News:: Hard-to-get 'Destiny 2' holiday loot creates another uproar

Bungie has already learned some hard lessons about making content accessible in Destiny 2, but it's clear the studio still has some brushing up to do. Many gamers are complaining that the drop system for engrams (basically loot boxes) for the game's holiday-themed event, The Dawning, appears designed to goad players into spending real money on the in-game Silver currency. It's not that the items are incredibly valuable (they're largely cosmetic) -- it's that it's effectively impossible to get all of them by unlocking them strictly through ordinary gameplay.

Via: Polygon

Source: Bungie, Christopher Barrett (Twitter)

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News:: Injustice 2 patch prepares for the coming of Enchantress

There is a new patch out for Netherealm's comic-book fighter Injustice 2. The January update irons out some bugs and tweaks a few individual fighters, as well as preparing the data for the coming of the game's next DLC character, Enchantress.

Enchantress, who will arrive next month, is the second character from Fighter Pack #3, following The Atom and preceding the highly-anticipated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. One of the more mid-tier DC Villains, Enchantress recently received the spotlight courtesy of her appearance in last-year's Suicide Squad flick, played by Cara Delevingne.

For anyone who wants to check out the latest fixes to the game, the full patch notes can be found right here at the Warner Bros. Interactive blog. The new update is live now on all platforms.

Injustice 2 January update [Warner Bros. Interactive]

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News:: Dragon Ball FighterZ character trailer stars SSGSS Goku

Namco Bandai have popped out yet another slight character trailer for their upcoming anime scrapper Dragon Ball FighterZ, this one featuring yet another wacky variant of series protagonist, Goku.

The trailer features Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (SSGSS) Goku. More commonly known as Goku Blue. In the anime, this form is accessed by going Super Saiyan once you have attained the power of Super Saiyan God. In the game it's probably accessed by  picking him from the character select.

The release of Dragon Ball FighterZ is bearing down on us now, just under a month away in fact. With the roster now really packing out, it will be interesting to see who rises to the top once Dragon Ball FighterZ hits PS4, Xbox One and PC January 26.

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News:: Actual Sunlight, Little Red Lie, and the relationship between wealth and health

In support of World Mental Health Day back in October, game developer Will O'Neill ran an offer on itch.io for a bundle of two of his visual novel/adventure games, Actual Sunlight and Little Red Lie. Both games take a bold look at mental and physical health problems and how they interact with each other, while also analysing how differing socioeconomic circumstances can affect a person's experience of such challenges. 

Both games can be quite bleak in their outlook. There are the pleasant-yet-downtrodden of society who are hit hard by every setback they experience, while hideous personalities seem to float above all of the crises they unleash. However, the games don't reduce good and evil to how much cash the characters have in their wallets; it instead paints a picture of their different types of struggles, where they learn, and where they fail to learn.

The big message I took away from playing the two games consecutively is that having wealth is becoming increasingly vital to keeping healthy. However, being rich isn't a solution to everything; you also need the right attitude, since money can also simply be used to paper over the cracks. Until it's no longer there. Even if you do have endless amounts of cash, that can be squandered on quick-fix solutions, if you throw money at your problems instead of facing them, truthfully and head-on, they will never go away.

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News:: Review: Bright

Buddy-cop movies, you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, am I right? No, it turns out, not at all. Bright, Netflix’s most expensive film to date ($90M), directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, Fury) and starring Will Smith (Suicide Squad, Collateral Beauty) and Joel Edgerton (It Comes at Night), redefines the genre by owning it, expanding it, and making it ever so much more complex. The results are beautiful. Maybe it won’t win awards for cinematography, though in terms of design and shot selection, it’s competent in the way a favorite taylor is: you’re not getting anything too splashy, but you’re getting dependable results . It’s beautiful because by taking a format that both Ayer and Smith are quite familiar with (buddy-cop), covering that in every regard you’d expect, and then going so far beyond it with tropes unique to the other genres the film harvests, they create something new and improved, and they succeed wildly.

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News:: GearVR was the 'Evolve' and 'Left 4 Dead' studio's savior

"Chaotic." That's how Turtle Rock Studios president Steve Goldstein described the 14 months between its last AAA game, Evolve, being effectively killed and now. The four-hunter-versus-one-gigantic-monster online multiplayer game struggled to retain players after it was released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in early 2015.

Last June, Evolve transitioned from a $60 game to a free-to-play one. As a result, it went from roughly 100 players per month to more than 15,000. You'd think that would have been enough to keep the lights on, but you'd be wrong. Four months later, publisher 2K Games pulled the plug, saying that while the servers would remain online for the foreseeable future, the game wouldn't be getting any more updates.

"It was absolutely looking bleak, but sadly that's not unusual in our space," Goldstein said. "Everyone who works here knows that they are taking a risk, right? That's not a problem unique to us."

If all you've paid attention to are headlines on gaming and tech news sites, you'd think that Turtle Rock has been on the ropes ever since. But in the last year or so, thanks to Oculus' aggressive investments in virtual reality games and other experiences, Turtle Rock has been quietly building a mobile VR safety net in case its next $100 million project goes the way of Evolve.

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News:: The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. SpaceX's rocket launch had a funny side effect on southern California, and Edward Snowden just released an app.

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