousin" to BBC's Blue Planet II documentary series, Beyond Blue casts players in the role of Mirai, the leader of an underwater research team. Mirai can explore her surroundings either by swimming or manually controlling aquatic drones, which will gradually collect information that can allow her to venture further and discover different types of marine life.
In addition to its exploration elements, Beyond Blue places a heavy emphasis on resource management, which will affect how your adventure unfolds. According to E-Line, players will be forced to "make high-stakes decisions and prioritize which objectives can be successfully achieved during the crew's expedition." You can watch the announcement trailer for Beyond Blue above.
Like the aforementioned Never Alone, which doubled as a sort of documentary on Alaska Native culture, Beyond Blue features footage from Blue Planet II. During the course of the game, players will be able to unlock Ocean Insight videos that provide more information about the creatures and moments they encounter in the title.
"Inspired by the way the Cultural Insight videos inside Never Alone brought resonance and context to a game infused with Alaska Native culture, we reached out to E-Line to explore the potential for a creative collaboration on Blue Planet II," said Bradley Crooks, Head of Digital Entertainment & Games at BBC Studios. "We think there's great synergy in the way E-Line make their games and our own approach to program making where we care passionately about the subject matter and want to help people better understand the world in which they live."
PUBG Corp. and Tencent have released a new update for the mobile version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The update is available to download now for both iOS and Android devices, and it introduces a handful of new features to the game, including an additional mode, emotes, and other content.
Among other things, update 0.6.0 adds the ability to play Classic Mode in PUBG Mobile in first-person. It also introduces a chaotic new Arcade mode called Mini-Zone. In this mode, players are dropped onto a smaller map that contains three times as many weapons as usual, making for more intense and much shorter matches.
Beyond that, the update adds a Royale Pass, a new type of progression system that's similar to the upcoming Event Pass for the PC version of PUBG. The Royale Pass features an assortment of daily and weekly missions to undertake. By completing the challenges, players will increase their rank and earn crates.
In addition to unlocking items, Tencent says the player who has the highest Royale Pass level will be able to choose the starting plane's finish before parachuting out at the beginning of the match. The developer has also introduced a number of new weapon finishes to earn and customize their characters with in PUBG Mobile.
Rounding out the update are various new emotes and items. Players can also now see a weapon's stats and how it compares with other weapons when browsing the Armory. You can read the full list of changes in update 0.6.0 in the patch notes--as taken from the App Store--below.
PUBG Mobile Update 0.6.0 Patch Notes
Royale Pass
This is a brand new feature! Complete daily and weekly missions to earn points and increase your rank. Complete a certain number of missions every week for additional crates.
Reach a new Royale Pass rank to unlock its rewards. Players with a busy schedule have the option to purchase ranks directly to unlock rewards.
An elite version of the Royale Pass is also available. Purchasing the Elite Royale Pass unlocks elite missions to earn more points and collect additional rewards for each rank.
Season 1 of Royale Pass starts in mid-June. It will be available for purchase for all players.
First-Person Perspective (FPP)
Added first-person perspective variation to Classic Mode.
FPP has its own tier system.
Mini-Zone
100 players, smaller map, three times the resources and air drops!
Weapon Finishes
Added weapon finishes to the game.
New finishes can be obtained in the game and applied to your weapons.
Airplane Finishes
Added airplane finishes to the game.
The player with the highest Royale Pass rank in a match can change the plane's finish before parachuting.
Armory
Added an Armory where you can view all the weapons in the game and add attachments to see how effective they are.
Pistols
Pistols now get their own slot on the match UI and in the backpack.
Melee Weapons
Melee weapons can now destroy tires on vehicles.
Voice System
Players can now mute individual teammates.
Improved voice chat system during matches.
Results
Added a new post-match results screen.
Tier Protection
Added a tier protection system to protect players from being demoted.
Characters
Added Asian characters.
Added character profiles.
Added simple emotes so players can interact with one another. More emotes are available via the Royale Pass.
Social Network Link
Players can now link one additional social network, for a total of two.
Room Cards
Added room cards, which can be used to start rooms. They are available via Royale Pass.
Shop
Added parachutes, weapon finishes, avatars, avatar frames, and other new items.
Items can be gifted to friends.
Miscellaneous
Added career results screen.
Added a character customization page, accessible from the profile screen.
Added different sound effects for the winner and runner-up at the end of the match.
Added a reminder tone for the last five seconds before boarding.
Added a marking feature for quick chat. Players can now mark loot locations or dangerous spots.
UI and sensitivity information is now saved locally.
Added a Shop for trading Silver Fragments for Outfits.
Added background noises for some zones, such as the sound of waves crashing when you're near the shore.
Added more customizable buttons.
Added Miramar to Arcade Mode.
Fixes/Improvements
Vehicles no longer deal damage to teammates.
Improved throwing animation, grenade explosion, and smoke grenade effects.
Fixed 8x scope and vehicle camera bugs in Spectator Mode.
Fixed choppy voice chat bugs and Bluetooth headset disconnect bugs.
With cheating still an ongoing concern in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, developer PUBG Corp. has regularly implemented new measures in an effort to curb the practice. While the studio says this has helped winnow cheaters and bots from the game, it has also inadvertently resulted in some innocent players being temporarily banned.
"As you know, one of our highest priorities is working towards eliminating hackers and cheaters from PUBG," PUBG Corp. wrote in a post on Steam. "We've made great strides in this area recently, but unfortunately sometimes we get it wrong, which was the case recently when a number of players were improperly banned and were unable to access the game for a period of time. While we will continually work to improve these cheat detection methods, we ask for your patience on the hopefully few occasions where a false ban happens."
As a way to compensate players who have been wrongly banned from the game, PUBG Corp. is offering 20,000 BP--PUBG's in-game currency--to affected users. The developer says the BP should already appear in your account if you're one of those who have been inadvertently banned. Those unsure if they qualify to receive the compensation will need to meet the following criteria:
Logged into the 3.8.38.15 version between June 16, 11 AM - 1:30 PM PDT / June 16, 8 PM - 10:30 PM CEST / June 17, 3 AM - 5:30 AM KST
Were wrongfully banned due to internal ban detection logic
A new update for PUBG is rolling out later this week, on June 22. Along with an assortment of UI and sound improvements, it introduces the tropical Sanhok map to the live game, as well as a Sanhok-exclusive weapon: the QBZ95.
Alongside the update, PUBG Corp. is releasing the Event Pass--PUBG's equivalent of Fortnite's Battle Pass. As with the Battle Pass, the Event Pass allows players to complete daily and weekly challenges, which will level the pass up and unlock exclusive rewards. The Event Pass is available to try out now on PUBG's test server.
A new patch is around the corner for the PC version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Coinciding with the update, developer PUBG Corp. is introducing a new type of progression system called the Event Pass, which gives players a new avenue for earning items in the game.
Much like the Battle Pass offered each season in Fortnite, the Event Pass allows players to earn rewards while playing PUBG. Event Pass holders will have a variety of daily, weekly, and map-specific missions to undertake; completing these challenges will level the pass up and in turn unlock exclusive rewards.
In contrast to Fortnite's Battle Pass, the Event Pass can only be purchased with real-world money, and it lasts for four weeks, rather than the span of the entire season. Regardless of whether or not they purchase the pass, players will still be able to complete missions and "temporarily" unlock rewards (as well as earn one "special item" permanently). Those who decide to buy the Event Pass at a later date will earn rewards for any missions they've already completed.
PUBG's first Event Pass will be offered on the same day Sanhok arrives in the live game, on June 22. "This first Event Pass is all about celebrating the launch of Sanhok, so it includes an item set that fits the map Sanhok thematically," PUBG Corp. wrote on Steam. The developer hasn't provided any further details about what the Sanhok-specific missions will entail, but the Event Pass is currently available on the game's test server, giving players a chance to try it out before it is implemented in the live game.
In addition to Sanhok and Event Pass, Update #15 introduces a new weapon to PUBG: the QBZ95, an AR found exclusively on the new tropical map. The patch also makes a handful of sound and UI improvements to the game, particularly to the inventory, map, and results screen. You can read the full patch notes for Update #15 on Steam.
A new update is on the way soon for the PC version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Patch #15 is scheduled to arrive this Friday, June 22, and will introduce an assortment of UI and sound improvements to the game, as well as the tropical map, Sanhok.
Following several weeks of testing on PUBG's Experimental Server, Sanhok will officially roll out for the live game with Patch 15. The map's most distinctive feature is its size; unlike Erangel or Miramar, Sanhok is 4km x 4km, making it one-fourth as large as PUBG's previous two maps. Despite its smaller scale, it still hosts 100 players, meaning matches are much quicker and more intense when contested on Sanhok.
Developer PUBG Corp. is also introducing the QBZ95, a new weapon slated to arrive alongside Sanhok in Patch 15. The QBZ95 is an AR that uses 5.56mm rounds. It holds 30 rounds per magazine, although PUBG Corp. notes that can be extended to 40 rounds. The QBZ95 can be found exclusively on the new tropical map, replacing the SCAR-L in Sanhok's item spawn pool.
In addition to the new map and item, Patch 15 introduces a slate of interface improvements to the game. In particular, PUBG Corp. has tweaked the UI of the Leaderboard, Replay function, and friends list. Many in-game UI elements, such as the inventory, map, and results screen, have likewise been visually improved, while the mini-map can now be expanded and dynamically zooms in or out depending on your movement speed.
Patch 15 also addresses a handful of bugs and other technical issues in the game. Among them, PUBG Corp. has removed some objects from Erangel and Miramar that previously obstructed movement, and an issue that would cause characters to occasionally get stuck in the aforementioned maps has also been fixed. The full list of changes are outlined in the patch notes on Steam.
At E3 2018, Square Enix announced a short delay for Kingdom Hearts 3, pushing the title from December 2018 into January 2019. After a 13-year wait for a new mainline entry in the series, a few extra weeks wasn't a big deal, but it created questions nevertheless: Why was it announced at a concert instead of at Square Enix's press conference? Why was the delay necessary? What state is Kingdom Hearts 3 in?
During the show GameSpot was given the opportunity to put these questions to Tetsuya Nomura, creator of the series and director of Kingdom Hearts 3. We also took the opportunity to discuss the future of the franchise--specifically whether he has plans for a story beyond the upcoming game--and also if we can expect characters from Star Wars or Marvel to make an appearance, now that they exist under the Disney banner too.
Kingdom Hearts 3 has been in development for quite a few years now. How does it feel to finally have a release date announced?
Until now the thing that I was told the most was to just release the game, like, "Don't worry about it, just release the game," or, "When is the release date?" So now that we [have] arrived, to finally be able to say our release date or announce a release date, I feel that they gave me the opportunity to actually say what I want to our fans and have them listen to what I want to say. So I'm really happy about that.
Click image to view in gallery
Did it feel like you always needed to do more to achieve what you want or was it just the case of development issues that resulted in the lengthy development time?
Just one year into development we had to change the engine that we were working off of. This was a directive from the company that set us back a year and that was definitely a blow that we took. And then as we started development after that, we were gradually increasing the number of staff we had on our team, but the increase in staff just did not go as I had planned, so we couldn't really get full momentum for a while. So it's not that we had difficulty in development of the title, it was just a lot of company decisions that we just couldn't avoid.
Given how long the game has been in development, fan expectations for it are incredibly high. Do you ever worry about not meeting those fan expectations and how does that impact you as you're developing the game?
I just naturally don't really feel pressured and that's always been fortunate for me. That's been leading me to successes, but at least for Kingdom Hearts 3 the fan excitement was a lot more than I had expected. So [for] the first time in my life I did feel some kind of pressure from it. But when I thought about why I didn't really feel pressure until now, I realized that it was because I always had the confidence that my game is going to be good and fun. Because I have confidence that Kingdom Hearts 3 will be great as well I think that's probably why I don't feel too pressured or I don't feel too scared about fan expectations or meeting expectations.
I also have experience working on Final Fantasy titles as well, but Kingdom Hearts is a very unique one where a lot of people that are on the title really love Kingdom Hearts 3. They're overflowing with love. They're just like our fans as well. So because their love towards the title is so high, they've been creating the game with that much love and so I think that we are able to push out a game that meets expectations or even more than what you might expect.
You've grown up as a person and as a designer alongside the players and it's been so long since the last Kingdom Hearts was released. How has your perspective on making the game changed over time? Do you still have that passion for it? Or is it just like you feel more of a responsibility to people to make it and end it?
I'm getting older now, so my body really can't take all that difficulty anymore. When I was younger I was definitely more aggressive and I was the one pulling everyone forward, but now there's a lot more energetic staff around me who are more aggressive, so I feel like I'm more like a sage now. Like I'm in the sidelines just telling people what to do. The Kingdom Hearts series has become a huge title nowadays and back then it was more like I was making it secretively in the corner, but now that a lot more people are involved I do feel that it's not my title anymore, it's everyone's title. And just talking about all this … It actually kind of makes me really sad.
People are putting a lot of big things on you between making the sequel to Kingdom Hearts and the Final Fantasy VII remake. Is it a similar thing for that as well where you're letting other people guide you? Are you trying to train up the next generation to take over the things that you gave the world and created for Square Enix?
I'm not really good at teaching people, so I haven't been really telling people what to do, how to make games, or how to do it best. But because of where I am right now, all the decision making is up to me and because I've had a lot of game creation experience, I can finally feel that I could actually decide on one thing and I could actually make myself stop from deviating from what I've already decided. In a sense, I think all that experience does help me to become more mature. But there's still a lot of things that I can't readily decide as well.
It's not that I've been educating all my teams, but the coder, Tai Yasue, has been with me so long that he knows what I'm looking for. He knows what I don't like and he knows if whatever he has on his plate is something that I can approve or not. In that sense, [it could be said] I have been educating him.
The staff that I have, they actually have this image of me that, "Oh, Nomura-san won't approve if it's like this. It needs to be better." They just have high expectations for themselves or they think that I have really high expectations for them. So when I actually go ask to see something early in development, they say, "Oh, I can't show it to you yet. It's not finished at all." So what they usually tend to do is that they would take whatever order I give them and just create something that's of a higher quality than what I've asked them to do. So if you look at the trailer, I think it's pretty apparent, but they have been pushing out things that are really high quality. I'm very grateful for that.
A lot of people that are on the title really love Kingdom Hearts 3. They're overflowing with love. They're just like our fans.
One of the big things that fans are responding to in the new trailer is Aqua and her seemingly falling to the darkness. A lot of people are quite excited and also showing trepidation about seeing that. Can you talk about the decision to change and grow her character in such a way?
First of all, I didn't really think that people would be the most surprised with Aqua. I did receive a lot of questions about her during interviews and I've seen that it's become a hot topic online as well. The way that I write my scenarios, I don't really have clear thoughts of what I'm gonna do at each moment. I always start off with having a goal at the very end and maybe have smaller goals in between that I know that I have to go through to be able to achieve that larger goal, and then I'll start writing scenarios that go in between to make sure that I reach that goal at those points. So it's an ongoing process for me, but while I'm writing towards those smaller goals, I already know what happens, so in my mind I already have this expectation of what will happen next. But once in a while, I will come to a point where I would actually want to go against my own expectations and that's basically why Aqua became like that.
In another interview you said the reason why it's shocking to other people is because they don't know the path that you've created and you know where it's going to end, so you know how to get there. How far have you created that path? This is supposed to be the end of Sora's story. Do you have another story that goes beyond this or is this the end for you as well?
The way that I make games is that while I'm creating the current title, I'm always thinking about what's ahead of that. That hasn't changed from [the first] Kingdom Hearts, so it's the same for Kingdom Hearts 3 as well and it's all in my mind. But that doesn't mean that we will be able to create that game or we will eventually create the next game. I do this so that it doesn't contradict what I see in the future of Kingdom Hearts. Like I said earlier, it's just not that it's a definite yes or no as to whether or not there will be [another Kingdom Hearts] title, but I do have something in mind.
We've seen a lot of new characters and returning favorites, but we haven't really seen a lot of the Final Fantasy characters and obviously they played such a huge role in the earlier games. Are you just not showing them off right now or do you feel that you don't need to bring them back for the new game?
They obviously appeared from [the first] Kingdom Hearts, but at least for Kingdom Hearts 3, there's going to be a lot of [original] Kingdom Hearts. So most of the main characters from the Kingdom Hearts titles will appear and they will all have their problems that they need to resolve in the game. Because of that, Final Fantasy characters that actually do not have problems of their own … it's just a little bit difficult for them to appear in the game. But, obviously, the trailers that we have been showing until now is not everything. So all I can really say to that is just wait for a little more update to that.
Actually, in interviews throughout E3, I think every single interviewee has asked me about Final Fantasy characters and so I realize that that probably means that everyone's actually looking forward to them. There weren't that many titles out in the world that had all these Final Fantasy [characters] comes together in one [place], but nowadays there's just so many games out there that incorporates all these different Final Fantasy characters together, so I actually felt that it might not even be necessary to have another one of those in my game. But now that I've been talking with everyone, I've realized that maybe it is necessary, so I'm a little surprised by that.
Returning to Aqua and changes made with her, is that something that you want to do further with other characters? Do you want to kind of change perspectives on characters and maybe turn things upside down in the same way that you did with Aqua so people aren't as comfortable with everything?
It's not to say that there will be similar situations for other characters as Aqua, because I think that actually if I did that too often in the game, it will just lose the surprise element or it'll just feel very boring. But I can say that there will be a lot of surprises in the game, and future trailers may reveal it, but there are some surprises in there that I don't even know if it's okay to even put it in a trailer. Maybe we should just leave it in the game without revealing it beforehand so it'll be like a surprise in the game. I think all I can really say is to just please look forward to that. But let's say, so it's not like I'm changing your perspective on a character or not, but there will be some moments in there that you will definitely be surprised.
One of the other major questions people have is: are there limits to the characters you can now pull from, because Disney is changing massively and there's new characters being added to their roster. We now have Star Wars characters and Marvel characters [at Disney]. Are they [franchises] that you can pull from?
So Star Wars and Marvel are under Disney, but they are a completely different company, so it's just completely different. It's not that we could just freely ask for those characters as well. And I do get asked this questions once in a while, as well, but even to have Pixar characters in Kingdom Hearts, they actually started negotiating for it over 10 years ago. It wasn't like a simple ask and it took that long to [get to where] we're finally able to realize it. Currently, there's really not an option for me to use [Star Wars and Marvel characters].
If you were given the opportunity to have a Star Wars or Marvel character and you would granted it instantly, who would you pick?
If I answer to this question, I think a lot of people will actually be like, "Oh my God. It's confirmed. It's going to come," but it's not like that. But just simply as a character, I really love Tony Stark.
The game was recently delayed and it was a message that was delivered at a concert to fans first. Can you explain a little bit about why the delay was revealed that way, and can you tell us what state the game's currently in and why the delay was necessary?
As for the reason why we announced it at the concert, it was because this title is a multi-platform title, and so we wanted to be fair to everyone, and so that is why we decided to announce there. As for the reason for delay, because we really wanted to release the game as simultaneous as possible, this was a big request from our overseas team, our Western teams, so we had to think of that for this title. Until now, we would decide on a release date for Japan, and then the rest of the world would follow, so we would only have to think about situations in Japan. But now that we're looking towards a global release, we have to think of distribution and software production lines in global terms. If it was only like about 10,000 or like 50,000 units, then I think it would have been a little bit more of a simple matter, but since we're trying to produce more at once, we really had to think about those issues.
For instance, like one country might be able to distribute a game towards the end of the year, but another might not be able to because of their holiday season. So the higher-ups actually were very cautious about this, and they really wanted to make sure that we did not run into any issues, and so that is why we decided that this date that we have is the safest to be able to achieve a global simultaneous release, or as close as possible. And of course, with developers, it's much easier to push the release date a little back than to make it earlier, and so that is why we decided on this date.
Kingdom Hearts means a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it represents their childhood or it's a story about friendship. What does Kingdom Hearts mean for you?
It's probably the title that represents who I am. When I was a starting as a developer, like I wasn't an industry veteran yet, when I was creating Final Fantasy titles with Mr. Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy, and at that time, he said that Final Fantasy is a game that has everything in it. I don't think that there are that many people left in Square Enix that have actually worked with him on Final Fantasy. Of course, Final Fantasy is still continuing on--they still are committing to push out titles. But when I started creating Kingdom Hearts, that was when I kind of had this time away from Final Fantasy. And of course, I am working on a Final Fantasy title right now, but it was at a time when I was not working on a Final Fantasy title, and I really wanted to realize what Sakaguchi-san said about Final Fantasy, that it is a game that incorporates everything, to Kingdom Hearts. So I brought that idea to Kingdom Hearts. Currently looking at the newer Final Fantasy titles, to be honest, I don't think it really incorporates that idea of having everything. So I think that Kingdom Hearts, to me, is a game that has everything in it.
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