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Battlefield V War Stories Dev Diary Gives Us a Sneak Peek Behind the Scenes

  by   Alex Co  
October 22, 2018 3:00 pm in News

DICE has released yet another new video for Battlefield V today, and nope, it’s not about Tides of War, and it’s not about Firestorm, either. This video is none other than a dev diary on Battlefield V’s single-player campaign called War Stories.

Check out the short video below to see the father of Battlefield Lars Gustavsson, and Design Director Eric Holmes talk about the single-player, and how it’ll impact players in a different way.

You can check out a ton of Battlefield V single-player gameplay footage right here. You should also read up on the single-player info released by DICE to know more details about it.

Are you going to play Battlefield V’s single-player or will you be going all-in the multiplayer come launch?

Battlefield V will ship out this November 20 on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Tags: Battlefield battlefield v DICE EA
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Alex Co

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

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Fortnite Save the World F2P Release Date Delayed to 2019

  by   Alex Co  
1:34 pm in News

While Fortnite Battle Royale has always been free-to-play, the same can’t be said for the game’s original mode/version, Fortnite Save the World. For those hoping for the Fortnite Save the World F2P version to make its way out, you’ll have to keep on waiting, In a new announcement on Epic’s website, the company announced that the Fortnite Save the World F2P push out has been delayed to 2019!

Check out Epic’s official statement, and those who want to play it now, can do so by buying the game at a discounted price of 50 percent on the Standard, Deluxe, Super Deluxe, and Limited Founder’s packs!

NO FREE TO PLAY IN 2018

We decided to move the free-to-play launch of Save the World out of this year. We’re working on a broad set of features, reworks, and backend system scaling we believe are needed to go free-to-play. Save the World has grown consistently since our launch in July 2017 and Fortnite overall has experienced unprecedented growth. Scaling up for the legions of player heroes who will be joining the fight is key to providing an excellent experience. This applies to all of our players, old and new, so we’re taking the time to get this right.

To thank our founders, both new and old, if you log in and play during the Fortnitemares Event, you’ll receive both Brainiac Jonesy and Skull Ranger Ramirez for free!

For those of you who want to start playing right now, we’ve got you. Starting this week, we’ll be hosting a 50% off sale for the Standard, Deluxe, Super Deluxe and Limited Founder’s packs.

In addition to that, Epic is also making UI changes, a new hero system and lots more. Check it out here.

Don’t forget to check out how a cheater in Fortnite is being sued by Epic Games.

Tags: Epic Games Fortnite
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Alex Co

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

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Independent Game Retailers Will Not Have Red Dead Redemption 2 Until November

  by   Callum Baxter  
12:19 pm in News

If you were hoping to pick up your copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 on its October 26 release date from your local small-time retailer, think again. In a recent article from Kotaku, it was made apparent that one local retailer had spent well in excess of $3,000 in marketing material to help push sales of the game through his four stores in Pennsylvania.

Zach Gieg, local store owner, was hoping to maximize sales of Rockstar’s latest blockbuster by displaying billboards, posters and handing out flyers – all at the stores expense. Predicting around 1,000 copies would be sold across his four stores, Zach would “potentially lose $60,000 in sales” of a game that his customers have pre-ordered reportedly two years in advance.

According to Kotaku, this is more of a wide-spread issue, as mom-and-pop stores all over the country may not receive the game until at least a week after it’s official release date on the 26th October. This raises concerns that a significant amount of small business owners may be affected financially, considering this announcement has only arrived a few days before the release date.

In a statement given to Kotaku during a phone interview, Zach had this to say:

I’m telling you: Gamers don’t like to wait, We have a very loyal customer base, per se, but I don’t think I’d want to wait for a week. It’s ridiculous. They’re gonna download it or go elsewhere and buy it at a big box retailer

The issue does not stop there. Even the largest of game rental services, such as GameFly, will also suffer from the delay. The service does not expect to receive the game prior to it’s release, it wrote in an email to customers. “At this time, we do not expect to ship PS4 discs before Wednesday, November 7th. We understand Red Dead Redemption 2 is a very popular game and apologize for this delay.”

Kotaku reached out to Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive; “Neither have responded to Kotaku’s requests for comment.”

For the majority, this delay will not raise any issues and will largely go unnoticed. However, this does have multiple implications in the independent business world as most customers will elect to purchase via GameStop; other popular retailers, or download digitally.

Pre-Load for Red Dead Redemption 2 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has already began, and will be available 26th October.

You can find more information on digital pre-load and the disk space required for the game in an article we published earlier in the week here.

Meanwhile you can also watch the Official Launch Trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2

Get involved in the conversation, will this affect you or anyone you know, or will you be purchasing digitally? Let us know on Twitter @MPFirst

Tags: Red Dead Redemption Red Dead Redemption 2 Rockstar Games

Callum Baxter

Doer of things and stuff. Mostly things. I play those "Video Games" everyone talks about, and then I write things, as you can probably tell. New writer for MP1st, and currently venturing into the world of journalism. This is new for me, go easy. Contributor

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Battlefield 2 Remake of Karkand Map Looks Fantastic and Brings the Nostalgia

  by   Alex Co  
11:17 am in News

If you ask long-time Battlefield fans what their favorite map in the entire series is, there’s a big chance it’s Strike at Karkand (or Back to Karkand if you want to be more recent).  While there’s a chance that Karkand will be back in Battlefield V (though unlikely), fans will still need to wait to wage war on one of the franchise’s most iconic maps.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait at all, if we want to see what a Battlefield 2 remake of Karkand looks like in Unreal Engine 4! YouTube channel Hammer Space has uploaded a video showcasing a fan-made remake of Karkand! There’s new lighting, new textures, and more.

Of course, given how Battlefield V is a shooter set during the World War 2 era, and Battlefield 2 focused on modern combat, chances are low that we’ll see Karkand back in BFV. That said, anything can happen, right? As for the trailer above, it’s entirely fan-made, and it has a long way to go to make the amp playable publicly, and EA surely won’t allow it as well.

Would you want DICE to re-imagine some of its most famous maps for Battlefield V? If so, which ones are you favorite?

Speaking of Battlefield V, don’t forget that we’ll see new info regarding the game’s battle royale mode, “Firestorm,” this week!

Source: DSOGaming

Tags: Battlefield Battlefield 2 DICE EA
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Alex Co

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

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Halo 5 Is Getting Into the Holiday Spirit With New a Infection Playlist

  by   Den Kovacs  
October 21, 2018 8:01 pm in News

Halo 5: Guardians is getting into the holiday spirit by giving the classic Infection playlist a Halloween twist. Players will be able to play on new maps with new modes for double XP until the end of the month.

The first new game mode announced is called Castle Raid, where you and other players must work together to break into the infected’s lair and steal a skull. Once you acquire it, you must race back and burn it in a pit of fire for points.

The second mode is a returning fan-favorite: Speed Demons. In this Halo 3 classic mode, players will have to run and drive away from the infected using any means necessary. Players will start with a battle rifle and shotgun but can pick up more weapons as they make their way to a vehicle as they try to dodge the attacks of the infected, who come equipped with gravity hammers and energy swords.

For those of you who love playing the “Survive the Underground” mode in the Custom Game Browser, you’ll be excited to find out that 343 is now introducing the linear styled gameplay of Infection into official matchmaking under the moniker “Contingency.”  Developer 343 Industries says they worked with community members to bring four maps into the rotation for players to die on, one of them being Auxi Klutch, and they even asked him to describe the difficulties faced when creating them.

The most difficult piece of the puzzle was finding a consistent format for the maps to ensure players know what they are getting into on each map – a universal experience. We had to story board the maps with a beginning, middle, and end, but also make them have their own theme to make them unique. After that we added the scripting and made sure that every map followed the same formula for consistency. But, every now and again something would not work properly and we would have to troubleshoot the issue. Personally, this was my first “go” at scripting, and I learned so much from the experience as well as from fellow community members that knew scripting inside and out. Those Forgers really made these maps work, because the scripting required so many small movements and spawns at certain timings, that if we missed one thing, the scripting could fall out of sync.

The new playlists with the new modes and maps are available right now! Double XP has also been activated until the end of the month, so get those games in, Spartan.

Tags: 343 Industries Halo Halo 5: Guardians

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Treyarch Addresses Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Server Downgrade, States They Will “Improve” the Experience

  by   Alex Co  
6:32 pm in News

Just yesterday, we posted a report that reveals that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 servers were downgraded from being 60hz in the Black Ops 4 beta, to now at its current rate of 20hz. Needless to say, the Call of Duty community isn’t happy about it, and have pestered Treyarch to explain the reasoning behind the Black Ops 4 server downgrade.

Thankfully, the studio didn’t wait long to release a statement. As part of today’s Black Ops 4 server-side hotfix, Treyarch also explained why it downgraded the Black Ops 4 servers, and also mentions that they will roll out updates that will improve the experience for users.

We’ve also noticed a lot of discussion around network performance over the past couple of days and wanted to take a moment to address this directly. We’re constantly working to optimize the game, and particularly network performance, to ensure the highest quality online experience for our players. For a game launch with as massive a population as ours hitting so many global servers at once, we configure our infrastructure to ensure game stability as the highest priority over all other factors.

Now that we’re past the initial launch of the game, we are focusing on fine-tuning network performance around the globe, using the real-world data that we have collected. Over the course of the next two weeks, we will roll out several updates to our network setup that will continue to improve upon the experience of our players since launch. As we have always said, launch is just the beginning, and we’re committed to making Black Ops 4 the best-supported game we’ve ever delivered. This is a journey that will involve constant adjustments, improvements, and additions. We appreciate your continued support and patience – thank you!

Granted, Treyarch didn’t specifically mention that they’ll be upgrading the servers to 60hz like in the beta, but this is good news, right? If you want a more detailed analysis of Black Ops 4 server tick rates, and how it stacks up against the servers of Fortnite, Battlefield 1 and more, click here.

Tags: Activision Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Treyarch
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Alex Co

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

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Tekken 7 Sales Has Now Passed Over 3 Million Sold

  by   Alex Co  
5:34 pm in News

It’s no secret that Tekken 7 has been very successful for Bandai Namco, but just how successful? Well, the Tekken 7 sales figures are now at over three million units sold in less than 12 months since the fighting game was released!

This was revealed by Katsuhiro Harada over on Twitter, where he also mentioned that the lifetime sales of the Tekken franchise is now at a staggering 47 million!

If you’re a fan of the game, don’t forget that new characters are being added in the game’s second Season Pass.

We’d like to give Harada and Bandai Namco a hearty congratulations, but they might not hear it over the massive pile of money they’re swimming in.

Tags: bandai namco enter Tekken Tekken 7
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Alex Co

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

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Here’s How the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Servers Stack Up Against Fortnite, Battlefield 1 & More

  by   Alex Co  
4:50 pm in News

Just yesterday, we ran a story where a breakdown was made of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 servers that showed how it was downgraded from 60hz in the beta, to just 20hz when Black Ops 4 launched (which is what players are currently experiencing now).

In case you’re curious, YouTuber Battle(non)sense who has made a living out of diving deep into netcode of shooters, has released a new video talking about the downgrade of Black Ops 4 servers, which might be due to the game’s battle royale mode, Blackout. It’s 11 minutes long, and it might be technical for some, but he does a good job of condensing it (sort of).

If you want the tl;dw version, check out the screenshot below where you can see the Black Ops 4 servers comparison with games like Fortnite, Battlefield 1, and lots more! You might be shocked at what you see.

black ops 4 servers vs fortnite

You can check out the comparison shot in the video around the 9:30 mark.

Are you surprised by this or not at all? More importantly, do you think Activision and Treyarch will remedy this anytime soon? The game did earn over half a billion dollars in just its first weekend of availability, so sales and money shouldn’t be an issue.

More Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Reading at MP1st:

Tags: Activision Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Treyarch
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Alex Co

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

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Battlefield V Battle Royale Mode News Coming This Week

  by   Alex Co  
4:11 pm in News

While we already know that Battlefield V will have a battle royale mode called “Firestorm,” not much else is know about it, aside from the info and quick trailer we got early last month. Well, it looks like things are about to change starting next week!

As part of the Tides of War info drop coming next week, which we we reported on yesterday, Global Community Manager for Battlefield Dan Mitre confirmed that we will get an “update” on Firestorm as part of the news dropping for Tides of War.

What we know so far is this blurb below, which came from EA.

In Firestorm, 16 teams of four will fight it out to become the last squad standing on the largest Battlefield map ever. DICE has reimagined Battle Royale and is doing it the Battlefield way.

Will Firestorm be able to replicate what Blackout has done for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4? Given DICE’s familiarity with large scale battles, the studio should feel right at home. Same as always, once the news is made available, check back here on MP1st to hear of it first.

Tags: Battlefield battlefield v DICE EA
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Alex Co

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

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Anthem Will Have a Melee Build for Characters, Here’s What the Revive Looks Like Now

  by   Alex Co  
2:22 pm in News

With Anthem melding both the RPG and action genres into one, some might be wondering just how diverse we can make our freelancers in the game. Sure, we already saw what kind of javelins will be available at launch, and what they can do, but did you know that an Anthem melee build is also in the cards?

This was revealed by Ben Irving, Lead Producer on Anthem, over on Twitter, where he shared that BioWare has decided to make some gear for the Interceptor javelin class for a melee build.

That should be interesting to see, no? Also of note, Michael Gamble, also a Lead Producer on Anthem, shared what the Anthem revive screen looks like, and given that javelins are suits (or mechs), it’s apt that it says “repair in progress” when being helped by teammates.

Looks better than your standard revive screen, right? In other Anthem news, don’t expect cross-platform play to be available at launch. However, you can expect players to be able to fly around any time they want to even in boss fights.

Will you consider creating a melee build for Anthem or would that be too challenging?

Anthem will fly out this February 22, 2019, on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Tags: Anthem Bioware EA
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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 Game Settings Changes Rolled Out (Update)

  by   Alex Co  
2:07 pm in News

Treyarch has now released the server-side changes it has made today! Read ’em below.

We’ve made the following updates to the game (Global):

  • General
    • Miscellaneous
      • Addressed a crash at the end of matches for Master Prestige players in Multiplayer and Zombies. We’re planning further improvements for related UI issues in a future update.
      • General stability improvements across all modes.
  • Zombies
    • Miscellaneous
      • Addressed a crash when crafting the Shield with Frugal Fetish equipped.
      • Various stability fixes across all maps.
    • Blood of the Dead
      • Addressed an issue with the Shield not displaying the correct updated version for the player.
    • Classified
      • Addressed a crash when turning on the power in a Custom Mutations match.
  • Blackout
    • Stash Looting
      • Addressed an issue where players had to scroll right or left on the d-pad multiple times to navigate through Stash lists.
    • Circle Collapse
      • Addressed an issue where the Collapse circle would sometimes appear invisible to players.
  • Multiplayer
    • Scoreboard
      • Addressed an issue that highlighted the wrong score on the scoreboard if the scoreboard was opened immediately after death.
    • Specialists
      • Jumping while sprinting with Ruin now performs the same as with all other Specialists.

​Original Story:

In what seems to be an almost daily occurrence, Treyarch has once again rolled out a server-side hotfix to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. In case you didn’t know. Treyarch also rolled out a hotfix yesterday and outlined some of the Black Ops 4 game settings changes that the studio is looking into.

Could this new Black Ops 4 game settings update include a server fix so it’ll be at 60hz like in the beta and not at 20hz, which is what we’re playing on now? Most likely not, but one can hope. Yesterday’s update brought in a change to how much Contraband players earn after every match, which is a welcome change since the initial roll out required gamers play almost seven hours a day just to reach the Black Market max tier of 200.

Given how Treyarch handles these Black Ops 4 game settings changes, a detailed breakdown of what was changed should be coming within the day. Once we know about it, we’ll be sure to update the post.

If you notice any changes, share them in the comments below.

Tags: Activision Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Treyarch
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Alex Co

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

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Battlefield V Single-Player and Audio Q&A Is the Highlight of This Week’s Debrief

  by   Alex Co  
4:44 am in News

In case you didn’t know, DICE dropped a lot of info regarding Battlefield V’s single-player campaign this past week. You can check out the trailer, and some gameplay footage right now if you want. However, if you’re interested in knowing more about the finer details, or you have a few burning questions in mind about, maybe this latest round of Q&A will have the answer.

As part of DICE’s “Weekly Debrief,” the studio rounded out the best questions and answered them as best as they can. Check out the full Q&A below.

Video Feedback – Battlefield V Official Single Player Trailer

Gameplay

  • Have you considered allowing game decisions to impact the outcome of the story line? How come we don’t see that in BFV War Stories?
  • Joel Fagerlund (Development Director): We don’t allow changes to a story line through your actions. However, how you choose to perform the actions within the story line is up to you and your preferred play style. It will, however, not change the story line.
  • What is the gameplay runtime of War Stories in total?
  • Dan Mitre (Global Community Manager): Hard to give you an exact time, but from play tests we are seeing the 4 stories plus the prologue take players around 6 hours. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
  • Are the BFV War Stories longer than the BF1 War Stories?
  • DM: As always, it depends on the player, but we think you’ll get anywhere from 1-2 hours in each. Generally speaking, these are meatier than the War Stories in Battlefield 1.

Controls

  • If there is a pilot/flying mission, are the controls and mechanics the same as multiplayer?
  • JM: Yes, the controls are the same as Multiplayer.

Prologue

  • Will the BFV Prologue be like BF1’s Prologue?
  • JM: No, we wanted to differentiate from BF1. What we wanted to achieve with the Prologue is to give the player a sense of the scale and complexity of this big, global conflict.
  • Are we going to get perspectives for both the British and the Germans in the Prologue?
  • DM: No comment. We don’t want to spoil anything! You’ll have to wait and see.

Episodes

  • The trailer provides a mashup of scenes. We’re speculating but the German Ace is a controllable character, right?
  • DM: Hey! Like I said… no spoilers. You’ll have to play it yourself.

Vehicles

  • Will there in be weapons/vehicles that are available in War Stories but not immediately available in multiplayer?
  • JM: Yes, both weapons and vehicles are available in War Stories that are not available at launch in Multiplayer.

Accuracy

  • Please make the French helmets green! Blue wasn’t used since the early 1920’s. What’s up?
  • JM: During our research, we found out that the old Tirailleur units were so ill-equipped, so they actually preferred to use old equipment by choice.

Tides of War

  • Will there be more War Stories coming in Tides of War?
  • Dan Mitre (Global Community Manager): No, after The Last Tiger is released in December, there is currently no plan to add additional War Stories through Tides of War.

Rewards

  • Will you ensure that any unlocked items are relatively easy to attain, and are not accidentally patched? In BF1, there was an achievement to shoot down X planes in Y seconds with the AA canon. A few months later, the AA damage was reduced in multiplayer, which made this achievement impossible in single player.
  • JM: Our goal is to not have this happen within Battlefield V.
  • Will there be in-game collectibles around the map to gather and find?
  • JM: Yes, there are multiple collectibles in each chapter and it pays off to go and explore more remote locations.
  • Will the campaign have a couple of unlocks that we can use in multiplayer?
  • JM: Yes. We’re going to keep those a secret for you to discover.
  • Will we earn some credits, weapons, skins or dog tags?
  • JM: Yes. Completing War Stories in their entirety (100%) will unlock items for your Company and some Dog Tags. Good luck!

Customization

  • There is a flag on the Tiger Tank we see in the trailer. Will this customization be available in multiplayer?
  • JM: No, not at launch at least.

​

Video Feedback – Battlefield V Dev Talks Episode #4 – Audio Production & Authenticity

Sound Design

  • Are there any weapon sounds you had to fabricate in the studio, or are all the sounds captured from real weapons
  • Andreas Almstrom (Sr. Audio Artist): Everything is real. However, sometimes we spice up a mechanical layer from a shoot with foley from a similar weapon to get more details if the mics on set didn’t capture what the essence of that weapon was. We try to stay true to the real thing as much as possible.
  • For weapons that are scarce/very rare, just in general hard to get a hold of, how do you create the audio for those type of weapons?
  • AA: We try to find analogies, like a similar action in a similar caliber.

Different Materials

  • How do you capture audio for bullets hitting different materials, such as an MG42 hitting a helmet?
  • AA: In general, for bullet impacts we do record as much as possible, but sometimes we have to be creative and mix-and-match different recordings to get what we want. For helmet impacts we had a session a few years back where we recorded impacts on helmets by both throwing rocks at it and hitting it with a ball hammer to get the resonance from it.

In other BFV news, DICE has confirmed that The Last Tiger chapter in War Stories is the only single-player DLC we’ll see post-launch. Info regarding Tides of War will be swimming its way out next week, too.

Tags: Battlefield battlefield v DICE EA
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Alex Co

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

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Star Citizen First Playable City Is the Size of Austin

  by   Callum Baxter  
October 20, 2018 8:44 pm in News

Star Citizen is a game that I keep coming back to. At first, progress was slow, but with the implementation of many core features and back-end technology, such as “Object Container Streaming,” a method of optimizing server-side data usage, we finally see the ball begin to roll. Albeit, very slowly.

At CitizenCon last week Chris Roberts took to the stage yet again to delight us with his perky personality, and show us the progress the team has been making for the last few months. What followed was a 56-minute video featuring a classically buggy tour around Star Citizen’s first playable city.

Lorville is the primary landing zone for the planet Hurston. Home to a family-run weapons manufacturer that is bleeding the world dry overlooking the largest strip mines on the planet, the city is surrounded by a wall larger than most trading ships. With an operation that large, security comes in droves.

During the play-through, players had a glimpse at what the city has to offer: Bars, stores, customs, and a mass transit system that runs on an in-game schedule. Chris Roberts called this “Commuter Citizen” (for those who REALLY like to get into character).

At the release of patch 3.3.5, Lorville will be 2000km in diameter which is around the size of Austin, TX with Chris claiming that no other developer has ever tried creating a city of this scale in an open world multiplayer game. This will be Star Citizen’s first real dive in to a social space accessible through the open world.

You can check out a gameplay-condensed version of the keynote from BoredGamer below.

The 3.3.5 update doesn’t have a concrete release date yet, but there is no doubt that players are eager to get their hands dirty after a largely dry few months in regards to content.

What do you think about Star Citizen? Have you backed already, or will you be waiting on the sidelines to see how development pans out?  Let us know in the comment section below

Tags: Cloud Imperium Robert Industries Star Citizen

Callum Baxter

Doer of things and stuff. Mostly things. I play those "Video Games" everyone talks about, and then I write things, as you can probably tell. New writer for MP1st, and currently venturing into the world of journalism. This is new for me, go easy. Contributor

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Hunt: Showdown Update 3.0 Features Revealed, Patch 2.5 Notes Listed

  by   Alex Co  
8:01 pm in News

If you’re an avid player of Crytek’s Hunt: Showdown, you’re in for a treat as the developer has a lot of stuff planned for Hunt: Showdown’s 3.0 update. You can watch a condensed version of Crytek’s Twitch stream below, where the dev team goes in-depth with the changes coming to the game.

In addition to that, there’s also a Hunt: Showdown patch (2.5) that came out! You can read the patch notes below (via Steam).

Here are the notes for Update 2.5.

Version: v0.430
SteambuildID: 3199243
Client patch size: 177MB

  • Trainee mode: With this release we are introducing the “Trainee mode” for Hunters up to bloodline rank 15. We believe this will help new players to familiarize themselves with the game, without having the risk of losing Hunters in this process. When your get killed your Hunter will not be gone permanently. After such a scenario, all you need to do is buy the equipment you wish to equip your Hunter with.
    Please note this only applies until you reach bloodline rank 15, and does not apply if you prestige.
  • New server region: With this update we are introducing a new region that has been a big request from the community – Russian servers.
  • Weapon balance changes: With the update we are introducing a set of balance changes to multiple weapons. We are mainly focusing on weapons we identified to dominate the current meta in order to provoke other, currently less used, equipment to come to the foreground and mix things up a bit.


Gunplay

 

  • All Compact Bullets
    • Slightly more damage when hitting the arms and legs of a Hunter
    • Reduced ammo per pick-up from supply boxes (same percentage level as medium, long and shells now)
      (Affected weapons: All Winfields, all Nagant revolvers (incl. Silencer variant) and the Caldwell Conversion revolver (incl. Chain Pistol variant)
  • Crown & King Auto-5
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 6 shells
    • Slight increase of recoil
  • Caldwell Conversion Uppercut
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 9 long bullets
  • Mosin Nagant M1891 Avtomat
    • Magazine ammo reduced from 20 to 15 long bullets
    • Extra ammo reduced from 10 to 0 long bullets
  • Dolch 96 and Dolch 96 Precision
    • Extra ammo reduced from 10 to 5 medium bullets
    • Slight increase of recoil and delay between shots
  • Vetterli 71 Karabiner
    • Extra ammo reduced from 19 to 13 medium bullets
    • Reload loop is now 25% faster
  • Specter 1882 and Bayonet version
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 10 shells
    • Slight increase of recoil
  • Specter 1882 Compact
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 8 shells
    • Drastic increase of recoil
  • Romero 77
    • Slight increase of recoil
  • Romero 77 Handcannon and Hatchet variant
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 10 shells
    • Slight increase of recoil
  • Caldwell Rival 78
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 8 shells
    • Slight increase of recoil
  • Caldwell Rival 78 Handcannon
    • Extra ammo reduced from 12 to 6 shells
    • Drastic increase of recoil
  • Explosive Crossbow
    • Direct hit to upper torso or head will now kill enemy hunters.
  • Machete
    • Slight melee damage reduction
    • Changes made to the pose for charged melee attacks, to no longer cover the torso with the arm to absorb damage.


Developer Notes: Even if a weapon has 0 extra bullets, the moment the player fires bullets, the empty space is dynamically added to the extra ammo pool. So if you have an Avtomat now, having fired 6 rounds off your 15 round magazine, means you can pick up (up-to) 6 extra rounds. The moment you reload them into your gun, the extra ammo pool will shrink again until it reaches 0.

Being an early access game, Hunt: Showdown is still changing constantly with every new feature and update, and will continue to do so in the future. Sometimes, the full extent or some of these changes will only really show across multiple updates, each introducing a small part of it. Please bear with us as we are trying to make this the best experience for both new players and veterans alike. With every update you can always help us in the development of Hunt: Showdown by going on the test server to try the latest changes out for yourself! Thank you for all your ongoing support and precious feedback!

Price changes

 

  • Hand Crossbow from $210 to $110
  • Hand Crossbow poison from $240 to $115
  • Nagant M1895 Officer Carbine from $86 to $35
  • Crossbow from $280 to $180
  • Crossbow Explosive from $400 to $290
  • Crossbow Shotbolt from $305 to $220
  • Mosin-Nagant M1891 Avtomat reduced from $1800 to $1500
  • Cavalry Saber increased from $22 to $28
  • Crown & King Auto-5 from $266 to $466


Trainee Mode

 

  • Safety net added for new players to help them learn the game.
  • In the first 15 ranks (excluding prestige) your hunters won’t be lost when they get killed in a mission. Instead the dead hunters get reset to the pre-mission status including all gear and health.



  • Fixed a bug where the player could get stuck in Slaughterhouse and Scupper which resulted in the loss of a hunter



  • Sometimes dynamite or grenades make no sound when exploding.
  • AI may become stuck when navigating around certain areas.
  • Hunter heads may snap back and forth if too close to other entities or pieces of geometry.
  • Hive swarms are able to attack players through solid walls and small lattices.
  • Oil pools are invisible.
  • Shadows may not blend together correctly on low end systems.
  • In rare instances, players may become stuck on the matchmaking screen at the “Loading Map” stage.
  • If 2 players invite each other via steam (without one of them accepting) they can be stuck in that invite state and will have to wait for a bit or restart their client in the worst case.
  • Dark sight boost can sometimes be consumed faster than intended.
  • Direct hits with Fire Bombs and Lanterns will not knock down AI as intended.
  • The AOE (self-) damage indicator on the throw helper of the liquid fire bomb is not in sync with the actual AOE/damage range.
  • Depending on the area, windows might show incorrect reflections.
  • In some cases, you may encounter a strange visual effect from smoke and muzzle flashes. This is more prominent in underground areas, but can occur outdoors as well.

If you’re curious what the last patch was for, read on here for notes.

Tags: Crytek Hunt: Showdown
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Alex Co

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

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Here Are the PlayStation Store New Games Coming This Week

  by   Alex Co  
7:05 pm in News

It’s another week, and that means another new set of digital games are available on the PS4! Thanks to Sony, we now have the complete PlayStation Store new games for the week list! The big highlight here is no doubt Red Dead Redemption 2, but there’s more variety available for those who don’t want to be a virtual cowboy.

BugsBox VR
PS VR — Digital (Out 10/24)
he Bugs invade Honeyland. It’s up to you to keep peace by moving your character and pushing blocks around to defeat the enemy bugs. Now a casual VR game with simple controls for everyone to play.
Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood
PS4 — Digital (Out 10/26)
Experience two of the greatest games from the famous Castlevania series. Get to the top of Dracula’s castle as the descendant of the famed clan of vampire hunters in Rondo of Blood, or play as Dracula’s son Alucard in Symphony of the Night.
Chicken Range
PS4, PS Vita — Digital (Out 10/26)
Fun and quirky shoot-em-up game. Shoot the chickens using an array of different weaponry. Chicken types include Riot Police Chickens, Tank Chickens, Ninja Chickens, Helicopter Chickens and many more!
Gridd: Retroenhanced
PS4 — Digital
GRIDD: Retroenhanced is an intense arcade-style cyberpunk hacking shoot ’em up with an incredible soundtrack, procedurally generated elements, and electric visuals.
Halloween Forever
PS4, PS Vita — Digital (Out 10/22)
Something mysterious is happening in the pumpkin patch this Halloween! You control Pumpkin Man, a humanoid pumpkin thing animated by occult forces on a quest to discover why things are so creepy. And you vomit candy corn.
Just Dance 2019
PS4 — Digital, Retail
Just Dance 2019 is the ultimate dance game with 40 hot tracks from chart-topping hits to family favorites. Your Just Dance experience is now personalized as the game learns your dancing habits and suggests content!
 
Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams
PS VR — Digital
Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams lets you explore different kinds of imaginary environments and discover amazing new emotions in wonderful virtual dreams.
My Hero: One’s Justice
PS4 — Digital, Retail (Out 10/26)
Fight for your justice in My Hero: One’s Justice! The popular manga and anime series clashes head-to-head and Quirk-to-Quirk in this 3D arena fighter. Choose between hero or villain and battle through iconic moments.
Neverout
PS VR — Digital
Neverout is a mysterious puzzle game. It puts you in a small, claustrophobic room that has only one way out, and its unique mechanics allow every wall to become the floor. Will you survive, or ever get out?
Nickelodeon Kart Racer
PS4 — Digital, RetailHit the Slime-filled race tracks with Nickelodeon Kart Racers! Select a racer from one of your favorite Nickelodeon shows and race your friends in up to four-player local multiplayer or check out the Battle Arena for a variety of challenges.
Paw Patrol: On A Roll
PS4 — Digital, Retail
Paw Patrol is on a roll! No job is too big, no pup is too small! Join Ryder and all eight Paw Patrol Pups for 16 missions in eight PAWsome Adventure Bay locations. Help the pups use their unique abilities to rescue friends and save the day!
Perils of Baking – Refrosted
PS Vita — Digital (Cross-Buy)
Perils of Baking is a 2D platforming love letter to its retro inspirations. You play as the younger of two brothers, famous for their baking. It’s up to you to stop your brother’s evil plans as he has given in to a dark artifact.
Red Dead Redemption 2
PS4 — Digital, Retail (Out 10/26)
Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. The game’s vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.
Skyhill
PS4 — Digital (Out 10/24)
World War III was one cruel tragedy, at least for the others. You seemed to have a quite nice time, hidden in your fancy penthouse at the Skyhill Hotel… until the impact of a bio-weapon blew away the life you once knew.
Word Sudoku By Powgi
PS4, PS Vita — Digital (Cross-Buy)
It’s Sudoku with words! Place letters in the grid according to normal Sudoku rules and one row or column will spell the word. Includes 240 unique and beautifully symmetrical Word Sudoku puzzles, graded for difficulty from beginner to expert.
You should also check out the week’s best PS4 deals you can find online right here. As for discounts, there’s the weekly PlayStation Store sale, and Sony’s annual Sale of the Dead offerings.
Source; PlayStation Blog
Tags: PlayStation PlayStation Store PSN
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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 Game Settings Update Out, Notes Indicate Changes in Contraband Tier Progress

  by   Alex Co  
6:21 pm in News

Remember that story we wrote earlier about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 players needing more than six hours a day in order to reach tier 200 in the Black Market? Well, it seems Treyarch knows how shoddy it felt as the studio has rolled out a new Black Ops 4 game settings update that fixes that and some other bugs!

First off, the big news here is that the Halloween Event is now live on PS4! Here’s the complete set of Black Ops 4 game settings notes (via Treyarch):

Starting today, PS4 players get access to our free Halloween-themed Special Event stream in the Black Market with new seasonal gear to earn and use across all modes. This includes a special Halloween Calling now live in Zombies as part of the event, with exclusive rewards to earn through new challenges in Zombies! Check out the Zombies Barracks menu for details.

As a reminder, though start/end dates may vary by platform, limited-time Special Events like the Halloween Event will run for the same duration for all platforms, giving all players the same amount of time to earn the content. Let’s get spooky.

We’ve made the following updates to the game (Global):

  • Blackout
    • Death Stashes
      • Fixed an issue where players were sometimes unable to loot items from a Death Stash.
  • Multiplayer
    • General
      • Addressed an issue that prevented players from earning Contraband Tier progress.
      • Addressed an issue that prevented players from earning the proper amount of Contraband Tier progress in round-based games.
      • Addressed an issue with some MP matches ending in “Game Session No Longer Available”.
      • General stability improvements in the Black Market.
    • Create-a-Class
      • Addressed an issue with Attachments applying to the GKS.
    • Special Issue Equipment
      • Resolved an exploit that led to unlimited Seeker shock mines.

In other news, we just now found out that the Black Ops 4 servers are running at 20hz and not at 60hz which was the tick rate in the beta! And yes, there’s proof.

Tags: Activision Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Treyarch
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Alex Co

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

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Report: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Servers Tick Rate Currently at 20hz Compared to 60hz in the Beta

  by   Alex Co  
5:38 pm in News

If you’ve played the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beta and thought the hit registration was better compared to what you’ve experienced now, well, you’re not alone, and there’s a very good reason for that. It seems the Black Ops 4 servers were running at 60hz back then, but is now only at 20hz for some reason. If you need a simple reason why good tick rates are important, the higher tick rate means better connections so you won’t experience that annoying getting-shot-behind-a-corner thing.

This was unearthed by Reddit user Smcro who did a deep (and I mean deep!) dive into the Black Ops 4 servers. Before you read on, check out some of the terminology so you won’t get lost. Note that Smcro tested on the PS4, though it’s widely believed this is the same for all platforms. The info shared below is accurate as of October 19, 2018.

  • Client: your system (PS4/Xbox/PC).
  • Server: Treyarch’s system through which all clients (players) in a match connect.
  • Send rate: rate at which update packets are sent between systems. This is also known as update rate and is commonly confused with tick rate which is something entirely different.
  • Tick rate: the rate at which the game itself is simulated on a system.
  • Client send rate: rate at which a client sends updates to the server.
  • Server send rate: rate at which the server sends updates to a client.

However, my testing for the most-recent update (as of October 19th) shows that the server send rate has been cut down to 20hz. For a bit of context, instead of receiving information from the server every frame (given that the game runs at 60fps on console), you will be receiving information every third frame (50ms between each update at 20hz as opposed to ~16.7ms at 60hz).

Testing

I performed the testing with Wireshark where I measured the send rate in each direction between the server and my system based on the packets sent to and from the server. I connected to 7 different multiplayer servers (in four different locations) and each showed a client send rate of 60hz and server send rate of 20hz. My testing was performed on a PS4 Pro with a wired, fiber connection.

Here is an imgur album with a graph for each server where the send rates are plotted against time. The red data is the client send rate and the green data is the server send rate. The points in time where the send rates drop down are intermissions.

The servers that I connected to can be viewed on a map here. I connected to a dedicated server every match. I had quite a high ping to the New Jersey servers and a lower ping everywhere else. Something to point out is that the in-game ping graph showed a 50-60ms ping to the California and Illinois servers, but a ping from my computer to those same servers is 12-13ms. I’m not sure what causes such a mismatch there (if not the processing delay on the server).

According to Smrco, the server send rate has been lowered from 60hz to 20hz which causes more inconsistency compared to the beta client due to the fact that there is triple the amount of time between server updates. Additionally, Smcro states that the matchmaking would sometimes choose servers that are “undesirable” in terms of latency.

Over on Twitter, YouTuber Battle(non)sense, who’s famous for doing deep dive videos on a game’s netcode, confirms that Black Ops 4 servers are indeed at 20hz, and is partially to blame why hit registration feels off.

Have you noticed hit registration to be a bit spotty in the game or is it good enough? Do you think Treyarch will bring the Black Ops 4 servers back at 60hz?

In other Black Ops 4 news, we ran a story earlier today that explains why you need to play more than six hours a day, everyday, to attain the max tier in the Black Market.

Tags: Activision Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Treyarch
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Alex Co

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

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World War 3 Early Access Trailer Fires Out and You Need to Watch It

  by   Alex Co  
5:11 pm in News

Tired of futuristic or old-school shooters and want something more modern? If so, then  World War 3 by developer The Farm 51 might be just the thing you need! Set in modern times, World War 3 looks to bring some of that modern combat that’s been missing the past few years.

Check out the World War 3 trailer to see some of the cinematic action, and even some parts on how customizable the game is. There are tanks, choppers, infantry and more!

World War 3 is a multiplayer military FPS set in a modern, global conflict. Join the fight in massive infantry battles, gain advantage over the enemy with personalized weapons, vehicles and drones. Experience true tactical combat in the global struggle where every battle counts.

World War 3 is available now on Steam via Early Access. If you’re a fan of Battlefield, you’ll most likely want to give this a go.

For those who’ve tried it, is it as good as it looks? What do you make of it so far?

Tags: The Farm 51 World War 3
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Alex Co

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

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Battlefield V Won’t Have Single-Player DLC After “The Last Tiger”

  by   Alex Co  
2:59 pm in News

This past week, DICE blew the doors wide open in regards to Battlefield V’s single-player campaign called “War Stories.” While the game’s last chapter titled The Last Tiger will be made available this December 2018, don’t expect more War Stories chapters to be made available down the line as part of the Tides of War seasonal events.

This was revealed by Global Community Manager Dan Mitre where he answered if there will be more War Stories coming in Tides of War.

Dan Mitre: No, after The Last Tiger is released in December, there is currently no plan to add additional War Stories through Tides of War.

Given how the focus of each and every Battlefield game has been multiplayer, this isn’t really surprising news. Speaking of Tides of War, more info about that will be made next week according to DICE.

Don’t forget to check out the rewards DICE is giving to Battlefield V fans as a sort of thank you for sticking with the game amid its delay.

Source: Reddit

Tags: Battlefield battlefield v DICE EA
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Alex Co

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

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Players Must Average 6 Hours & 40 Minutes Playtime Daily to Reach Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Black Market Tier 200

  by   Alex Co  
2:04 pm in News

Just yesterday, Activision announced that the Black Market is making its way to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Thankfully, this version of the Black Market doesn’t rely on Supply Drops like in Black Ops 3, which relied on RNG (random number generator) for items. In Black Ops 4, there’s a “Contraband stream” that slowly fills up until you reach a certain tier, which in turn, will unlock a specific item.

Currently, the Black Ops 4 Black Market tier 200 is the max level available. If you’re planning on attaining that goal, you best have a LOT of free time on your hands. Over on Reddit, user DuvelMe gave a very good playtime computation on just how long it’ll take someone to reach the Black Ops 4 Black Market tier 200 max level, and it’s a staggering six hours and 40 minutes of game time each day. And in case you think DuvelMe was exaggerating, here’s how he arrived at that number:

The amount of time it takes right now to go up a tier is way too much. I don’t know if it is time based or xp based but right now it seems like it would take you at least 10 games of TDM or KC to go up a tier. There’s only about 50 days to get to tier 200, which means that you’d have to go up about 4 tiers a day, that’s 40 games every single day. Let’s say every game lasts for about 10 minutes. that’d mean that i’d have to play 400 minutes or 6 hours and 40 minutes straight every single day just to reach tier 200. Please don’t tell me y’all are forcing people to buy their way to tier 200, that’d be garbage.

DuvelMe might have a point, as I’ve been playing since yesterday when the Black Market was made available, and I’m still only at Black Market tier 2.

If you’re playing Black Ops 4 multiplayer, how long does it take for you clear a certain tier and move up? Is this grind OK for you or is it a tad too much? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Tags: Activision Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Treyarch
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Alex Co

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

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