As Niantic Labs keeps tweaking things to hold onto its Pokémon Go player base, it has revealed another new feature coming to the augmented reality game. Currently, player activities like catching Pokémon can level them up towards earning medals that toss off points, but not much else. Soon, there will be a catch bonus for earned medals that level up based on the type of Pokémon caught.
Source: Pokémon Go
Remember when The Last Guardian was pushed back to the beginning of December and people started to worry the combination of it and late November release Final Fantasy XV would cannibalize the sales of Gravity Rush 2? Well, that will no longer be a problem.
In a post on the PlayStation blog, director Keiichiro Toyama announced the beautiful looking sequel has been pushed into next year. The game will now release in 2017 on January 18, 19, and 20 in Europe, Japan, and North America and the UK respectively. The reason? He says a lot of work went into Gravity Rush 2's asynchronous online component and he wants as many people as possible to be playing it at the same time.
It's not all bad news. In the same post, Toyama confirmed that planned paid DLC will now be released free of charge.
Gravity Rush 2 Update [PlayStation Blog]
With politicians and angry parents blaming video games for the world's troubles, it sometimes becomes hard to see the good that gaming can do. Be it kindling relationships between friends or bringing back nostalgic memories, games are more than just distractions on the idiot box. Take this recent story from Forza Horizon 3 as a prime example.
A reddit user by the name of Redditsgamers was playing Horizon 3 when he happened to run into his friend. The part where this story transforms from a regular tale of schoolyard antics is when the user mentions his friend has been dead for a year.
Soon, Pokémon Go will incorporate a type of bonus that will improve the catching experience as a whole.
Bethesda and Sony have kissed and made up. Who benefits from that corporate make-out session? You, because mod support is en route for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition, according to a post on Bethesda.net. Skyrim mods will show up first, but there isn't a timetable for when that will actually happen.
Source: Bethesda
When we first reported Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night had been pushed back into 2018, I openly wondered about the fate of the Wii U and Vita ports. As a backer of the Kickstarter campaign, who only backed it after the Wii U stretch goal had already been funded, I wanted to know if I would still be getting the edition I choose.
Speaking with IGN, Koji Igarashi talked about the Wii U port and what he said isn't exactly filling me with confidence. As he explained to the website:
I've been playing a lot of the preview build for Civilization VI and I noticed a conspicuous lack of the Russian empire. 2K games has just revealed that the enlightened ruler will be making an appearance in the upcoming Civ, alongside the 10 rulers already announced.
The Civilization website details some of the unique buildings and units that will accompany Peter. These are important because, unlike previous Civilization games, you have to strategically place different districts around the map. You no longer get the benefit of building a city and garrisoning multiple soldiers inside it.
For Washington state, it's not enough for Valve to distance itself from gun skin gambling in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive -- it wants the company to put an end to the practice. The state's Gambling Commission has ordered Valve to "stop allowing the transfer" of gun skins for gambling through Steam. The gaming giant has until October 14th to explain how it's obeying Washington gambling laws -- if it ignores the request or can't prove that it's squeaky-clean, it might face "additional civil or criminal action."
Via: Polygon
Source: Washington State Gambling Commission (PDF)
Each year, it seems that I find myself pulled to the drawbridge of a vampire's castle, drawn again to descending the depths of a dead alien planet, or that I find myself in a post-apocalyptic hellscape where angels and demons are at war. So when it comes to October, where some people feel compelled to play games loaded with jump scares, dread, and the shambling undead, I get it. I understand the compulsion to gather up all the Silent Hills, Resident Evils, and other horror fare in celebration of Halloween.
I just prefer my isolated, ghoulish, or spoopy fun take place at my own leisure rather than give it a specific month.
For some strange reason, Unchated: The Nathan Drake Collection is now being offered piecemeal in Europe. This was announced via a tweet by PlayStation Europe and confirmed by GameSpot. I suppose some people may only want a single game (or just hate Uncharted 3 enough), but I'm not sure why you wouldn't grab them all.
Since Smash Bros.’ roster is drawn from other games, you might have thought it was impossible to cosplay as something genuinely, 100% Smash Bros. But that would be overlooking the humble Party Ball.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a huge game-changer when it came out in 2007. Even if I believe Battlefield should be the series that gets the praise for taking things out of WWII, Modern Warfare shook up the standard FPS formula enough that most newer games feel like shallow imitations. It goes to show how restraint and careful design go a long way to making something memorable.
That being said, anyone worried that the remaster would be a crappy port can put those fears to bed. Digital Foundry has taken a quick crack at the new version and the results are very favorable. The site doesn't comment on game feel or any changes in geometry, but the frame rate is stable and generally improves quality with no tearing.
When I tell people I have a Cruis'n game collection, half the responses I get are "huh?"
It's a relic of the past, something that went out during the decline of the arcade era -- at least, that was the cast until recently. Raw Thrills (in conjunction with Nintendo, who owns the rights to the series now that Midway is kaput, has announced Cruisn' Blast, and get this -- Eugene Jarvis, the original creator of the franchise, is back as the head of Raw Thrills.
The follow-up is coming "exclusively to arcades" for now, with a 43" 1080p screen, GTX 750 Ti Nvidia-powered visuals, and up to eight-player multiplayer. If this does well, and I hope it does, maybe we can get a console port on the NX?
Cruis'n Blast [Arcade Heroes]
Luca Nemolato is a concept artist from Italy who hasn’t just worked in video games, but also on Hollywood movies like the new Independence Day, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Jupiter Ascending (see above) and The Hunger Games.
Today Microsoft has announced that it's partnering with Universal Pictures to bring Gears of War's hulking soldiers and massive monsters to the big screen. There's no word on casting yet, but there is some information about who will be on the other side of the camera. Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark (Ted and the recent Planet of the Apes movies) will produce, and... well, that's about all that's known.Just ahead of Gears of War 4's release on Tuesday, Microsoft Studios and Universal Pictures have announced plans for a Gears of War feature film "based on the Xbox video game series."
Aside from that quote and some initial production credits (producers Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark, who have worked on Ted and Planet of the Apes, respectively), that's all there is to report on -- the film's existence, and the fact that this isn't the first time the property has gone after the big screen. Clearly, Microsoft and The Coalition have great ambitions for this new line of Gears titles on Xbox One.
I'd like two things for this movie. One, keep it relatively limited in scope (so, probably no firefights inside of a gargantuan worm beast). Two, assuming this is going to be a Marcus Fenix story in line with the original trilogy, there's only one man for the lead role, and that man is John Travolta.
Xbox One players began tinkering with mods for Fallout 4 back in May, but the rollout on PlayStation 4 hasn't been so straightforward. After notifying users that the update was being delayed on the console, Bethesda eventually made it clear the holdup wasn't on its end. "Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition," Bethesda explained in September. That seemed to be the end of it.
This pushback has been a decidedly bad look for Sony in recent weeks, and it was only going to get worse as people picked up this month's high-profile Skyrim re-release. Thankfully, the companies have reached an agreement to deliver mod support for both titles. Not so thankfully, it's relatively limited.
"Mod support will come to Skyrim first," Bethesda explained today in a blog post. "We and Sony have worked hard to make this possible. Mods on PlayStation 4 will allow you to modify and create your own content by using our Creation Kit available here. You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do. By creating a Bethesda.net account, you'll be able to browse and try mods right from within the game."
I will readily admit that this development is far better than nothing, especially considering that's where my expectations were at until now. The current plan is for Skyrim Special Edition to handle mods and, on PlayStation 4 Pro, to support native 4K. Those features will be included at launch on October 28 (though, as a reminder, the PS4 Pro won't release until November 10). Hit the gallery for a peek.
Once that Skyrim work is wrapped, Fallout 4 will see an update for mods, which Bethesda also "[expects] to take advantage of the PS4 Pro in 4K along with enhanced lighting and graphics features."
Mods and 4K Coming to PlayStation 4 for Skyrim and Fallout 4 [Bethesda]
This PS4 Slim Uncharted bundle costs $10 more than buying the console by itself, but it comes with a copy of Overwatch (which you should definitely play!) and Star Wars Battlefront (which is definitely a game!). All things considered, that’s one of the best deals we’ve seen on the Slim to date.
Governing isn’t all big speeches and campaign trails. There’s a lot of boring humdrum as well, something Norway’s Prime Minister has an effective solution for.
[Thanks to user Shaun for the tip]
Either by some force of benevolence or a strange network error, most of PopCap's backward compatible titles are showing up for free on Xbox One. Users on a Reddit thread have noted that the games are still showing a price on the official Xbox website and through their 360s.
Since PopCap was acquired by EA back in 2011, some people were speculating that this was due to users having EA Access. Others have mentioned they don't have a subscription to EA's service and are still seeing the games. One guy stated he doesn't have Xbox Live Gold and is not seeing the free games.
Whatever the issue, I'd suggest grabbing these while you still can. I'm not sure if access will be revoked or not, but it never hurts to try out some free games. The titles showing up are Bejeweled 2, Bejeweled 3, Heavy Weapon, Feeding Frenzy, and Feeding Frenzy 2.
Imagine my delight when I saw that there was an official game based on Netflix’s excellent Narcos! Then imagine my despair when I played it and found out it wasn’t just terrible, but it had almost nothing to do with Narcos.
You have your ticket to NYCC. You have your cosplay carefully packed and ready to be transported. And you’ve blocked off your Thursday evening. You’re almost ready to attend io9 and Kotaku’s Cosplay Ball, presented by Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, happening this Thursday—you just need to read this first.
I love how unique Symmetra is as both a hero and a character, but... I’m a total trainwreck with her. Given that she’s one of Overwatch’s least-played characters, I’m guessing a lot of people share my sentiment.
14 minutes of game director Jeff Kaplan discussing the current state of Overwatch and what the development team is working on in the short and longer-term? Yeah, I'm down for that!
A not-insignificant amount of the talk covers Symmetra, who we know is going to be revised to be "less of a situational pick." According to Kaplan, this could mean "changes to some of her mechanics and just changing her overall feel through things like numbers and cooldown, but [...] we're going to explore some other things as well that might be a little more dramatic in terms of design vision for her." The earliest tweaks could come in "about mid-November," but that's by no means a sure thing. He made it clear that the team doesn't currently want her to become a healer, despite fan requests.
The chat also gets into new heroes and maps on the horizon. "One hero is very far along," says Kaplan. "It's coming together really well. We're playtesting it internally across the entire company. We believe this hero will see the light of day sooner rather than later." (Is that you, Sombra?)
Additionally, another character is being prototyped now that will likely see release next year. No hints to go on, but Kaplan said it's feeling like "we found another really great Overwatch hero."
The team is said to be building "a lot of maps," including maps for preexisting modes (one of which is "very far along") and several maps "that are prototype, developer-only stages of new game modes that we're experimenting with." Kaplan was quick to point out that Blizzard makes much more content than it puts out, so not all of this will make it into the live game, but more modes sounds great.
Those large brush strokes aside, be sure to watch the full video for more tidbits. There are also details on Junkrat and Genji tweaks, spectator and eSports support, and quality-of-life changes.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has some pretty tricky bosses. But a sneaky new trick allows players to slay one dangerous boss monster without ever swinging their sword.
Crash-landing on Jakku after escaping The Finalizer, rebellious Stormtrooper FN-2187 fears his newfound Resistance friend dead. But Poe Dameron survived to fight another day, and the latest Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens DLC explains how. It’s pretty dumb.
The Washington State Gambling Commission notified Valve Corporation today that it "must immediately stop allowing the transfer of virtual weapons known as 'skins' for gambling purposes through the company's Steam platform." The notice comes as a direct result of a scandal we first reported on back in January.
To sum up a long story, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players have been able to earn special cosmetic weapon skins that can be traded or sold to other players. Since CS:GO has such a large and active playerbase, some of these rarer skins have attained real-world values up to multiple thousands of dollars. Over the last couple of years, third-party sites that allow players to bet their skins against someone else's became more and more popular -- until it was discovered that several of the biggest winners promoting these sites on their YouTube channels were in fact the people who owned them.
Valve never endorsed or supported these sites apart from providing the infrastructure that allowed virtual items to be traded via its Steam service. The gambling sites took this infrastructure and added code that allows skins to be held as a prize, going to the winners of slot machines or other forms of virtual gambling. Valve released a statement in July condemning the gambling websites, making it clear that these sites were breaking the terms of the user agreements, and sent cease-and-desist notices to the more prominent ones.
Apparently, that's not enough for the Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC). Valve's Bellevue headquarters are just outside Seattle, so it falls to the WSGC to investigate any wrongdoing. According to the statement, the WSGC contacted Valve in February "to determine if any additional action was needed." From what it looks like, it did in fact decide that additional action is needed, saying in effect that Valve has failed to adequately enforce its own user policies. From the press release:
"Based on the information it has gathered, the Gambling Commission directed Valve Corporation to stop facilitating the use of 'skins' for gambling activities through its Steam Platform. The Gambling Commission expects Valve to take whatever actions are necessary to stop third party websites from using 'skins' for gambling through its Steam Platform system, including preventing these sites from using their accounts and 'bots' to facilitate gambling transactions.
Valve Corporation has until October 14, 2016 to respond and explain how it is in full compliance with Washington's gambling laws or it will risk having the Gambling Commission take additional civil or criminal action against the company."
The commissioner, Chris Stearns continued:
"[Skin gambling] carries great risk for the players who remain wholly unprotected in an unregulated environment. We are also required to pay attention to and investigate the risk of underage gambling which is especially heightened in the e-sports world. It is our sincere hope that Valve will not only comply but also take proactive steps to work with the Commission on future measures that will benefit the public and protect consumers."
Valve is in a hard position here. I'm sure it never intended for CS:GO skins to become the currency in a gambling ring, but there's clear evidence that unscrupulous people have been abusing the systems it put in place to cheat and steal from others, frequently minors.
It's unclear whether this will impact Valve's other games which offer item trading, like Team Fortress 2. I know from personal experience that it's become far more difficult to make a trade with another player over Steam since this story broke. I'm hopeful that Valve can find a way to keep the fun aspects of trading intact without leaving it open to those who are looking to take advantage.
Washington State Gambling Commission Orders Valve To Stop Skin Gambling Via Steam [Esports Betting Report]
