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Activision Not Planning Any Major Blizzard Game to Be Released in 2019

Are you hoping we’ll see Diablo 4 this year? Maybe a new, AAA IP from Blizzard? If so, don’t hold your breath. During Activision Blizzard’s earnings call, Chief Operating Officer Coddy Johnson confirmed that the company os expecting “lower financial performance” this year.

Comparing this year to 2018, Johnson commented that Blizzard released World of Warcraft: Battle of Azeroth last year, compared to this year which has no “major frontline release.”

We expect materially lower financial performance this year. 2018 benefited from the release of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, whereas we are not planning a major frontline release for Blizzard in 2019. And Blizzard exited 2018 with softness for its in-game revenues that will take time to stabilize and return to growth. While these factors will weigh on Blizzard’s financials this year, looking further ahead, Blizzard’s pipeline of PC, console and mobile content is richer than ever and we expect a significant addition of development resources to accelerate the pace of delivery over time. – Coddy Johnson, Activision Blizzard Chief Operating Officer

Does this mean Diablo Immortal isn’t part of this “major frontline,” or that it’ll be delayed? We can’t say for sure for now. But for those hoping to see a surprise Blizzard game come out this year, don’t get your hopes up, alright?

Source: Seeking Alpha (login required)

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 Celebration Kicks Off With New Line Up of Editions, Free Weekend Starting Tomorrow

It’s hard to believe that Rainbow Six Siege is now in its fourth year of existence. Usually, a shooter gets released, and dies down all in a span of 12 months, but not with Rainbow Six Siege. To help mark this occasion, Ubisoft has released a Rainbow Six Siege year 4 video that highlights what has happened in all these years.

Come celebrate with us as Rainbow Six Siege launches its fourth year! Thank you to our millions of fans: for spending your time with us, helping us continually improve, and for sharing your stories along the way. This Year 4 kickoff is your story. Enjoy flashbacks of past seasons and maybe a small glimpse into the future. See more at the Six Invitational finals, February 17th 2019.

In addition to the video, Ubisoft has also announced a new line up of different editions of Rainbow Six Siege. The new editions, which are listed below, can be bought today at reduced prices.

Starter Edition

The PC Starter Edition is being removed from digital stores. All current owners of the Starter Edition will be automatically upgraded to the Rainbow Six Siege Edition. For current Starter Edition owners, all progression and content previously unlocked will be carried over. By removing the Starter Edition, all new players save approximately 150 hours unlocking all base operators at the current progression system rates.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

The Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege edition provides access to all maps and content and reintroduces the progression system for unlocking all 20 Legacy operators. This edition will cost $19.99 and is available on PC.
Deluxe Edition

The Deluxe Edition includes all content from the Rainbow Six Siege Edition alongside all Year 1 Operators. This edition will be available for $29.99 on PC, $39.99 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Gold Edition

The Gold Edition provides all the benefits of the Deluxe Edition plus the Year 4 Pass, which grants early access to all 8 Year 4 Operators. Click here to discover all benefits of the Year 4 Pass. This edition will be available for $59.99 on PC, $69.99 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Ultimate Edition

The Ultimate Edition unlocks all Operators in-game through the end of Year 3, as well as the benefits of the Year 4 Pass (Operators included). This version grants access to all 52 existing Operators, including every DLC Operator.Click here to discover all benefits of the Year 4 Pass. This editions will be available for $99.99 on PC, $109.99 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Finally, Ubisoft has also announced a free weekend for Rainbow Six Siege, which starts tomorrow, February 14, and will lats until February 17! Same as before, if you tried the game during the free weekend, buying the game will carryover your progress.

Those looking forward to Rainbow Six Siege Year 4 content, Ubisoft will be unveiling it this February 17 at the Six Invitational.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Digital The Division 2 Pre-Orders on PC Will Come With an Extra Ubisoft Game for Free and Here Are the Choices

Were you part of The Division 2 private beta? Did you dig it enough to pre-order it? Are you playing it on PC? If so, Ubisoft has sweetened the pot a tad to nudge would-be The Division 2 PC pre-order buyers to take the plunge as it’s giving away a Ubisoft game for free!

This promo applies to PC digital buyers regardless if you get the Standard, Gold or Ultimate Edition. The free games are: Watch Dogs 2, Ghost Recon Wildlands, or Far Cry Primal. Those who want to avail of the promo have until march 31, 2019 to choose their free digital game, which they can access via Uplay on March 15, 2019.

Players can pre-order via the Epic Games Store, or Ubi’s own digital store.

If you want to try the game before pre-ordering, an open beta for The Division 2 has been announced, and it starts March 1 on all platforms (PS4, Xbox One, PC).

Will this be enough for you to pre-order it on PC? Let’s hope console gamers have something similar come their way soon as well.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Next Operation Confirmed by Activision to Start February 19

While Treyarch has already mentioned that a new patch is dropping for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 that will not only bring balance changes to all modes, but even a new Operation, we don’t know exactly when it will drop other than sometime this month.

Thanks to Activision’s earnings call, we now know the exact date! According to Activision president Rob Kostich, the Black Ops 4 next Operation starts February 19!

Our next event on February 19 will be what we believe is our biggest and best in-game event and it’s going to have significant updates across all modes and we’re looking forward to see how that lands and resonates with the community.

While not confirmed if this date will be for all platforms, chances are it’ll be exclusive to the PS4 first, given Activision’s deal with Sony that grants the PS4 seven days exclusive access before the content is available on Xbox One and PC.

As for what we’ll actually see, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe a new Specialist? New weapons? We’re going to get new gun camos and character skins most likely, but let’s hope there’s more than just that.

In other Black Ops 4 news, Treyarch has rolled out a server-side update yesterday that introduced new playlists! Activision has also confirmed in its earnings call that BO4 sales under-performed in the second half of the quarter.

Source: Seeking Alpha (login required)

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Alex Co

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Red Dead Online Next Patch Set for February 26, and Here’s What to Expect

Rockstar Games has announced that a new title update is set to hit Red Dead Redemption 2’s online multiplayer component, Red Dead Online. Set to drop this February 26, the Red Dead Online next patch will include new features, gameplay fixes and more.

Player Visibility

As part of our response to community feedback on how to minimize certain types of destructive player behavior, we’ve made some changes to the way player blips will appear on the map.

Firstly, we’re reducing the visibility of blips over long distances – your map position won’t display to other players unless you are nearby (within 150 meters) and if you are slightly further away you will only appear when firing your weapon.  Players in other towns or regions, for example, won’t be visible. This prevents players from being repeatedly targeted across the map at long distances.

We’re also introducing a new system that highlights overly aggressive players. If your style of play becomes more hostile, your map position (and the position of your Posse members) will become more visible to other players with a progressively darkening dot that incrementally shifts from blue to dark red. Your visibility increases through bad deeds such as attacking and killing other players or their horses outside of a structured mode, Free Roam Mission, event or competition, and the shorter the time between bad acts, the more your visibility increases. Shift back to a more righteous path and your visibility will fade over time.

We’re also introducing Posse-wide Parleys and improving Feuds. You’ll soon be able to initiate Parley that applies to your attacker’s entire Posse after just a single kill. Alternatively, if you’d rather challenge your opponent, you can initiate a Feud, Posse Feud or Leader Feud after one kill, quickly turning a dispute into a timed mini-deathmatch for rival players to fight out amongst themselves in Free Roam, earning points for each kill on the opposing player.

Bounty Hunters & Law Balancing

At the same time, players who have racked up high bounties will have a chance to be beset by NPC Bounty Hunters who will attempt to kill them and collect their reward.

Criminal behavior will have bounty values and honor consequences that scale based on the severity of the crime. For example, killing another player can incur a higher bounty, while assaulting townsfolk or animal cruelty could give you a lesser bounty if the crime is reported, while lower level crimes like looting and ransacking will only decrease your honor.

If your bounty exceeds a certain threshold and Bounty Hunters take notice, you will be wanted dead and alerted to their pursuit. The higher your bounty, the greater your value and the more difficult the pursuit becomes for you and your Posse.

Daily Challenges

We will also be adding a variety of Daily Challenges to take on across the Red Dead Online Beta. Complete individual objectives that cover every aspect of life on the frontier to earn Gold Nuggets and XP. Challenges will range from foraging for herbs, selling items at a Fence, hunting and skinning animals, clearing hideouts, winning Feuds and so much more. These Daily Challenges will continue to expand and evolve over time bringing specialty challenges and rewards, streak bonuses and more.

Other Fixes and More

Your feedback has been invaluable so please keep it coming. In addition to these updates we are planning to address several additional changes based on community feedback received thus far – select weapons will be re-balanced including the Varmint Rifle, which will have its accuracy brought more in line with other longarm weapons ;  voice chat will be reduced to work at closer proximity, and while fixes to horse cargo are numerous and ongoing we plan to introduce some improvements to making pelts and carcasses more persistent after death or respawning.

In other Red Dead Redemption 2 news, parent company of Rockstar Games, Take-Two, has announced that the game has already shipped over 23 million units, which is above the company’s targets.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Battlefield V Update Today Now Live, File Sizes and Tweaks Not in Patch Notes Revealed

It’s here, Battlefield V players! The Battlefield 5 update today is now live! It’s rolling out now foe each platform, and there’s a ton of changes in it.

Here’s how big each file is:

  • PC: 7.47GB
  • PS4: 4GB
  • Xbox One: 5.2GB

Here’s the full Battlefield 5 update patch notes (Note that there are stuff changed in the game from the patch that are NOT included in the patch notes as confirmed by DICE):

Netcode / TTK / TTD Improvements

  • Added a new system that will ensure consistency between TTK (Time to Kill) and TTD (Time to Death) regardless of the network performance issues (high latency, jitter, packet loss, etc.) encountered by players. With this change, the damage sequence from first bullet to last bullet hit will always properly be paced over time and will avoid bundling of damage (super- bullets).
  • Increased the amount of damage updates that can happen in a single packet. This will ensure that the damage is sent to the player as fast as possible and avoid very delayed damage from weapons like shotguns.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the client to receive an incorrect amount of damage that would get corrected by the server shortly after. In some cases, the health correction for the client would only happen when a new damage update happens, which led to a desynced state where the player would try to self-heal or interact with other healing sources unsuccessfully.
  • Fixed an issue where the player’s health would wrongly update due to incorrect high frequency prioritization. This would commonly happen if there were a lot of players in the area. This issue could present itself when, for example, players tried to heal themselves, but no health was applied when the health pouch was used.
  • Fixed an issue where players still could take bullets damage for too long from a player that was recently killed, especially if that player had high latency. When the player is now confirmed killed on the server, damage from that player will be rejected. This change will not affect grenades, rockets and other projectiles that are not bullets.
  • Improved the visual replication of projectiles. This will ensure a more consistent directional damage feedback and will increase the accuracy of directional hit indicators.
  • Improved the HUD health updates when taking damage.
  • Fixed an issue where camera shakes would get delayed. This impacted how fast the player could read the damage feedback.
  • Made several improvements to vaultable object detection.

Vehicles

  • Fixed an exploit where players could destroy their own vehicles to gain points.
  • The Blenheim Mk IF and Stuka B-1 now properly use “flight zoom radius” settings for the minimap.
  • Fixed an issue with the Flakpanzer AA which caused it to deal an unintended amount of damage to airplanes when using the default four-barrel gun.
  • The AA gun barrels on the Valentine AA tank now follow the movement properly when the user is aiming in zoomed-in mode.
  • The Blenheim MK IF and Blenheim MKI is again able to get more ammo when flying through the reload checkpoint for their primary weapon.
  • In Single Player, the hit boxes for planes have been increased during the Under No Flag War Story, in the section when the player uses the Flak 38.
  • The resupply icon is now properly displayed for the Sturmtiger when players are in first person perspective in the resupply area.
  • The Churchill Mk VII Tank now takes damage as intended when getting hit on the front sides and rear.
  • Increased the velocity and drag of all tank shells. The shells travel faster in short encounters but have similar ballistic curves and velocity at distance. This makes tank fights at mid range feel more powerful and immediate, without enabling tank sniping at long range. Additionally, this creates a larger gap between HE and AP shell ballistics, making AP shells easier to aim at longer ranges.
  • Increased the armor value of heavy tanks by 25% against tank cannons. The Tiger and Churchill were outmatched by upgraded medium tanks, and generally were not survivable enough against threats to justify their lower speed and maneuverability.
  • Increased the damage values of all armor-piercing specialized shells by 30%. These shells rely upon hits from good angle far more than the basic HE shells. Their damage values were too low to compensate for the angle damage, making them less effective than HE shells in many situations. AP shells should now be a better choice than HE shells when fighting tanks and making good shots, but a worse choice if the angle of attack is poor.
  • Increased the damage of all tank shells versus infantry by 12%. This should make the tank shells properly lethal against infantry who are crouched, prone, or sprinting.
  • Slightly reduced the splash damage of the PIAT against infantry, especially at close ranges.
  • Fixed several vehicles which took more than the intended amount of damage when a shell ricocheted off their armor: Panzer 38t, Churchill Crocodile, Halftracks, Panzer IV, Staghound, and Tiger.
  • Reduced the damage of the Churchill Mk VII Howitzer upgrade against Vehicles. This shell should be highly effective against infantry, and the lethal potential of the shell against infantry is unchanged. For vehicles, the HESH projectile is still highly effective against all targets, and thus is now more attractive as a Specialization in the tree.
  • Increased the amount of aim assist on vehicles to be equal to the soldier aim assist.
  • The BK37 now detonates when hitting tanks, even at very poor angles. This increases the damage done versus tanks for these poor angle shots.
  • Increased the burn time of the flares dropped by airplanes and launched by tanks to be equal to the Recon’s spotting flare.
  • Spawning into the Panzer 38T on a squad mate will now have a smoother transition with less camera clipping issues.
  • Fixed a bug which would hinder players from entering a vehicle if Dynamite was placed exactly on the top of the entry indicator of a vehicle.
  • It’s no longer possible to danger ping a vehicle through smoke.
  • Improved tank tracks on terrain to look better after multiple tanks have driven over the same area.
  • Ragdolls now properly disappear after a player has redeployed after getting killed in a seat of a vehicle.

Weapons, Gadgets, and Specializations

  • Adjusted the weapon settle sway animation when moving from hip fire to ADS to better match the actual accuracy transition. The sight will now settle in place faster.
  • Fixed an issue where in some rare cases the Medic would be unable to self-heal.
  • The Turner SMLE will now show the soldier reloading the weapon by properly adding bullet by bullet.
  • Added the missing sight rewards for the Zk-383’s progression.
  • Fixed a bug with the bipod which enabled players to mount it mid-air next to walls.
  • Sniper decoys can no longer be placed upon each other to reach unintended areas.
  • Fixed an issue where Spawn Beacons would snap onto surfaces above the player (trees etc.).
  • Greatly improved the detection of areas where players are allowed to deploy Spawn Beacons.
  • Greatly improved the detection of obstacles between the player and the potential Spawn Beacon.
  • Disabled placement of Spawn Beacons under water.
  • Reduced the maximum distance at which a player is allowed to deploy a Spawn Beacon to 1,35m instead of 2m to reduce conflicts with obstacles between the player and the “potential Spawn Beacon”.
  • On the Practice Range, all parts of the MG42 weapon are now visible.
  • Fixed a bug where the player’s weapons sometimes would become invisible when exiting a vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue when using an ammo pouch which could result in the animation showing a health pouch instead or vice versa.
  • Fixed a rare bug which could result in players being unable to reload the KE7 if they, with exact timing, activated aim down sights when the last bullet in the magazine was fired.
  • Mines placed by your team will no longer explode if you drive over them with a vehicle that has a towable attached.
  • The Zk-383 magazine is no longer misaligned when reloading viewed from third person.
  • Fixed a bug where, after using Squad Reinforcements, the squad radio would not de-equip.
  • The Tanker and Pilot classes no longer build Fortifications faster than the Support class with the engineer Combat Role.
  • The overheat effect on machine guns is no longer misaligned in third person.
  • Players are no longer able to aim down sight with the Squad Reinforcement binoculars which was causing a black mesh to block the player’s view.
  • Fixed an issue where Ammo and Health crates could sometimes fall through the game world.
  • Spawning on the Spawn Beacon now makes you face the proper direction (towards the beacon).

Weapon balance

Shotgun Slugs

  • Increased two-hit kill range to 30 m (was 25 m) and increased one headshot kill range to 50 m (was 35 m) when using the Solid Slug specialization. Slugs were a bit disappointing in terms of damage over distance, so we slowed down their damage drop-off.

PIAT • Reduced reload time to 2.75 s (was 2.9 s) and increased reload threshold to 0.6 (was 0.5).

The PIAT’s reload timer was slightly longer than the animation looked, and it was possible to skip parts of the reload time by doing a weapon swap.

KE7 • Increased initial vertical recoil to 0.7 (was 0.65), decreasing to 0.52 (was 0.5) after four shots.

  • Increased horizontal recoil to 0.48 (was 0.45).
  • Changed recoil pattern. The KE7 was still slightly too controllable for its rate of fire, so we increased recoil across the board.

Turner SMLE

  • Reduced maximum damage to 40 (was 45).

M1944

  • Reduced maximum damage to 40 (was 45).
  • Reduced range at which one head and one body shot is lethal to 30 m (was 35 m).

Gewehr 1-5

  • Reduced maximum damage to 36 (was 40).
  • Reduced range at which one head and one body shot is lethal to 10 m (was 30 m).

These semi-autos had a very high chance to get a kill with only two hits on a wounded target, which seems unnecessary given their good base TTK. Additionally, the Gewehr 1-5 was extremely strong up to 30 meters whenever you landed one headshot, so we reduced this range to 10 meters.

Zk-383

  • Increased horizontal recoil to 0.765 (was 0.68) when using the Light Bolt Specialization. With the increased rate of fire, the Zk-383 was a bit too accurate compared to the M1928A1 considering the flexibility from being able to use the bipod.

Bayonet

  • Removed damage reduction during bayonet charge, added a 1.3 sprint speed multiplier. This brings the behavior of bayonet charge in line with BattlefieldTM 1.

Maps and Modes

  • Frontlines – Fixed an issue where some maps had no constructible Fortifications.
  • Fjell 652 – Fixed an exploit where players could stand on the cliff face when they should have been out of the combat area.
  • Fjell 652 – Players can once again build all kinds of Fortifications when playing Frontlines.
  • Devastation – Fixed an issue where players could get stuck or fall through the ground in the library area.
  • Devastation – Fixed collision on multiple places to prevent players from using map exploits.
  • Devastation – Fixed an occluder that was sticking out.
  • Devastation – Fixed some collision to stop people from getting stuck.
  • Devastation – Added a ladder Fortification to the library.
  • Devastation – Moved a health station in the library to not clip with another asset.
  • Devastation – Added collision to allow people to easier access the second floor of the library.
  • Fjell 652 – Fixed a rock that was unvaultable near Flag E on Conquest.
  • Aerodrome – On Breakthrough, fixed an issue which resulted in players getting spawned outside of the combat area.
  • Panzerstorm – Fixed a floating stationary anti-air gun.
  • Panzerstorm – Improved the transitions between weather states.
  • Panzerstorm – Improved the borders on the deploy screen when playing Conquest to show neutral borders more accurately.
  • Panzerstorm – Fixed some floating Fortifications.
  • Panzerstorm – Borders on the deploy screen are now easier to see if the fog weather state is active.
  • Arras – Spawn Beacons placed by the church tower now properly get destroyed when the church tower gets destroyed.
  • Arras – The hedgerow collision has been tweaked to reduce the chance of projectiles incorrectly hitting invisible collision.
  • Narvik – Turrets and cannons can now be rebuilt and repaired on this map.
  • Hamada – Players are now able to control the free camera in spectator mode when switching between table top to free camera mode.
  • Rotterdam – Fixed an issue with a ladder where players were able to reach an unintended area below the water.
  • Rotterdam – Made it easier to climb out of the water near the B flag on Conquest.
  • Rotterdam – Players are no longer able to climb to the rooftop located near point D on Conquest.
  • Rotterdam – Fixed some issues with the combat area and its collision where previously you could drive through backdrop houses with a tank.
  • Rotterdam – Adjusted terrain a tiny bit to prevent players from glitching below it.
  • Rotterdam – Added collision to prevent people from climbing on houses around the D flag.
  • Practice Range – Decreased the explosion size of the skeets as they could block the view of the other skeets.
  • Aerodrome – Fixed a spawn point on Frontlines where players could deploy out of bounds in a tank when playing as Axis.
  • Aerodrome – Players will no longer jump high into the air when vaulting over bomb cart carrier after vaulting over the railing on the balcony just straight above it in the airplane hangar.
  • Practice range – Fixed a bug where it was not possible to switch to another weapon after using the M30 Drilling.
  • The Last Tiger War Story – Fixed an issue where players could end up in an infinite loading screen after the last cinematic in the story had ended.
  • The in-game chat has been disabled during the Final Stand game mode to hinder players from exposing the position of players.

UI/HUD/Options/Assignments

  • The Frontlines tutorial video now plays when players go into the Frontlines menu for the first time.
  • Under advanced search, Frontlines no longer appears as “Frontlines Small” and is once again able to find matching servers.
  • Fixed the estimated times duration to be more accurate on the multiplayer mode selection screens.
  • Fixed an issue where the health pouch reminder indicator could be visible while the player was in a vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue when users managed to complete two Tides of War nodes within the same round which caused the Tides of War widget on the pause menu to not display the next nodes.
  • The indicator that shows when a player needs a health pack from a Medic will no longer show if the player already is in the process of healing up.
  • The background now properly updates when players go in and out of the “Progression” screens as well as the “Armory” screen.
  • Fixed an issue where the UI sounds would not play in the vehicle customization screen.
  • The Social menu now shows if your friends are playing on the Practice Range.
  • When a squad leader with a squad tries to join a full server and ends up in the server queue, the squad will now follow the squad leader if they choose to leave the queue and join another server.
  • Players will no longer get a Company Coin purchase confirmation screen in the Specialization screen for upgrades that they have yet not earned.
  • Fixed an issue in the Armory where some offers that were sets did not appear to be sets.
  • Fixed an issue where the Tides of War widget on the pause menu would not show when players transitioned between rounds.
  • The Tides of War in-game progression notifications are now shown more consistently.
  • The total weapons number shown in “Your Company” on the replace weapon button have been removed.
  • Fixed a bug where the time spent in vehicles was not tracking properly when spawning into them.
  • Fixed an issue with the Options screen where the page would auto scroll back to the last used option when changing any slider options.
  • Platoon tags now show up in the Profile section.
  • Changing characters will no longer change the equipped cosmetic items but will stay the same as the user has selected.
  • Soldiers and vehicles in the frontend should no longer show until all its assets are fully loaded in on first boot.
  • Fixed an issue which made it difficult to see some facepaints when applied in the Armory.
  • Added an auto focuser to Spectator Mode’s free cam and player view director modes. This can be found under the depth of field settings in the Camera tab. It can be set to either “Point” or “Player” mode. In point mode, the focus distance will be automatically adjusted to keep the selected point in focus. A point can be selected by clicking anywhere with the mouse cursor, or on consoles by aiming the camera and pressing A on the Xbox One or X on the PlayStation® 4. In player mode, the focus will be kept on the player who is currently selected.

Stability

  • Multiple crash fixes and stability improvements.

PC-Specific Improvements

  • This update includes further optimizations to DXR ray tracing performance and introduces NVIDIA DLSS to Battlefield V, which uses deep learning to improve game performance while maintaining visual quality.
  • Rotterdam – The deploy screen has been improved when using a widescreen monitor, and no longer displays any low-resolution textures or unintended backdrop buildings.
  • Spectator mode – added key bindings for increasing and decreasing field of view in free cam and player view director modes. Defaults are PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN.

Xbox One-Specific Improvements

  • Fixed an issue which would previously stop Battlefield V from properly resuming from an “instant on” state.

PlayStation 4-Specific Improvements

  • Fixed an issue which would previously stop Battlefield V from properly resuming from the console “stand-by” state.

Here are some of the changes expected today that aren’t in the patch notes (via Jaqub Ajmal):

Battlefield V – February Update – A few additions that will not be in the update notes but that we want you to be aware of. We have a potential fix in this update for the performance issue that some players are running into on Playstation 4. While we had problem reproducing this

issue at will, we think that our fix should solve the issue. Let us know if it works for you once the new update is released.

We also have a potential fix for those players that sometimes get stuck on the loading screen between matches, Again very difficult to reproduce but we think that our fix should work, so please let us know if it works for you or not when you get the new update.

Last but not least, the February update has some improvements to visibility. has more details on that, which he will share. But let us know what you think about it once you have had the chance to try the new update for a few hours once it’s released.

Make sure to bookmark our Battlefield V hub page for the latest BFV news.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Call of Duty 2019: Activision Expects Sales to be Lower Than Black Ops 4, Game “Rooted” in Franchise’s Most Important History

While there’s no news yet on what Infinity Ward is working on for this year’s Call of Duty, there have been rumors that it’ll be Modern Warfare 4, and not Ghosts 2. It seems that whatever the studio reveals, we know it’ll be somewhat connected to the franchise or the brand.

During Activision’s earnings call today, Dennis Durkin, CFO and President of Emerging Businesses at Activision, confirmed that this year’s COD will be “rooted in some of the franchise’s most important history,” which really feels like he’s referring to the Modern Warfare series.

 We will have another major launch for the franchise that will appeal broadly to both existing and new fans with what I can only describe now as a great step forward in the franchise that is also rooted in some of the franchise’s most important history. – Dennis Durkin, CFO and President of Emerging Businesses

However, even if it does turn out to be Modern Warfare 4, the publisher isn’t expecting it to beat Black Ops 4’s sales nunbers (which the studio has also confirmed that it failed to meet sales expectations for the second half of the quarter).

We have high expectations for the game, but for modeling purposes, we are conservatively planning on upfront Q4 unit sales to be lower than Black Ops 4. – Dennis Durkin, CFO and President of Emerging Businesses

As someone tired of all the sci-fi and weird stuff we see in competitive multiplayer first-person shooter these days, I’m really hoping we get Modern Warfare 4; preferably one that plays like its old school counterparts. What we do know now is that this year’s COD will have a campaign, and a “huge” multiplayer world.

What are you expecting to see from this year’s Call of Duty? Do you think it won’t beat Black Ops 4 sales figures if it is indeed Modern Warfare 4?

Source: Seeking Alpha (login required)

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Sales in Second Half of the Quarter Failed to Meet Expectations

While Activision has announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 earned over half a billion dollars in its opening weekend, it seems the game isn’t performing up to Activision’s expectations.

In Activision’s earnings call today, the publisher mentioned that while Black Ops 4 sales trumped Black Ops 3 sales in its launch quarter, sales of Black Ops 4 in the second half of the quarter was below the publisher’s expectations.

Black Ops 4 sold through more units than Black Ops 3 in its launch quarter with PC units more than tripling and engagement was strong with average hours per player increasing versus Black Ops 3 as players enjoyed Blackout, Multiplayer and Zombies. We also saw a significant shift to digital this the year, with full game downloads representing over 40% of console sell-through versus approximately 30% for World War II. However, sales of Black Ops 4 in the second half of the quarter were below our outlook, due to weaker-than-expected retail demand lower-than-anticipated pricing and other promotional activities that didn’t meet expectations. Although Black Ops 4 in-game net bookings started off slower than expected following the introduction of the new in-game system, we were encouraged by the response we saw when we introduced more compelling content with the second season events in late Q4. – Coddy Johnson, Activision COO

Is this news surprising to you? Given how big Black Ops 2 and BO3 was, I’m not surprised that any COD game could live up to ’em.

In other Black Ops 4 news, there’s a new playlist out now, and TDM and Kill Confirmed score limits have been increased permanently.

Source: Seeking Alpha (login require)

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Alex Co

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Activision: Destiny Not Meeting “Our Financial Expectations,” States Bungie Tied Up Internal Resources

Possibly one of the biggest news to come out early on this year is the announcement that Activision was parting ways with Bungie and the studio’s Destiny franchise, which was shocking since a lot of people (including me) assumed Destiny was pulling in great money for Activision.

During today’s Activision earnings call, Activision shed some more light on the recent break up, and long story short: the Destiny franchise wasn’t meeting the publisher’s financial expectations, and that the franchise tied up Activision developers.

Brandon Ross (BTIG): Hi. Thanks for taking the question. I was just hoping you could provide a little more color on your rationale for parting ways with Bungie and the Destiny franchise and kind of what happened with that game. Thanks.

Coddy Johnson (Activision): Our decision was reach the mutual agreement with Bungie to sell back the commercial rights. And for us, at least, it was rooted really in our strategy overall. First, as you know, we didn’t own the underlying Destiny IP and we do for all our other major franchises, which we think is not just a differentiator for us in the industry, but also controlling the underlying IP gives us the chance to move with new experiences and new engagement models which also come with new revenue streams and of course structurally higher economics when you own the IP.

And that leaves to probably the second factor in our decision process, which is Destiny, it is highly critically acclaimed, high quality content, but it was not meeting our financial expectations. As we went through at the end of the year our financial planning for 2019, it indicated that Destiny would not have been a material contributor in operating income to our business.

And third, we had internal resources supplementing Bungie’s work, and that means they’re tying up one of our scarcest resources, which is developer time, which now under the arrangement we have reached, will be freed up after short transition period. So late last year when we’re exploring all our options on Destiny, in November after earnings release we learned that Bungie was willing to acquire our rights and we engage discussions with them and ultimately wound up consummating the deal in late December.

What’s surprising here is, most people might have assumed that Destiny was raking in a ton of cash for Activision (and Bungie) given the franchise’s Season Pass model, and how it integrated microtransactions. Apparently, whatever revenue it was generating wasn’t enough for Activision.

Do you think Activision made a mistake in letting Bungie walk away with the Destiny IP or did the publisher make the right move?

Source: Seeking Alpha (login required)

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Alex Co

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Call of Duty 2019 to Have a Campaign Confirmed, “Huge” Multiplayer & Will Feature Co-Op Mode

While Infinity Ward seems to be teasing Call of Duty 2019 already early on in the year, the official title or any specific game details have been revealed just yet — at least until today.

During Activision’s earnings call, the publisher revealed a few key details regarding this year’s Call of Duty, which includes confirmation that we’ll be getting a campaign, co-op “experiences” and that this year’s game will have a “huge and expansive” multiplayer world.

Here’s what Rob Kostich, president of Activision had to say:

It’s going to feature an entirely new campaign, a huge and expansive multiplayer world and of course some fun co-op gameplay. But from day one, we’re going to be really excited, every time we’ve shown this title internally it’s just created a ton of buzz. Now I wish I could tell you a lot more right now, but unfortunately you’re going to have to wait, but I think it’s going to be really worth it. We can’t wait to share it with the world. So thanks for the question Ray.

Additionally, Bobby Kotick, Activision CEO, claims that he’s never seen this much enthusiasm for a new Call of Duty internally within the company.

And I’ll just say, you know, when you look over the last decade of Call of Duty content, I think that Rob is underselling what the internal enthusiasm is. I haven’t seen this much enthusiasm that I can remember almost ever. So, we’re excited about the fall release of Call of Duty content. 

In case you didn’t know, last year’s Call of Duty title — Black Ops 4 — eschewed a campaign in favor of a battle royale mode, which was a highly controversial move. There’s no mention if we’ll be getting a battle royale mode for this year’s COD, but at least a Call of Duty 2019 campaign is confirmed, no?

Do you think this year’s COD having a campaign is the right move? What do you want to see in terms of co-op experiences? Sound off in the comments below.

Source: Seeking Alpha (login required)

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Alex Co

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Game Settings Update Today Rolls Out New TDM Score, Arms Race Playlist and More

As mentioned yesterday, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will get a bunch of new playlists today, which include Arms Race though it’s available on PS4 only for the first seven days.

Over on Twitter, the official Treyarch account announced the new stuff added in the Black Ops 4 game settings update today.

• TDM score limit raised to 100
• Kill Confirmed score limit raised to 80
• Arms Race TDM (PS4)
• Endurance Chaos Moshpit (Xbox One/PC)
• Close Quarters Frenzy LTM in Blackout (PS4)
• Ambush LTM week 2 in Blackout (Xbox One and PC)

Don’t forget, there’s a major patch dropping before February is over, which will introduce a new Operations in multiplayer, a new balance pass for weapons and more.

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Alex Co

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Activision Blizzard Lays Off 8% Percent of Workforce, Estimated at Around 775 Employees

While games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 rake in billions of dollars for Activision, it seems that’s not enough to stave off layoffs at the mega-publisher. During its quarterly earnings call today, the publisher confirmed that a good chunk of its workforce has been laid off.

The Activision Blizzard layoffs are marked at eight percent, which puts it at 775 employees. This move is part of a restructuring where the studio will “de-prioritize” disappointing projects. Further reporting by Kotaku mentions that the branches hit the hardest include Blizzard’s non-game development staff such as eSports and publishing. Activision employees will be focusing on “key franchises” moving forward which include Call of Duty, Cany Crush Saga, Overwatch, Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo.

Kotaku has managed to obtain a note from Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, which confirms the layoffs, and promised a “comprehensive severance package.”

“Over the last few years, many of our non-development teams expanded to support various needs. Currently staffing levels on some teams are out of proportion with our current release slate. This means we need to scale down some areas of our organization. I’m sorry to share that we will be parting ways with some of our colleagues in the U.S. today. In our regional offices, we anticipate similar evaluations, subject to local requirements.”

According to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, the publisher’s financial results for 2018 “were the best” in the publisher’s history, though it still failed to realize their “full potential.”

“While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn’t realize our full potential. To help us reach our full potential, we have made a number of important leadership changes. These changes should enable us to achieve the many opportunities our industry affords us, especially with our powerful owned franchises, our strong commercial capabilities, our direct digital connections to hundreds of millions of players, and our extraordinarily talented employees.”

We wish everyone affected the best of luck, and hope they find new jobs soon.

Source: Seeking Alpha (login required), Kotaku

 

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Alex Co

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Battlefield V Upcoming Update Patch Notes Released, Will Include Combined Arms, Return of Rush & More

While we already know that the Battlefield V upcoming update will have frag grenade changes, vaulting fixes and more, we now know that it’s set for tomorrow, and best news for today? DICE has released the Battlefield 5 upcoming update patch notes!

Called the Battlefield 5 Lightning Strikes update #3, the full patch notes can be seen here in this .pdf file. Now, if you’d rather read the entire thing, we’ve reformatted it for an easier read!

Netcode / TTK / TTD Improvements

  • Added a new system that will ensure consistency between TTK (Time to Kill) and TTD (Time to Death) regardless of the network performance issues (high latency, jitter, packet loss, etc.) encountered by players. With this change, the damage sequence from first bullet to last bullet hit will always properly be paced over time and will avoid bundling of damage (super- bullets).
  • Increased the amount of damage updates that can happen in a single packet. This will ensure that the damage is sent to the player as fast as possible and avoid very delayed damage from weapons like shotguns.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the client to receive an incorrect amount of damage that would get corrected by the server shortly after. In some cases, the health correction for the client would only happen when a new damage update happens, which led to a desynced state where the player would try to self-heal or interact with other healing sources unsuccessfully.
  • Fixed an issue where the player’s health would wrongly update due to incorrect high frequency prioritization. This would commonly happen if there were a lot of players in the area. This issue could present itself when, for example, players tried to heal themselves, but no health was applied when the health pouch was used.
  • Fixed an issue where players still could take bullets damage for too long from a player that was recently killed, especially if that player had high latency. When the player is now confirmed killed on the server, damage from that player will be rejected. This change will not affect grenades, rockets and other projectiles that are not bullets.
  • Improved the visual replication of projectiles. This will ensure a more consistent directional damage feedback and will increase the accuracy of directional hit indicators.
  • Improved the HUD health updates when taking damage.
  • Fixed an issue where camera shakes would get delayed. This impacted how fast the player could read the damage feedback.
  • Made several improvements to vaultable object detection.

Vehicles

  • Fixed an exploit where players could destroy their own vehicles to gain points.
  • The Blenheim Mk IF and Stuka B-1 now properly use “flight zoom radius” settings for the minimap.
  • Fixed an issue with the Flakpanzer AA which caused it to deal an unintended amount of damage to airplanes when using the default four-barrel gun.
  • The AA gun barrels on the Valentine AA tank now follow the movement properly when the user is aiming in zoomed-in mode.
  • The Blenheim MK IF and Blenheim MKI is again able to get more ammo when flying through the reload checkpoint for their primary weapon.
  • In Single Player, the hit boxes for planes have been increased during the Under No Flag War Story, in the section when the player uses the Flak 38.
  • The resupply icon is now properly displayed for the Sturmtiger when players are in first person perspective in the resupply area.
  • The Churchill Mk VII Tank now takes damage as intended when getting hit on the front sides and rear.
  • Increased the velocity and drag of all tank shells. The shells travel faster in short encounters but have similar ballistic curves and velocity at distance. This makes tank fights at mid range feel more powerful and immediate, without enabling tank sniping at long range. Additionally, this creates a larger gap between HE and AP shell ballistics, making AP shells easier to aim at longer ranges.
  • Increased the armor value of heavy tanks by 25% against tank cannons. The Tiger and Churchill were outmatched by upgraded medium tanks, and generally were not survivable enough against threats to justify their lower speed and maneuverability.
  • Increased the damage values of all armor-piercing specialized shells by 30%. These shells rely upon hits from good angle far more than the basic HE shells. Their damage values were too low to compensate for the angle damage, making them less effective than HE shells in many situations. AP shells should now be a better choice than HE shells when fighting tanks and making good shots, but a worse choice if the angle of attack is poor.
  • Increased the damage of all tank shells versus infantry by 12%. This should make the tank shells properly lethal against infantry who are crouched, prone, or sprinting.
  • Slightly reduced the splash damage of the PIAT against infantry, especially at close ranges.
  • Fixed several vehicles which took more than the intended amount of damage when a shell ricocheted off their armor: Panzer 38t, Churchill Crocodile, Halftracks, Panzer IV, Staghound, and Tiger.
  • Reduced the damage of the Churchill Mk VII Howitzer upgrade against Vehicles. This shell should be highly effective against infantry, and the lethal potential of the shell against infantry is unchanged. For vehicles, the HESH projectile is still highly effective against all targets, and thus is now more attractive as a Specialization in the tree.
  • Increased the amount of aim assist on vehicles to be equal to the soldier aim assist.
  • The BK37 now detonates when hitting tanks, even at very poor angles. This increases the damage done versus tanks for these poor angle shots.
  • Increased the burn time of the flares dropped by airplanes and launched by tanks to be equal to the Recon’s spotting flare.
  • Spawning into the Panzer 38T on a squad mate will now have a smoother transition with less camera clipping issues.
  • Fixed a bug which would hinder players from entering a vehicle if Dynamite was placed exactly on the top of the entry indicator of a vehicle.
  • It’s no longer possible to danger ping a vehicle through smoke.
  • Improved tank tracks on terrain to look better after multiple tanks have driven over the same area.
  • Ragdolls now properly disappear after a player has redeployed after getting killed in a seat of a vehicle.

Weapons, Gadgets, and Specializations

  • Adjusted the weapon settle sway animation when moving from hip fire to ADS to better match the actual accuracy transition. The sight will now settle in place faster.
  • Fixed an issue where in some rare cases the Medic would be unable to self-heal.
  • The Turner SMLE will now show the soldier reloading the weapon by properly adding bullet by bullet.
  • Added the missing sight rewards for the Zk-383’s progression.
  • Fixed a bug with the bipod which enabled players to mount it mid-air next to walls.
  • Sniper decoys can no longer be placed upon each other to reach unintended areas.
  • Fixed an issue where Spawn Beacons would snap onto surfaces above the player (trees etc.).
  • Greatly improved the detection of areas where players are allowed to deploy Spawn Beacons.
  • Greatly improved the detection of obstacles between the player and the potential Spawn Beacon.
  • Disabled placement of Spawn Beacons under water.
  • Reduced the maximum distance at which a player is allowed to deploy a Spawn Beacon to 1,35m instead of 2m to reduce conflicts with obstacles between the player and the “potential Spawn Beacon”.
  • On the Practice Range, all parts of the MG42 weapon are now visible.
  • Fixed a bug where the player’s weapons sometimes would become invisible when exiting a vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue when using an ammo pouch which could result in the animation showing a health pouch instead or vice versa.
  • Fixed a rare bug which could result in players being unable to reload the KE7 if they, with exact timing, activated aim down sights when the last bullet in the magazine was fired.
  • Mines placed by your team will no longer explode if you drive over them with a vehicle that has a towable attached.
  • The Zk-383 magazine is no longer misaligned when reloading viewed from third person.
  • Fixed a bug where, after using Squad Reinforcements, the squad radio would not de-equip.
  • The Tanker and Pilot classes no longer build Fortifications faster than the Support class with the engineer Combat Role.
  • The overheat effect on machine guns is no longer misaligned in third person.
  • Players are no longer able to aim down sight with the Squad Reinforcement binoculars which was causing a black mesh to block the player’s view.
  • Fixed an issue where Ammo and Health crates could sometimes fall through the game world.
  • Spawning on the Spawn Beacon now makes you face the proper direction (towards the beacon).

Weapon balance

Shotgun Slugs

  • Increased two-hit kill range to 30 m (was 25 m) and increased one headshot kill range to 50 m (was 35 m) when using the Solid Slug specialization. Slugs were a bit disappointing in terms of damage over distance, so we slowed down their damage drop-off.

PIAT Reduced reload time to 2.75 s (was 2.9 s) and increased reload threshold to 0.6 (was 0.5).

The PIAT’s reload timer was slightly longer than the animation looked, and it was possible to skip parts of the reload time by doing a weapon swap.

KE7 Increased initial vertical recoil to 0.7 (was 0.65), decreasing to 0.52 (was 0.5) after four shots.

  • Increased horizontal recoil to 0.48 (was 0.45).
  • Changed recoil pattern. The KE7 was still slightly too controllable for its rate of fire, so we increased recoil across the board.

Turner SMLE

  • Reduced maximum damage to 40 (was 45).

M1944

  • Reduced maximum damage to 40 (was 45).
  • Reduced range at which one head and one body shot is lethal to 30 m (was 35 m).

Gewehr 1-5

  • Reduced maximum damage to 36 (was 40).
  • Reduced range at which one head and one body shot is lethal to 10 m (was 30 m).

These semi-autos had a very high chance to get a kill with only two hits on a wounded target, which seems unnecessary given their good base TTK. Additionally, the Gewehr 1-5 was extremely strong up to 30 meters whenever you landed one headshot, so we reduced this range to 10 meters.

Zk-383

  • Increased horizontal recoil to 0.765 (was 0.68) when using the Light Bolt Specialization. With the increased rate of fire, the Zk-383 was a bit too accurate compared to the M1928A1 considering the flexibility from being able to use the bipod.

Bayonet

  • Removed damage reduction during bayonet charge, added a 1.3 sprint speed multiplier. This brings the behavior of bayonet charge in line with BattlefieldTM 1.

Maps and Modes

  • Frontlines – Fixed an issue where some maps had no constructible Fortifications.
  • Fjell 652 – Fixed an exploit where players could stand on the cliff face when they should have been out of the combat area.
  • Fjell 652 – Players can once again build all kinds of Fortifications when playing Frontlines.
  • Devastation – Fixed an issue where players could get stuck or fall through the ground in the library area.
  • Devastation – Fixed collision on multiple places to prevent players from using map exploits.
  • Devastation – Fixed an occluder that was sticking out.
  • Devastation – Fixed some collision to stop people from getting stuck.
  • Devastation – Added a ladder Fortification to the library.
  • Devastation – Moved a health station in the library to not clip with another asset.
  • Devastation – Added collision to allow people to easier access the second floor of the library.
  • Fjell 652 – Fixed a rock that was unvaultable near Flag E on Conquest.
  • Aerodrome – On Breakthrough, fixed an issue which resulted in players getting spawned outside of the combat area.
  • Panzerstorm – Fixed a floating stationary anti-air gun.
  • Panzerstorm – Improved the transitions between weather states.
  • Panzerstorm – Improved the borders on the deploy screen when playing Conquest to show neutral borders more accurately.
  • Panzerstorm – Fixed some floating Fortifications.
  • Panzerstorm – Borders on the deploy screen are now easier to see if the fog weather state is active.
  • Arras – Spawn Beacons placed by the church tower now properly get destroyed when the church tower gets destroyed.
  • Arras – The hedgerow collision has been tweaked to reduce the chance of projectiles incorrectly hitting invisible collision.
  • Narvik – Turrets and cannons can now be rebuilt and repaired on this map.
  • Hamada – Players are now able to control the free camera in spectator mode when switching between table top to free camera mode.
  • Rotterdam – Fixed an issue with a ladder where players were able to reach an unintended area below the water.
  • Rotterdam – Made it easier to climb out of the water near the B flag on Conquest.
  • Rotterdam – Players are no longer able to climb to the rooftop located near point D on Conquest.
  • Rotterdam – Fixed some issues with the combat area and its collision where previously you could drive through backdrop houses with a tank.
  • Rotterdam – Adjusted terrain a tiny bit to prevent players from glitching below it.
  • Rotterdam – Added collision to prevent people from climbing on houses around the D flag.
  • Practice Range – Decreased the explosion size of the skeets as they could block the view of the other skeets.
  • Aerodrome – Fixed a spawn point on Frontlines where players could deploy out of bounds in a tank when playing as Axis.
  • Aerodrome – Players will no longer jump high into the air when vaulting over bomb cart carrier after vaulting over the railing on the balcony just straight above it in the airplane hangar.
  • Practice range – Fixed a bug where it was not possible to switch to another weapon after using the M30 Drilling.
  • The Last Tiger War Story – Fixed an issue where players could end up in an infinite loading screen after the last cinematic in the story had ended.
  • The in-game chat has been disabled during the Final Stand game mode to hinder players from exposing the position of players.

UI/HUD/Options/Assignments

  • The Frontlines tutorial video now plays when players go into the Frontlines menu for the first time.
  • Under advanced search, Frontlines no longer appears as “Frontlines Small” and is once again able to find matching servers.
  • Fixed the estimated times duration to be more accurate on the multiplayer mode selection screens.
  • Fixed an issue where the health pouch reminder indicator could be visible while the player was in a vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue when users managed to complete two Tides of War nodes within the same round which caused the Tides of War widget on the pause menu to not display the next nodes.
  • The indicator that shows when a player needs a health pack from a Medic will no longer show if the player already is in the process of healing up.
  • The background now properly updates when players go in and out of the “Progression” screens as well as the “Armory” screen.
  • Fixed an issue where the UI sounds would not play in the vehicle customization screen.
  • The Social menu now shows if your friends are playing on the Practice Range.
  • When a squad leader with a squad tries to join a full server and ends up in the server queue, the squad will now follow the squad leader if they choose to leave the queue and join another server.
  • Players will no longer get a Company Coin purchase confirmation screen in the Specialization screen for upgrades that they have yet not earned.
  • Fixed an issue in the Armory where some offers that were sets did not appear to be sets.
  • Fixed an issue where the Tides of War widget on the pause menu would not show when players transitioned between rounds.
  • The Tides of War in-game progression notifications are now shown more consistently.
  • The total weapons number shown in “Your Company” on the replace weapon button have been removed.
  • Fixed a bug where the time spent in vehicles was not tracking properly when spawning into them.
  • Fixed an issue with the Options screen where the page would auto scroll back to the last used option when changing any slider options.
  • Platoon tags now show up in the Profile section.
  • Changing characters will no longer change the equipped cosmetic items but will stay the same as the user has selected.
  • Soldiers and vehicles in the frontend should no longer show until all its assets are fully loaded in on first boot.
  • Fixed an issue which made it difficult to see some facepaints when applied in the Armory.
  • Added an auto focuser to Spectator Mode’s free cam and player view director modes. This can be found under the depth of field settings in the Camera tab. It can be set to either “Point” or “Player” mode. In point mode, the focus distance will be automatically adjusted to keep the selected point in focus. A point can be selected by clicking anywhere with the mouse cursor, or on consoles by aiming the camera and pressing A on the Xbox One or X on the PlayStation® 4. In player mode, the focus will be kept on the player who is currently selected.

Stability

  • Multiple crash fixes and stability improvements.

PC-Specific Improvements

  • This update includes further optimizations to DXR ray tracing performance and introduces NVIDIA DLSS to Battlefield V, which uses deep learning to improve game performance while maintaining visual quality.
  • Rotterdam – The deploy screen has been improved when using a widescreen monitor, and no longer displays any low-resolution textures or unintended backdrop buildings.
  • Spectator mode – added key bindings for increasing and decreasing field of view in free cam and player view director modes. Defaults are PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN.

Xbox One-Specific Improvements

  • Fixed an issue which would previously stop Battlefield V from properly resuming from an “instant on” state.

PlayStation 4-Specific Improvements

  • Fixed an issue which would previously stop Battlefield V from properly resuming from the console “stand-by” state.

Aside from the gameplay tweaks and balance changes, the big stuff incoming with tomorrow’s patch is that we’re finally getting Combined Arms! For those not familiar, Combined Arms is the co-op experience in the game that has players working together to challenge AI-controlled enemies. It will feature solo or up to three friends in squad play, and will have eight missions in total.

Additionally, Rush, which is one of the franchise’s most favorite mode by fans, is also making a return on March 7! DICE has also announced a new Grand Operation (Feb. 21), and of course, new rewards are part of the of the five-week Lightning Strikes chapter

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PlayStation Store Sale This Week Is the 2K Publisher Sale, Here’s the Full List With Links

While we just had a PlayStation Store sale last week that featured Ubisoft-published titles, this week, we’re getting the 2K publisher sale!

Check below for the complete list of deals along with the links! Remember that the store is updating, and once the store list is finalized, we’ll mention it in the post.

Game (18) Price % Off
BioShock: The Collection $14.99 75%
Borderlands 2 VR $37.49 25%
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection $14.99 75%
Carnival Games® $19.99 50%
Mafia III $9.99 75%
Mafia III Deluxe Edition $14.99 75%
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 $14.99 50%
NBA 2K19 $19.79 67%
NBA 2K19 + NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 Bundle $26.39 67%
NBA 2K19 20th Anniversary Edition $32.99 67%
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA TOUR $24.99 50%
WWE 2K19 $19.79 67%
WWE 2K19 Digital Deluxe Edition $29.69 67%
WWE 2K19 Season Pass $14.99 50%
XCOM® 2 $14.99 75%
XCOM® 2 Collection $34.99 65%
XCOM® 2 Digital Deluxe Edition $18.74 75%
XCOM® 2: War of the Chosen $15.99 60%

There’s also a flash sale that went live last Friday, which you can check out here.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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The Division 2 Open Beta Start Date Set for March 1

As reported by us last weekend, there will indeed be a The Division 2 open beta! In a press release sent out just now by Ubisoft, the publisher announced The Division 2 open beta start date is March 1, 2019 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The Division 2 open beta will last from March 1 to March 4. No word yet on when players can pre-load he open beta client, or if private beta participants will need to download a new client. We’ve emailed Ubisoft and will update the post if and when we get a response.

Here’s the official game description straight from Ubisoft:

Led by Massive Entertainment in collaboration with seven other studios around the world*, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is the next evolution in the open-world online shooter RPG genre that the first game helped establish. Set seven months after a deadly virus was released in New York City, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 will bring players into a fractured and collapsing Washington D.C. The world is on the brink, its people living through the biggest crisis ever faced in human history. As veteran Division agents, players are the last hope against the complete fall of society as enemy factions vie for control of the city. If Washington D.C. is lost, the entire nation falls. Building upon more than two years of listening to and learnings from The Division community, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 will offer a substantial campaign that organically flows into a robust endgame, to create a cohesive and meaningful experience for all types of players.

We shared our hands-on impressions of the private beta which you can read about here.

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Alex Co

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World War Z Game Release Date Announced, Here’s What You’ll Get for Pre-Ordering

Those who like killing the undead, you can now add one more game to your list this year! The World War Z game release date has been announced for April 16, 2019 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC!

https://twitter.com/wwzthegame/status/1095321730497822720

For those who feel like plunking down the cash, pre-ordering World War Z will net you the “Lobo” weapon pack for free, which is a trio of golden weapon skins, which you can check out below. Pre-orders for World War Z begins this February 26 for all platforms.

Saber Interactive has also listed down what players can expect from the game:

World War Z is a heart-pounding coop third-person shooter for up to 4 players featuring massive swarms of hundreds of zombies. Focused on fast-paced gameplay, World War Z follows the story of a hardened few struggling together to outlive the dead.

  • Battle swarms of hundreds of zombies in gruesomely spectacular firefights
  • Coop story-driven campaigns
  • Fight other survivors in Player vs Player vs Zombies modes
  • Level 6 character classes and weapon upgrades to take on greater challenges

In case you’re wondering, the game will have a PvP mode but it’ll add zombies to the mix! Check it out here.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Anthem Live Action Short Film “Conviction” Directed by District 9 Helmer Neill Blomkamp Announced, Check Out the Teaser

In a press release, EA has announced that BioWare has partnered with director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) for “Conviction,” an Anthem live action short film! Set to premiere this February 14, 2019, a teaser is now live, which you can watch below.

The full Anthem live action short film will be available on February 14 at the Oats Studios YouTube channel. Here’s what to expect from the short film straight from EA:

In the short, people will see the player city of Fort Tarsis in the game come to life, and the freelancers that live within it. These freelancers who use Javelin exosuits, have been re-created by Neill’s team to show them in live action as they fight off the main villain and head of the evil Dominion faction, the Monitor.

In other Anthem news, don’t forget to check out the complete list of Trophies/Achievements right here. We also listed the Pilot rewards players will earn while playing.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Anthem Pilot Rewards Listed, XP & Loot Won’t Be Lost If You Get Disconnected

While the big draw in Anthem are the javelins and the abilities each one possesses, players might not know that you can customize the pilot driving these mean machines, and that they’re corresponding Anthem pilot rewards too! If you’re wondering what these Anthem pilot rewards are, wonder no more!

Below is the full list (via Reddit user sgraar)  from level 2 all the way to level 30, which is the max rank currently set by BioWare (at least for now).

 

In another progression-related note, if you played the Anthem demo and ran through one of the missions it offered, you have no doubt, earned not only XP but loots as well from fallen enemies. Now, if you’re unfortunate enough to get disconnected during this time, you might have noticed that the loot and XP you earned disappeared, which is a bummer if you’re running a Stronghold mission and suddenly got disconnected.

Fortunately, that won’t be an issue in the final game. Over on Twitter, Lead Producer Ben Irving confirmed that loot and XP obtained in a mission will be granted to the player, and that this was a bug in the demo already fixed.

In other Anthem news, don’t forget to check out the Anthem Trophies/Achievements list! BioWare has also shared an early look at the Anthem roadmap that reveals what’s coming post-launch.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Apex Legends Player Count Hit Over 25 Million, With Over 2 Million Concurrent Players, Upcoming Updates Detailed

To possibly no one’s surprise at this point, Apex Legends is still dominating the gaming scene a week after it’s been released! In a new announcement over on EA’s website, Respawn CEO Vince Zampella announced that the Apex Legends player count has now hit over 25 million! What’s more, over the weekend, the Apex Legends concurrent player count exceed over two million gamers!

There’s also a new video called the “Week One in Review,” which showcases the happenings in Apex Legends’ first week of being out.

Zampella also outlined some of the Apex Legends upcoming updates for the next few weeks:

  • First up, the Twitch Rivals Apex Legends Challenge. Sponsored by our friends at Twitch, the Rivals Apex Legends Challenge will take place this Tuesday the 12th and next Tuesday the 19th, with 48 of the biggest streamers on Twitch competing live in Apex Legends. We’ll be co-streaming all the action from our Apex Legends Twitch channel here:www.twitch.tv/playapex.
  • Then, later this week we’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day by introducing some limited-time Valentine’s Day themed loot, so all you (Apex Legends) lovers out there keep your eyes open.
  • Don’t forget, Season One kicks off in March, introducing the debut of our Battle Pass as well as new Legends, weapons, loot, and more.

Impressive, no? What’s even better is, Apex Legends seems to have reinvigorated Titanfall 2 as well, which is awesome given how fantastic TF2 is.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Next Operation Previewed This Week Along With New Playlists & Quad Feed

Getting tired with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s playlists, and current Operation?  If so, you’re in luck! Treyarch has announced that a lot of new stuff are coming to the game’s way this week — at least for PS4 owners!

There’s a Black Ops 4 new Operation preview set to drop this week, along with a quad feed weekend (2xp and 2x weapon XP in multiplayer and Zombies, 2x Merits in Blackout, and 2x Nebulium Plasma in Zombies), a new TDM variation and more!

As you can see from the tweet above, the Arms Race TDM playlist and the Close Quarters Frenzy mode are all available on the PS4 first, with Xbox One and PC getting it seven days after.

In case you’re wondering, Treyarch has also announced that a new patch is set to drop within the month, which will include a balance pass for multiplayer, and more.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.