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Complete Battlefield V January Update Patch Notes Released Ahead of Title Update

With Battlefield V’s next big patch dropping this week, DICE Producer Jaqub Ajmal has now seen it fit to share the entire Battlefield 5 January update patch notes ahead of the patch’s actual release! And yes, it seems SMGs are getting buffed (finally!).

Ajmal wasn’t lying when he said that this thing would be huge! You can check out the .pdf file right here, but if you want to see it in one go (without loading a lot), the complete reformatted list can be seen below (via Reddit user siedler084):

New Content

New Mode: Squad Conquest

Squad Conquest is a tighter and more intense version of Conquest, where two squads per team battle it out over smaller, more tactical layouts of three existing maps: Arras, Hamada, and Rotterdam. These maps all feature 16 players on two teams, three flags, spawning restricted to HQs, and limited access to vehicles. A core belief behind Squad Conquest is a restricted number of variables to allow strategy to be able to exist – you have to be able to predict player behavior and patterns, which is reflected in all three map layouts. Clear lanes and conservative combat areas allow players to predict where enemies are coming from, where they need to defend, and how to subvert enemy movement.

New Weapons

These are some of the weapons that will be obtainable through the Weekly Challenges in January and February:

  • ZK-383 (SMG)
  • Modele 1944 (SA)
  • M1922 (MMG)

Top Issue Fixes and Changes

Time to Death and Death Experience Fixes

  • The name of the enemy that has killed a player is now shown in the game world when the player has died. This highlights the killer and helps players understand who killed them and from where, especially in crowded situations.
  • Improved the death experience with the addition of a camera that now follows and zooms towards the killer. This will allow players to understand what killed them and the position of the killer.
  • Improved accuracy of the visual representation of incoming bullets for other players. Tracers should now properly appear to consistently appear from the shooter, and should be clearer when the victim is looking directly at the shooter.
  • Fixed an issue with the UI directional damage indicator that delayed the indication of damage to the victim.
  • Made tweaks to the UI directional damage indicator to more accurately point towards the enemy damaging the player.

Soldier Fixes and Tweaks

Vault

Revive

  • Fixed an issue where players would pick up a weapon while reviving on console.
  • Fixed an issue where the camera would clip through the soldier while in the man down state when the player had set a very high FOV.
  • Improved the camera behavior when a player revives a downed player very quickly. Animation
  • Improved soldier ragdoll behaviors and made them more granular when killed in different poses (stand, crouch, prone) and based on the impulse of explosions.
  • Soldiers killed by explosions will now blend nicely into full ragdoll when they land rather than snapping to a specific ragdoll position when landing.
  • Players will no longer get a strange arm pose when melee hitting an enemy three times in a row and then switching to the Fortification tool.
  • Fixed an issue where the ammo self-supply animation could get stuck and play indefinitely.

Miscellaneous

  • The Heavy Weapons trait is no longer as powerful on AA guns which previously would result in them having almost no overheat while firing.
  • Improved sliding activation consistency from double-tap by reducing the impact of turning while sprinting.
  • General improvements to the detection of auto-peek over and auto-lean.

Prone

  • Increased the horizontal free aiming angle when prone by 40°.

Vehicles

Gameplay

  • Halftracks now take more and more consistent damage, making them easier to destroy.
  • Fixed an issue where the Stuka quick repair did not resupply when flying through a resupply point.
  • Increased the damage of the Stuka BK37 cannons against all targets, while also reducing the splash range. Accurate shots versus vehicles and infantry will be greatly rewarded, but inaccurate fire will still suffer significantly reduced damage. These are intended as precision-strafing weapons, and should be powerful on single targets but weak on area targets.
  • The damage caused by the Mine Clearing Line Charge Specialization will register in the kill log and in the kill cam as well. Also, friendly players are no longer affected by the damage of the Mine Clearing Line Charge.
  • Fixed so that all tank cannons one-hit kill all types of airplanes, even those equipped with Specializations that reduce damage from Flak.
  • Increased the ammo capacity of all airplane cannons from 150 rounds to 200 rounds. The previous reduction caused players to return to reload more frequently than intended.
  • Standardized an unintended imbalance between the coaxial and port firing vehicle machine guns. Overall this is a big buff to German machine guns, and a small buff to British ones. Some British machine guns were doing too much damage over all, and some German machine guns were doing too little. The close range damage of the German guns has been increased to match the British guns, and the long range damage of the British guns has been reduced to match the German guns. As a balancing factor, the range of all of these machine guns has been increased, so players should not see a reduced effectiveness in the British machine guns, and should experience an increased effectiveness of the German machine guns.
  • Reduced the damage reduction of explosions on players in prone. Players were previously resisting up to 25% of an explosion when prone, which was only intended in a few edge cases. This was fundamentally breaking the intended damage of tank shells, as players could absorb too much damage. The damage of explosions is otherwise is unchanged.
  • Reduced reload time of rockets to 15 seconds (was previously 30 seconds).
  • Reduced reload time of bombs to 20 seconds (was previously 30 seconds).

Visual and Audio

  • Resupply Station locations for vehicles are now pinned to the edge of the screen when ammo resupply is available, in order to help players find these resources. These icons scale in size and transparency the further a player is from the resources to prevent icon clutter.
  • Fixed a bug which would make vehicle paint jobs look less detailed compared to how they look in the customization menu.
  • The Stuka siren has been made louder.
  • Improved audio mix on planes to have more noticable propeller sound and less engine sound.
  • Improved the graphics on the wheel compartment of the Blenheim MkI.
  • When spawning into a top gunner seat, players are now holding the machine gun properly.
  • Fixed the third-person animation when entering the Churchill Mk VII Tank so it aligns better.
  • Third-person animations should now play properly when using the backseat in the Kettenkrad.

Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where players using higher sensitivity options could be counted as being out of bounds while in a top gunner seat while actually being within bounds.
  • Players should no longer fall under the map when spawning into a vehicle that managed to get destroyed right before the spawn.

Weapons, Gadgets, and Specializations

Gameplay

  • Removed the Extended Magazine Specialization for the M1907 SF and made the extended magazine equipped by default. Recoil Buffer has been added as a replacement. This weapon’s Specializations will be reset and the means for unlocking them will be refunded. The M1907 SF was not useful enough without the extended magazine upgrade, making the hipfire upgrades a bad choice.
  • Decreased the effectiveness of the Ported Barrel Specialization on the M1928A1 to better balance the weapon in the SMG class. The upgrade was a bit too strong, leading to a slightly too controllable weapon.
  • Reduced the base deploy time of the StG 44 to 0.80 seconds from 0.85 seconds to better align with the animation. This was not in line with other assault rifles. You can shoot a bit sooner after switching to this weapon now.
  • Enabled semi-automatic fire for the M1928A1 which was previously missing.
  • Increased Suomi Kp/-31 reload speed when not using extended magazines. Reload times are now 2.3 seconds (previously 2.5 seconds) tactical and 3.45 seconds (previously 3.75 seconds) empty. The base reload was a bit too slow for the small magazine, making the extended magazine upgrade too important.
  • Fixed an issue where some weapons were inaccurate for too long when going from sprinting to firing when aiming down the sights (ADS). Some weapons did not reach full accuracy when fully zoomed in when transitioning from sprinting to ADS, leading to unexpectedly high recoil when firing. This was most noticeable on SMGs.
  • Fixed an issue where SMGs and weapons with the Enhanced Grips and Slings and Swivels Specializations remained inaccurate when going from sprinting to firing in hipfire. SMGs and weapons with these upgrades did not recover accuracy quickly enough when going from sprinting to firing in hipfire, reducing the intended mobility advantage they should have.
  • Made tweaks to SMG weapon positions in hip fire when firing and strafing to prevent the weapon from covering the crosshair.
  • The Panzerfaust no longer has a long delay before being able to fire after switching to the weapon.
  • Fixed so that the Panzerfaust one-hit kills all types of airplanes, even when equipped with Specializations that reduce damage from Flak.
  • Reduced the damage of the Panzerfaust. The Panzerfaust is very easy to use, and widely equipped. As a fast fire-and-forget weapon, its damage payoff was still too good against all types of armor. The damage is still high enough, even against a heavy tank, that a smart player can utilize a dedicated anti-tank loadout to defeat the enemy using skill and tactics.
  • Increased Throwing Knives max damage range to 10m from 6.5m.
  • Reduced the delay between two consecutive Throwing Knives throws by 40%.
  • Adjusted parameters for explosive damage when behind cover so that players behind cover properly receive reduced damage when cover is destroyed.
  • Adjusted damage multipliers for grenades and Panzerfaust versus various barricades so that multiple grenades are required to tear down a sandbag Fortification.
  • The RSC now reloads with the correct amount of bullets even if there’s already a bullet in the chamber.
  • If the player revives a friendly while reloading, the reload will now properly get interrupted instead of completing it during the revive animation.

Visual

  • Fixed the sling swivel so it no longer floats below the MP28.
  • Fixed clipping weapon when firing the M1928A1 with some iron sights.
  • Enemies firing no longer have their heads moved backwards while firing, which could cause unpredictable head movements when players tried to land headshots.
  • Improved the trajectory of supply pouches when thrown towards players.
  • Aligned the optics for the Lattey sights while in ADS using the M1897.
  • Fixed an issue where the hand pose would break when switching the primary weapon and the Ruby pistol.

Scope Glint

  • Adjusted the size and intensity of the glints for medium powered scope and high powered scopes. Medium powered scope glints are now smaller and less intense than high powered ones.
  • Pushed the visible distance for scope glints a bit further. They will now start being visible from longer distances (both Medium and High).
  • Scope Glint for medium scope visibility falls off over longer distances.

Fixes

  • The interaction prompt now properly appears when looking at a Spawn Beacon if it can be picked up.
  • Fixed a bug where players were unable to switch to their secondary weapon when having the M30 Drilling Equipped while using rifle mode. Damage
  • Reduced the minimum damage of the Gewehr 43 and Selbstlader 1916 to 33.5 from 35.
  • Increased the damage for the Mk VI Revolver. Two-hit kill range is now 12 m (previously 7 m), three-hit kill range is 30 m (previously 12 m), four-hit kill range is 50 m (previously 30 m). Minimum damage is now 22 instead of 15. Damage dropped too steeply for the rate of fire and magazine capacity of this weapon.

Handling

  • Buffs to SMGs in this update are aimed at improving the mid-range combat ability of the Medic class. Reductions in recoil and increases to accuracy will allow the SMG user to maintain damage on target and increase their effectiveness over all.
  • Improved SMG sustained fire when hip firing.
  • Reduced SMG base dispersion to 0.15 from 0.2. This makes SMGs feel a bit more controllable and enables the low rate of fire SMGs to be reasonably effective at medium range without having to get accuracy upgrades.
  • Reduced Suomi Kp/-31 vertical recoil to 0.76 from 0.8.
  • Reduced Suomi Kp/-31 horizontal recoil to 0.93 from 0.95. The Suomi was a bit too hard to control compared to the M1928A1.
  • Reduced EMP recoil pattern strength to make firing single shots less awkward. Single shots were heavily biased to go sideways, making them awkward to use compared to other weapons.
  • Increased M1A1 vertical recoil to 0.6 from 0.55. This weapon was outperforming other weapons at intended ranges and will now be more difficult to land multiple shots on target at longer range.
  • Increased M1907 SF vertical recoil to 0.82 from 0.68. This weapon was outperforming other weapons at intended ranges and will now be more difficult to land multiple shots on target at longer range.
  • Reduced the vertical recoil reduction when crouching to 25% from 30% and when prone to 40% (previously 50%).
  • The vertical recoil reduction when crouching or prone no longer stacks with the reduction from using a bipod. This was inadvertently making bipods inconsistent, making fire patterns with bipods difficult to learn since they were different in each stance. Stance changes reduced recoil too much, especially when combined with a bipod, which virtually removed all handling difference when prone. This affects MMGs when prone most noticeably.

Maps and Modes

  • Final Stand: players are no longer able to skip revive in this mode.
  • Breakthrough on Rotterdam: removed an out of bounds spawn for the defenders near the A flag.
  • Panzerstorm: fixed an issue where there would be lamps floating in the air after the building they were in was destroyed.
  • Final Stand: fixed the black deploy screen.
  • Airplanes no longer take damage when taking off from the landing strip on the Practice Range.
  • Fixed an issue where the gamepad vibrations would not work on Grand Operations.
  • On Aerodrome, the Fortification sandbags will no longer block the view of the stationary weapon near the airplane hangar.
  • Fixed the floating Flak 39 on Panzerstorm.
  • Fixed a piece of barbed wire that was seemingly invisible on Devastation near Flag A while playing Conquest.
  • Improved the railing on Rotterdam near the canals so they are easier to vault over.
  • Fires on levels no longer cause unintentional lens flare effects.
  • Decreased the intensity of the white environmental smoke on Devastation.

UI/HUD/Options

  • The Distinguished Defender’s Cross ribbon is no longer awarded multiple times upon completion.
  • Players are now able to scroll through the map list from the server info screen in- game.
  • Added the missing M24 grenade icon on the statistics screen.
  • Fixed an issue where the “enter vehicle” prompt could be visible while in parrot camera view.
  • Fixed a bug where squad orders were delayed for top gunners in tanks.
  • Added the missing image for Panzerstorm in the Advanced Search menu.
  • Rarity of vehicle skins is now shown in the Vehicle Customization screen.
  • Special Assignment icons should now always be visible on all challenges.
  • Fixed an issue which could result in the bleed out functionality not always working.
  • Added a Zoom Transition Sensitivity Smoothing option (this is off by default). When enabled, this option allows players to smooth out the sensitivity transition when aiming down sight instead of instantly transitioning to the zoomed sensitivity. This option only affects legacy aiming users as it’s already automatically enabled when using Uniform Soldier Aiming.
  • Fixed an issue where the killcard would not be visible if the player gets revived too quickly after getting killed.
  • Made various text fixes.

Audio

  • Voiceovers are now played when notifying players in the man down state that you are coming to revive them.
  • Footstep audio has been improved making walking and sprinting louder for a better gameplay experience, while crouching and crawling generates less sound to enable sneaking and stealth gameplay.
  • Fixed an issue where the disabled sound for planes would keep playing after repairing.
  • Improved footstep sounds based upon what type of physics material the player is stepping on, on both Arras and Twisted Steel.
  • Fixed an issue which could result in the “kill confirmed” audio confirmation to not play at the correct moment.

Stability

  • Made multiple crash fixes and general stability improvements.

PC Specific Improvements

  • Increased the density of the fields on Arras when playing on lower settings, to not give a visual advantage to those playing on low-spec PCs.

 

Aside from the weapon and game balancing tweaks, the big news here is the reintroduction of Rush, and a new Grand Operation.

In other Battlefield news, make sure to check out this cinematic short film made by a fan that uses unscripted gameplay footage!

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Alex Co

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

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Anthem Sniper Gameplay and Mass Effect N7 Armor Shown Off

While snipers might be the bane of existence for many objective-based players in shooters, the role and weapon are accepted differently when it comes to shared world shooters like Anthem.

In the video below, we see brief snippets of Anthem sniper gameplay. Used by the Colossus class, the snipers in Anthem are different since you’re free to move around, and there seems to be different variations of it. While the aiming is still done in first-person, once fired, you’ll transition to a third-person viewpoint once more, and you seem to be more agile than your standard sniper in other games (Battlefield for example).

Another thing we see is how the Anthem N7 armor looks on the characters. N7 armor is, of course, what Commander Shepard wore in the Mass Effect universe.

In other Anthem news, loot boxes won’t be a thing according to BioWare. You can watch eight minutes of freeplay gameplay right here too.

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Alex Co

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

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Report: Claims That Dota Auto Chess Is the Fastest Growing Game of 2019 So Far Might Be Inaccurate, and Here’s Proof

If somebody asked you what the most popular game of 2019 is so far, chances are you won’t say “Dota 2” and much less a mod for it. Well, that’s what might be happening right now, though some are skeptical of it.

A mod for Dota 2 made by Chinese developer Drodo Studio called “Dota Auto Chess,” which is a strategy game (not a MOBA variation as some might think) has seemingly taken the PC gaming world by storm. It has currently broken the 100K player count mark (screenshot by Matthew Bailey), and has oodles of gameplay over on YouTube.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game (as I’m sure a lot of you are), Reddit user Talfrey gave a quick, but to-the-point description of it:

While this sounds a like a Cinderella story coming true, Reddit user DoctorGester has a counterpoint to all this, and claims that the Dota Auto Chess numbers we’re seeing are actually inflated to the point that it’s “most likely 8-10x times less than reported.”

PSA: Stop hyping up AUTO CHESS player numbers, they are most likely bugged from r/DotA2

The playercount of AUTO CHESS is most likely inflated through a bug. We all know China is a big country, but this player count is still unprecedented, even though we’ve had multiple custom games popular in China before.

Here are some facts:

  1. I just queried AUTO CHESS player counts through the API. This yielded 55,558 players and 1,010 spectators. Spectators are only visible through API.
  2. Second most played game (Battle of Mirkwood: Battle Royale) has 1631 players and 9 spectators.
  3. Third most played game (Overthrow 2.0) has 1483 players and 1 spectator.
  4. The trend is not consistent. Even between Mirkwood and AUTO CHESS there is a 100x difference in spectators and only 34x difference in players. Okay, let’s not jump to conclusions with a single data point.
  5. You can’t spectate a random game. You can only spectate by clicking on your friend in your friend list.
  6. Back when I first published Crumbling Island Arena in 2016 it had the same “issue”. The API reported 300+ players and 100+ spectators. That was not a very plausible metric, considering it was a top 30-40 game among games which had 30-50 players and 0 spectators.
  7. This issue was fixed after a change I made where dota_surrender_on_disconnect 0 command was no longer executed on live servers. This brought up player numbers to reasonable 30-40 and spectator count to 0-1.
  8. Legends of Dota: Redux has the same issue right now. That game currently “has” 259 players and 1 spectator. The game is top61, among games with 10-15 players.

The conclusion I came to back in 2016: some sort of a bug causes the games not to finish properly, hence servers do not report player count decrease in a timely manner, causing tons of concurrent players and spectators being displayed. The actual player count in AUTO CHESS is most likely 8-10x times lesser than reported.

Have you played Dota Auto Chess? Do you think that a mod can account for around 1/4 of the entire playerbase of a game this soon? Let us know your thoughts below.

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Alex Co

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

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Cinematic Battlefield Short Film Is Captured From Non-Scripted Gameplay Footage and Is a Must-Watch

There are times when a regular gamer does something that knock your socks off just because it’s so creative, and well, just awesome. This is one of those times.

YouTuber Gage Allen created a Battlefield short film, and what makes this even more impressive is, he got the footage from in-game matches (from Battlefield V and Battlefield 1), and nothing was scripted! In the YouTuber’s words, “The following was shot entirely in random multiplayer matches. No one knew they were being filmed. Nothing was planned.”

From the amazing voice over work, to the cinematic angles of the shots, this is one damn impressive piece of work. This shows how chaotic (in a good way) Battlefield is. I daresay, this is even better than some of EA’s own marketing materials, and this was made by one guy, and what I presume is on considerably less money.

In other Battlefield V news, a new significant patch is dropping next week, and here’s a preview of what’s in it.

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Alex Co

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

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Anthem Loot Boxes Won’t Be a Thing According to BioWare

Are we finally seeing the end of loot boxes in video games? While most titles employed the loot box scheme to lure in players with real world money for a chance to get something good, loot boxes are now frowned upon by gamers whenever they’re mentioned.

If you were worried that Anthem loot boxes might be introduced by BioWare sometime post-launch, don’t fret! It’s not happening! Over on Twitter, Lead Producer Michael Gamble answered a fan’s concern that Anthem might introduce loot boxes after the launch reviews have dropped, which was vehemently denied by the developer.

We aren’t going to add loot boxes. It serves no purpose. The cosmetics and mtx plan is what we’ve outlined. Legion of dawn is 4 new armour packs. They aren’t just skins. Each javelin has 4 armour bits. You get 16 with LOD + wpn + other goodies

While microtransactions will still be part of Anthem, it seems it’ll be tied to cosmetics alone, which should please a lot of gamers.

In other Anthem news, go check out this eight-minute footage of Anthem freeplay where we can see activities and even bosses in action.

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Alex Co

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

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Soulja Boy Is Back With a New Handheld, And This Time It’s a Vita Rip-Off

DeAndre Cortez Way, better known by his stage name Soulja Boy, had updated his storefront SouljaWatch with a new handheld console titled “SouljaGame Handheld.”

The newest addition to his line up of Soulja-branded electronics comes just two weeks after he pulled consoles that contained hundreds of unauthorized ROMs from various game developers amid a potential lawsuit by Nintendo for a violation of the Trademark Counterfeiting Act.

The handheld, which conveniently looks exactly like Sony’s PlayStation Vita, is described as having “exquisite craftsmanship and fashion design,” sporting a 16:9 HD screen with a very non-HD resolution of 480 x 272, and allows owners to use a “multi thread task mode” so that you can listen to your favorite songs “while watching e-books.”

But wait, there’s more.

Your SouljaGame Handheld also comes with “stereo sound speakers,” and comes out of the box with support for JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIF, and PNG image formats. In case you aren’t in the business of using your handheld to photoshop with, it has “practical functions,” such as a calendar, calculator and even a stopwatch so you can time yourself on how long it takes for you to realize that you were sold a Vita rip-off.

You can buy the latest handheld for only $99.99 because Soulja Boy was kind enough to put it on sale from its original price tag of $200.

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Battlefield V Upcoming News and Announcements for Next Week Outlined, Q&A Posted

Another week has wrapped up, and with that, DICE has once again posted a round up of this past week’s Battlefield V news and announcements (official stuff). If you’re curious what’s coming next week, you’ve come to the right place!

Outlined below are the official Battlefield 5 upcoming news and announcements, which is highlighted by the release of Tides of War chapter 2: Lightning Strikes.

Sneak Peek into Next Week

  • Launch
    • Battlefield Chapter 2: Lighting Strikes Launches – All-new content and missions coming next week!
  • Trailer
    • Battlefield V Chapter 2: Lighting Strikes Trailer – Hot new trailer coming to celebrate the upcoming release.
  • Update
    • Battlefield V Chapter 2: Lighting Strikes Update – Alongside Chapter 2’s release, Battlefield V will also receive an update that resolves some outstanding issues, provides additional balance improvements, and more. We’ll provide you with the full Update Notes early next week.
  • Blogs
    • Battlefield V Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes Update Notes
    • Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes Frequently Asked Questions
    • Everything You Need to Know About Chapter 2: Lighting Strikes
    • Chapter 2: Lighting Strikes Squad Conquest Mode
  • Web
    • Battlefield V Chapter 2: Lighting Strikes Landing Page
  • Livestreams
    • Battlefield Weekly Hosted by EA UK – Tune in as the EA UK Battlefield Community Team plays through the new content available in Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes.

Q&A with DICE

  • Upcoming Battlefield V Update
    • When does the next Battlefield V update come out?
      • Jaqub Ajmal, Producer: If all goes as planned, it will roll out on January 15th.
    • When can we expect to see update notes for the next Battlefield V update?
      • JA: We would like the Update Notes to be release on January 14th. However, we started talking a little bit about the changes today, giving you something to look forward to next week.
  • Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes
    • When we will learn more about Tides of War Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes?
      • Dan Mitre, Global Community Manager: We just released a teaser trailer this week as we pave way to a full trailer and more information early next week.
  • Tides of War
    • What’s up with the missions not tracking requirement completions correctly?
      • JA: This is a bug that we are investigating with high priority. We want to highlight that there is a risk that we may not have a fix in time to coincide with the Chapter 2 release due to the complexity and amount of time it’s taking to troubleshoot this issue (although the proposed structure mentioned early in this article still applies). However, at the same time, we know that the Tides of War progression does work for many players as well, so we had to make a difficult decision of making the call to start the Tides of War progression as planned as we have also heard many players that they really want more things to do in-game.
    • Will players get the ability to earn their missed in-game items due to missions not tracking properly?
      • JA: We are currently investigating what the best solution for this would be as we don’t want anyone to lose out on items due bugs. We will get back to you when we have a proper solution.
  • Balancing
    • Vehicle balance is currently all over the place, both on ground and in the air. Is this being evaluated? What is the current design philosophy?
      • JA: We have done some adjustments in the next update releasing next week. These will be highlighted in the update notes. Please continue to give us your feedback after you have had a chance to play the next update for a few hours.
  • UI
    • Will the End of Round screen continue to get refined? I’m having issues with understanding how much Company Coin I earned, what I unlocked, and how much XP I received.
      • JA: Once we have resolved the issue with the Company Coins not always being awarded, we will be looking at what we can do to improve EoR screen further. Please be aware that we currently have an issue with the Company Coins being shown on the End of round screen not always being correct.
  • Company Coin
    • Is the Company Coin earn rate the same in all game modes?
      • JA: As there is a difference between the amount of points players score at average between each mode, we aim to balance the amount of scores to be somewhat equal based upon your effort in each mode. This means that the Company Coins earned per mode and the score that you get might differ depending on what mode you play.
    • Is there a max Company Coin you can earn per day by playing?
      • JA: We will aim to monitor and keep tweaking these numbers as we start to see how players earn CC across modes to keep it even and not give any mode an advantage over the other when it comes to earning Company Coins.

For more Battlefield V news, make sure to check out our sneak peek of next week’s patch, as well as confirmation that SMGs are getting buffed.

Source: Reddit

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Alex Co

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Report: Gearbox Lawsuit Mentions Randy Pitchford Has Alleged Underage Porn Collection

The rabbit hole keeps on going deeper and deeper it seems. Earlier today, we published a story (via Kotaku) that mentions how Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford is being sued (and he’s suing as well) for allegedly pocketing $12 million as part of his “secret bonus.”

Possibly lost among all the figures, and other stuff is how Randy Pitchford’s USB drive was lost in a Dallas restaurant, which apparently housed his collection of underage pornography. While this could be hearsay for all we know, it’s important to note that Pitchford himself admitted in a magic-oriented podcast (unearthed by Ars Technica) that he lost a USB drive at Medieval Times, and also admitted that it contained footage of a barely legal camgirl masturbating.

Per the podcast:

“This is not a sex worker—this is a fucking magician. Some kid, an employee of the Medieval Times, discovered this memory stick, took it home, and accessed it because it was before we were password-protecting, and discovered secrets of my company and future games in development, and also discovered the pornography. And it was barely legal porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18. – Randy Pitchford

According to the lawsuit filed by Gearbox’s former lawyer Wade Callender, Pitchford held parties  where “adult men have reportedly exposed themselves to minors, to the amusement of Randy Pitchford.”

Note that all these allegations have not been proven to be true, but is worth reporting on.

Gearbox has denied the claims and said that Randy and his wife hold a regular variety show that’s recorded, and that nothing of the sort has happened.

What’s interesting here is, David Eddings, former Gearbox VP has went on Twitter to say, “Yes, it’s true,” though he doesn’t specify which part is true — the pocketing of the money, the underage porn, or both.

Again, we want to stress that these are allegations for now, and as such, we don’t know which parts are true/real. It is known that the USB drive contained pornography, and that it was stolen, so there’s that.

Do you think these allegations are true? What do you make of ’em? Let us now your thoughts in the comments below.

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Alex Co

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Battlefield V SMG Buff Incoming According to DICE

Are you an SMG (submachine gun) user in Battlefield V? Find them too weak compared to the other guns in the game? If so, you’ll be happy to hear that a Battlefield 5 SMG buff is indeed coming according to DICE!

This was confirmed by Core Gameplay Designer Florian Le Bihan over on Twitter where he also shared that they fixed an issue where some weapons were inaccurate for too long when going from sprinting to firing.

SMGs will be getting buffs in this update, those are aimed at improving the mid-range combat ability of the weapons. Reductions in recoil and increases to accuracy will allow the SMG user to maintain damage on target and increase their effectiveness over all.

Last one for now, which will also help SMGs 🙂 Fixed an issue where some weapons were inaccurate for too long when going from sprinting to firing when aiming down the sights (ADS). This led to unexpectedly high recoil when firing after sprinting.

Check out details on Battlefield V’s upcoming patch here.

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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 Upcoming Patch 1.11 Detailed. Adds League Play % More

Treyarch has announced that a Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 upcoming patch will be deployed next week, and it’ll add challenges to Zombies mode, League Play in multiplayer and much more.

Here’s a sneak peek/preview of the Black Ops 4 upcoming patch 1.11 (via Reddit):

Zombies: 115 Day Celebration Event, Gauntlets and New Epic Elixirs on PS4, Elixir Balancing Updates + More

January 15 is 115 Day, and this year’s Zombies celebration is bigger than ever.

We’re kicking off our 115 Day Celebration Event with 2XP, 2X Weapon XP, and 2X Nebulium Plasma in Zombies starting 10AM PT Jan. 15 through Jan. 18 on all platforms, along with the debut of Gauntlets and three new Epic Elixirs on PS4 and Elixir balancing updates! We’ll also be testing out some new Concoctions in the Laboratory over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for additional bundles for your newly-earned Nebulium Plasma.

But that’s just the beginning. On Tuesday, we’ll have news detailing several features and new content coming to Zombies over the next few months, including a preview of what’s already in the works for our 1.12 update for late January. Zombies Director Jason Blundell will also be in attendance later in the day, so mark your calendar and clear your schedule.

Now, to address the 800-pound zombie gorilla in the room… what are Gauntlets and how do they add to the overall Zombies experience? Glad you asked.

As we’ve reported before, Blackout will have improved looting mechanics, and a new limited-time mode!

Blackout: Improved Looting Interface on Consoles, New Limited-Time Modes

This update also delivers our new looting interface to Blackout on consoles, allowing players to scroll through a multi-row grid, loot the items they’re looking for, and get back to the action as quickly as possible. This should also alleviate some other interface issues that console players have experienced in the past, and we’re excited to hear what you think when the update drops next week.

We’ve also got two new limited-time modes coming soon to Blackout starting next week! We’ll have all the details on what each of these new modes brings to the game in an upcoming update, plus the reveal of more Blackout news coming soon.

​Finally, for multiplayer the new maps in the Black Ops Pass will be added to the full rotation, though you need to own it of course. There’s also featured playlists introduced that will set the stage for League Play.

Multiplayer: Black Ops Pass Maps in Full Rotation, Featured Playlist Updates, Setting the Stage for League Play

With the upcoming 1.11 update, Elevation and Madagascar will be added to full map rotation for Black Ops Pass holders, including Hardcore playlists. Moving forward, we’ll add new MP maps into full rotation as they’re released.

Speaking of playlist updates, we’ll have a fresh batch of rotating Featured Playlists coming into MP with 1.11, along with additional stability fixes and other quality-of-life improvements. Stay tuned for next week’s patch notes for all the details.

This update will also help to set the stage for League Play’s launch by the end of January, which we announced in our community update on January 8. Watch for more details on League Play as we get closer to launching the World League Hub, and tune into the CWL Pro League Qualifiers on Jan. 16-20 to watch all the action unfold as 28 teams compete to secure their place in the Black Ops 4 Pro League at twitch.tv/callofduty.

That’s just a glimpse of what we’re cooking up for now! See you next week.

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Alex Co

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

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Gearbox Lawsuit From Former Studio Lawyer Accuses CEO Randy Pitchford of Pocketing Secret $12 Million Bonus (Update)

Update:

David Eddings, a former Gearbox vice president, has taken to Twitter to post a vague statement regarding Kotaku’s original report, saying that “Yes, it’s true.”

While Mr. Eddings statement has remained vague, we’ve reached out to him in hopes that he can clarify as to ‘what’ is true. Additionally, Ars Technica has reported that Mr. Pitchford, on the podcast The Piff Pod, corroborates some of the claim details that Mr. Callender brought forth in the lawsuit. Specifically, that he had a USB flash drive that was left at the restaurant Medieval Times Dinner with sensitive corporate documents.

However, the corroboration stops there. In the lawsuit, Mr. Callender alleges that the USB flash drive contained child pornography and was discovered by an employee at the restaurant. In the podcast, which was released in December, Mr. Pitchford claims that the pornography that was found by the employee was that of a camgirl.

Some kid, an employee of Medieval Times, discovered this memory stick, took it home… and discovered secrets of my company and future games in development, and also discovered the pornography. It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18’.

Mr. Pitchford took to Twitter to respond to the allegations, saying that they were fraudulent in nature.

The attacks made by my former friend and colleague have no basis in reality or law. He is simply trying to shake me down for money. We will win, but because lawsuits are pending I can’t comment as much as I’d like. I am shocked by his lies. Thanks for your love and support.

As a father, I find crimes against children to be especially repugnant. It is very painful that a former friend and colleague would lie to try to associate me with such vile behavior in his own greedy pursuit of money.

As the day progresses, I am discovering who my my friends are. Thank you for your love and support. I am just going to try to focus on my work and trust that truth and justice will prevail with the courts.

Original Story:

We’re barely two weeks in 2019, and the big video game news are already pouring in. Today, in a new report by Kotaku, it mentions that the former lawyer of Gearbox Software (Aliens: Colonial Marines, Borderlands) Wade Callender is suing Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford.

According to Callender’s lawsuit, he accuses Pitchford of receiving a $12 million “bonus” from publisher Take-Two Interactive as an advance against Boderlands’ profits. Callender claims that Pitchford has viloated various contracts involving Gearbox and a separate real estate company that Callender co-owns with Pitchford.

This lawsuit from Callender comes a month after Gearbox has sued him in a separate case for fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. According to Gearbox’s lawsuit, Callender borrowed money from Gearbox for a home loan and tuition that Callender didn’t pay back in full. and that Callender “abused the privilge of credit card access by charging unapproved, wholly personal expenses, including family vacations, gun club memberships and firearms, accessories, and trying to get six-pack abs.” Furthermore, Gearbox also accuses Callender of destroying the evidence of the home loan agreement he has made with the studio.

Callender, who was Gearbox’s lawyer from 2010 to 2018, accuses Pitchford of striking a secret deal back in 2016 to receive a “personal, secretive ‘Executive Bonus’ of $12,000,000 to be paid directly to Pitchford entity called Pitchford Entertainment Media Magic, LLC’.'”

According to Callender, that money is an advance upon royalties that should go to Gearbox staff, with the lawsuit claiming this is tragic “because these millions are being syphoned to Randy Pitchford’s personal accounts instead of funding the development of Borderlands.”

You can read the filings right here.

This is turning out to be one big, messy affair. Once we know more, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.

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Alex Co

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

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Watch 8 Minutes of Anthem Freeplay That Shows Activities, Bosses and More

In Anthem, much like in Destiny, players will be able to “freeplay,” meaning you’ll be free to explore the game world however you want. If you’re curious how this looks, check out this eight-minute Anthem freeplay gameplay footage.

As you can see, there are events, Easter eggs, and even bosses to encounter.

For more on Anthem, check out this Interceptor profile breakdown, and the Storm class breakdown to see what class suits you best. There’s also official Anthem merchandise out now, which you should check out if you’re into that sort of thing.

Anthem will be having its VIP demo within the month, while a public demo, which is open to everyone, will be available n February.

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Alex Co

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

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Battlefield V Upcoming Patch Improves Footstep Audio, Panzer 1-Hit Kill on Planes & More, Scheduled for Next Week

It’s no secret that DICE has been working tirelessly for Battlefield V’s big January update. While we don’t know what exactly this Battlefield 5 upcoming patch will bring, we know it’ll be hefty as it’s already at 10-pages long.

Fortunately for us, DICE has seen it fit to release tiny bits of info regarding the upcoming patch! Over on Twitter, Producer Jaqub Ajmal has mentioned that the patch is scheduled for next week “if things go according to plan.” Not only that, but he sent out a series of tweets that talks about some of the improvements coming to the title update!

Battlefield V – As you know already we are working on releasing our next update next week if all goes according to plan. We also plan to release our update notes next week which as usual goes into all the details. But before that me and want to give you a small glimpse.

For the series of tweets regarding the upcoming tweaks and changes, here’s a screenshot for an easier read (via Reddit):

Sounds promising, right? DICE has also posted a letter apologizing to fans about the game’s Company Coin issue, which you can read about here.

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Alex Co

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

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Monster Hunter World X The Witcher Crossover Happening on February 8

Last month, Capcom announced that a Monster Hunter World X The Witcher crossover was happening, though we didn’t know exactly when.

Well, we know when now. Over on Twitter, the official Monster Hunter World account announced the crossover will happen this February 8 via a free title update!

This news applies to the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game, with PC gamers left guessing (for now) on when they’ll get it.

So, just what we’ll see? Maybe a The Witcher-themed armor set? Could we even get a new weapon?  Once we know the exact details, we’ll let our readers know. What do you want to see in this crossover?

Speaking of which, the franchise isn’t done done with this crossover, as another one with Assassin’s Creed was announced recently as well.

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Alex Co

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

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DICE Posts Letter Apologizing and Explaining the Battlefield V Company Coin Issue

Just yesterday, we posted that DICE seems to have found a potential fix for the Battlefield 5 Company Coin issue that’s been plaguing max rank players for months now. While the studio says that the backend update solved this issue for some, it hasn’t fixed the issue for everyone.

Over on Reddit, DICE Global Community Manager Dan Mitre posted a letter to the community explaining why this issue has been a problem, and to apologize why it hasn’t been resolved ASAP.

Battlefield V – Letter to the Community – Company Coin Issue
byu/danmitre inBattlefieldV

Hello Battlefield V community,

Since the launch of Battlefield V, you’ve come together as a community, providing us your feedback on what you like about Battlefield V and the areas where it can improve. One of the more prominent issues is the accrual of Company Coin at max Career Rank. We want to provide visibility into why this is happening and the efforts we’re taking to tackle it.

Let’s get on the same page so we’re clear with what the issue is. The issue we are seeing prevents players who achieved the max Career Rank of 50 to continue accruing Company Coin. This meant that players were no longer able to buy new items or spec their weapons from the Company and the Armory, spending hard-earned Company Coin on what they wanted.

We’ve been tackling this issue since launch and have been testing proposed fixes. As of today, we released a back-end fix that resolved the issue for many of our affected players, while some are still not receiving Company Coin. This issue is of high priority for us and are committed to fully addressing it.

As we continue to investigate, we’re seeing that the issue may be related to the scripts and data pulls our back-end relies on when checking a player’s rank against the actions they just took, such as ending a round (win or lose), unlocking an achievement, or completing an assignment.

With every fix and update, we must ensure that the build changes or back-end/server-side adjustments we make doesn’t impact anything else in the process. The complexity of the issue means that we must take extra caution and remain diligent in our approach.

Now, many of you have asked for visibility on how many Company Coin players can expect when they finish a round at max Career Rank. When a player at Career Rank 50 finishes a round they are awarded a predetermined amount of Company Coin for the Score they ended the round with. For example, currently ending a round with a Player Score of 500-999 will net you 25 Company Coin, ending with a Player Score of 1,000-1,999 with result in 50 Company Coin, and so forth. The higher the Score you end with the more Company Coin you will receive. Please note that the system will be under continual refinement as we strike the right balance between earned currency and playtime.

Finally, we are also prioritizing two elements related to the issue. First, we plan to retroactively award players who have missed Company Coin at Rank 50 while this issue has persisted. We’re currently developing a script that will do the heavy lifting on this. Additionally, the End of Round screen is reporting inaccurate Company Coin earned. At the moment, you will not see the correct amount of Company Coin earned but will see an increase in your inventory bank.

We appreciate your patience through these issues and thank you for your continued feedback. We are committed to fully addressing these and will provide you with frequent updates on progress.

– The Battlefield Team

Hopefully, this finally gets sorted soon. At least players will be getting their Company Coins even if it’s been bugged, right?

In other Battlefield V news, go check out this teaser clip of Tides of War chapter 2 called Lightning Strikes.

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Alex Co

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

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Ace Combat 7 Multiplayer Modes Revealed, New Trailer Showcases TDM Dogfights

In case you didn’t know, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown will not only feature a beefy single-player campaign, but it’ll also let would-be pilots to blast each other off the skies in two of the Ace Combat 7 multiplayer modes!

In the press release, Bandai Namco announced that there will be two kinds of multiplayer in the game. Prepare to battle as a team in 4v4 team deathmatch, and if you’re more of the lone wolf type, there’s also a free for all eight-player mode as well.

ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN’s multiplayer mode will consist of two gameplay variants; the first variant takes on a team death match format featuring 4 vs. 4 dogfights. The second multiplayer variant takes on a traditional death match format, enabling up to eight players to blow each other out of the sky. In both multiplayer modes, only players with skill, guile, and determination will taste victory!

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown lands on the PS4 and Xbox One on January 18, while the PC version will be out on January 31, 2019.

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Alex Co

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

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Battlefield V Tides of War Chapter 2 Start Date Set for Next Week, Here’s the Teaser Clip

As promised by DICE, the teaser for Battlefield V’s Tides of War chapter 2 called “Lightning Strikes” has been released today. It’s just a few seconds long (hence why it’s called a “teaser), but it does showcase some action.

https://twitter.com/Battlefield/status/1083364465633054720

What’s even more important here is, we now have confirmation that the Battlefield 5 Tides of War chapter 2 start date is set for next week! While no definite date has been given, the chances of it happening mid-week instead of a weekend is high given DICE usually releases patches every Tuesday.

In other Battlefield V news, DICE has announced that it has (potentially) found a fix for the Company Coin bug affecting high level players! Go read up on that if you’re one of those affected.

Aside from weekly challenges and rewards, what do you want to see in Lightning Strikes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Alex Co

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

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Ubisoft Ditches Steam for Epic Games Store for The Division 2

Don’t look now, but could Valve’s monolith PC digital storefront Steam finally be getting competition? While that’s quite far off from happening, something’s definitely going down as Ubisoft has announced that The Division 2 will be available on the Epic Games Store, and not on Steam.

While Epic Games’ storefront has garnered a lot of love from indie devs, The Division 2’s exclusivity on the platform might be a sign of things to come given it’s a big budget, AAA game. In addition to The Division 2, Ubisoft and Epic will partner on “additional select titles” over the coming year, which could very well mean that Ubisoft’s other AAA games will be exclusive to Epic Games’ storefront.

Chis Early, VP of Partnerships at Ubisoft had this to say:

“We entrust Epic to deliver a smooth journey for our fans, from pre-ordering the game and enjoying our Beta to the launch… Epic continues to disrupt the video game industry, and their third party digital distribution model is the latest example, and something Ubisoft wants to support.”

Will other big-name publishers follow suit? We can’t say for sure, but this is something Valve might want to keep an eye on.

Source: GamesIndustry

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Alex Co

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

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Bungie Set to Self-Publish Destiny, Parting Ways With Activision

Bungie, the developer behind the iconic series Halo and the now beloved franchise Destiny, is parting ways with their publisher Activision after almost a decade of partnership. Bungie made the announcement on their website and said that that the transition process is already in the early stages and that both companies are “committed to making sure the handoff is as seamless as possible.”

We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny. Looking ahead, we’re excited to announce plans for Activision to transfer publishing rights for Destiny to Bungie. With our remarkable Destiny community, we are ready to publish on our own, while Activision will increase their focus on owned IP projects.

The news may be surprising to some, but for years it has been reported that Bungie and Activision’s relationship has been nothing but tense for both parties, with Activision saying that they were disappointed with Destiny 2 Forsaken sales in an earnings call in November.

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New Gundam Game Announcement Coming This Sunday

Update – The game has officially been announced as SD Gundam G Generation: Cross Play. You can view the trailer below. Sadly this is a single player only title so don’t expect any future updates unless that changes.

 

 

Original Story – Namco Bandai is gearing up to announce a new Gundam game this Sunday, with the first teaser trailer airing in the free-to-play PS4 title, Gundam Battle Operation 2. Yes, a trailer will be unveiled within the game.

The trailer is set to go live in-game on Monday, Janauary 22nd at 7:00PM Japan Stanard time. Not much info is known as to what this Gundam title may be pertaining to though there are a few guess out there.

Recently, it was announced that the anime Iron Blooded Orphan would be getting a spin off series titles Iron Blooded Orphan: Urs Hunt and that alongside this there would also be a Mobile iOS/Android cross-over game. The announcement may be pertaining to a trailer for the game, though that be much of a disappointment for many.

Another possibility is the continuation of either New Gundam Breaker or Gundam Breaker 4. Hopefully the latter as the recent new direction didn’t go so well for many.

Our hope is that we finally get an announcement of Gundam Extreme Vs 2, which at the moment is only available on arcades in Japan and launched in October of last year.

Whatever the announcement is, we’ll be sure to keep you updated as the trailer goes live early Sunday Morning.

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James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.