The magic of the internet is that when you’re on a path of hate, your disdain can spread to others faster than Mustafar fire on a legless Anakin Skywalker. Because of that disdain, Star Wars Battlefront II, the one that released over a decade ago, is being nominated on Steam for a “Better Than The Remake” award.
If you’re not familiar with Steam Awards, the yearly event allows users to nominate their favorite games for various awards and if they don’t see a category for their game, they are given the ability to write in an award. In this case, the Battlefront subreddit has decided on the “Better Than The Remake” award.
If you’d like to vote for the 2005 Battlefront II to win the award, just head to the Steam page and click on the nominate button, and choose the write in option.
Tuesday is weekly reset time for Call of Duty: WWII, meaning new Weekly Orders await players. These Orders offer big rewards for completion. Here’s what’s required of you, as well as details on the loot awards, for this week.
Three’s a Party
Get 75 multi-kills.
Reward – Rare Supply Drop
Winner Winner
Win 25 matches.
Reward – Rare Supply Drop
Demolition Expert
Get 200 explosive kills.
Reward – Rare Supply Drop
The Above and Beyond challenges remain the same:
Daily
Complete and redeem six Daily Orders within 24 hours to receive a unique reward.
Weekly
Complete and redeem three Weekly Orders within 7 days to receive a unique reward.
Remember to complete these tasks before the reset next Tuesday! All tasks must be completed before 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. ET.
Let us know what you get in your Supply Drop rewards in the comments below. If you score any Heroic loot, consider yourself super lucky! (That’s the rarest loot tier!)
It’s Tuesday, which means that it’s time for a Destiny 2weekly reset. We’ve listed everything that’s new — including Milestones, the Nightfall Strike, Eververse items, and more — down below.
Note that the Iron Banner is now available.
Milestones
Call to Arms
Win glory by participating in Crucible matches – Powerful Gear
Clan XP
Earn Clan XP in strikes, raids, the Crucible, or world activities – Powerful Gear
Flashpoint: EDZ
Complete public events on EDZ – Powerful Gear
Nightfall
Complete the weekly Nightfall Strike – Powerful Gear
Nightfall Strike
Strike
Savathun’s Song
Modifiers
Momentum – Health and shield regeneration are disabled while standing still. Sprint to regenerate more quickly.
Timewarp: Anomalies – Strange anomalies have been detected in the area. Destroy them to release temporal energy and extend the mission timer.
Eververse
You’re the Guardian (Emote) – 400 Bright Dust
Flowing Dance (Emote) – 700 Bright Dust
Skedaddle (Vehicle) – 600 Bright Dust
Captain Nemo (Ship) – 500 Bright Dust
Leonid MV (Ship) – 500 Bright Dust
Break the Dawn – Merciless (Weapon Ornament) – 800 Bright Dust
Red Dwarf – Sunshot (Weapon Ornament) – 800 Bright Dust
Legs of Optimacy (Helmet) – 800 Bright Dust
Two of Diamonds Shell (Ghost Shell) – 250 Bright Dust
Remember last month when we reported that Epic Games is suing Fortnite Battle Royale cheaters? It seems the studio is making good on its word, though there seems to be a minor (get it?) hiccup in one of the cases it’s mounting. It has just been revealed that one of the players being taken to court is a 14-year old!
The mother of the 14-year old has responded to the lawsuit filed by Epic Games and points out a few important things like how the cheating translated to financial loss for the company given Fortnite Battle Royale is a free-to-play game, and more. Here’s a summary of the mother’s concerns (via GigamaxGames)
Her first point is that Fortnite’s terms require parental consent for minors, which she says was never given.
She also argues that Epic’s case is based on loss of profits, but argues that the game is free-to-play, in order for the company to prove a loss they would need to release a statement that showed how the cheating directly caused a “mass profit loss”.
Another valid argument is that by attacking the player rather than the websites that sell/provide the cheating software, Epic has ultimately made a scapegoat out of a 14 year old.
Epic also alleged that her son helped create the software used to cheat, which she claims is not the case, he simply downloaded the program as a user.
Her final point goes on to say that when Epic released her son’s name publicly with the suit that the company violated Delaware laws that deal with revealing information on minors.
TorrentFreak managed to get the mother’s letter, which you can read below. Important to note that a minor cannot be sued directly, which means there’s a chance Epic did not know of the 14-year old’s identity at the time.
The mother makes a case that Epic shouldn’t be suing them, but rather, the companies that offer the cheating software instead, and wants the case thrown out.
What do you make of this? Is Epic overreacting? Should the company just ban the 14-year old from playing, or should they continue the lawsuit just to make sure others don’t follow suit?
With all the controversy surrounding Star Wars Battlefront II, some gamers might have forgotten that there’s an actual game beneath all the microtransactions and loot crates. While the game’s player base might be dreading the moment EA rolls back in the microtransactions in the game, there’s quite a few things we’re looking forward to and one of them is a proper stats page.
Over on Reddit, user NoxiousScytheSWBF shared a screenshot of what he says is a Star Wars Battlefront II stats page. There’s the usual stats like kill/death ratio, total games played, total wins, most effective gun used and more. There’s also a tally of the Star Cards the player accrues and what tier it’s in.
It’s currently not known whether DICE will be implementing this in Star Wars Battlefront II, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s part of the next planned game update. Hopefully, that game update, whenever it does drop, also fixes the HDR and stuttering issues, as well as the lag spikes happening right now.
In other Battlefront II news, don’t forget to check out the leaked screenshots of the Arc Trooper, and make sure to check out our most wanted fixes for Battlefront II’s multiplayer, right here.
Visual Concepts has rolled out a new NBA 2K18 update (#6) today for the Xbox One, which should soon be available for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Check out the full NBA 2K18 patch 6 notes below.
– Trivia will be re-enabled in the 2K Zone in MyCAREER once all consoles have received this update. If you have not yet tried it out, 2K Zone Trivia provides 25 VC for every question you answer correctly!
– Users will no longer experience a hang when attempting to read texts from Bryan in MyCAREER.
– Fixed an issue where Bryan would stop sending users texts to pick up their endorsement VC cheques in MyCAREER.
– Addressed a hang that could occur in the Gatorade Training Facility right before starting an activity.
– Addressed a case where some users were seeing their custom created shoes appearing differently in-game than how they looked in the editor.
– The camera will no longer focus on the crowd when play resumes when called right before a free throw in Pro-Am and Play Now Online games.
– Fixed a case where the playoffs would fail to advance after completing a round during an offline MyCAREER.
– Squads will now remain intact when choosing to Play Game after completing a Ruffles Tournament game.
– Michael Jordan’s tongue should now look a little more Mike-like
Don’t forget that Visual Concepts has added the Classic and All-Time teams just a few days ago that lets you play each franchise with their best players of all-time! If you notice anything new in the patch that’s not in the update notes, let us know.
One of the new additions to the Call of Duty franchise developer Sledgehammer Games has made is the introduction of the “Social Score” in Call of Duty: WWII. Players earned Social Score by “commending” other players, or getting commendations themselves from their peers.
Unfortunately, given Headquarters still isn’t working as intended, the chances of people getting a ton of Social Score is a slim one. Those curious what rewards await them when they get a lot of Social Score, wonder no more! Over on Twitter, Sledgehammer Games boss Michael Condrey revealed that the higher the Social Score, the better the rewards, and “top tier” gets your gamertag/PSN ID “verified.”
Correction: Social Score does not affect your Supply Drop loot. Social score is tier based, the higher the tier the better the rewards you earn, incl some heroic weapon variant rewards. Top tier gets your GT “verified”.
Correction: Social Score does not affect your Supply Drop loot. Social score is tier based, the higher the tier the better the rewards you earn, incl some heroic weapon variant rewards. Top tier gets your GT “verified”.
It’s currently unknown what the magic Social Score number is to get a “verified” status in COD: WWII, nor what it looks like in-game.
In other COD: WWII news, go check out the some leaked gameplay footage of the upcoming weapons and modes. And if you’re super conscious of your Social Score, don’t forget that you can hire a “pro player” to play the game for you.
Big gaming deals have lead to many games rocketing up the UK sales charts, with Gran Turismo Sport climbing from #12 to #3, Forza Motorsport 7 moving from #15 to #6, and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus rising from #18 to #7. Despite this, however, Call of Duty: WWII has kept its crown and remains firmly at #1.
Here’s the top 20 games for the week ending November 25, 2017:
1 CALL OF DUTY: WWII
2 FIFA 18
3 GRAN TURISMO: SPORT
4 STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II
5 ASSASSIN’S CREED ORIGINS
6 FORZA MOTORSPORT 7
7 WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS
8 SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY
9 FALLOUT 4
10 NEED FOR SPEED PAYBACK
11 PLAYSTATION VR WORLDS
12 FORZA HORIZON 3
13 WWE 2K18
14 KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
15 HIDDEN AGENDA
16 CRASH BANDICOOT N.SANE TRILOGY
17 GRAND THEFT AUTO V
18 DESTINY 2
19 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE
20 DOOM
It’s not only software that was getting shaken up last week. Sony’s PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR hardware were both selling big. According to the Ukie Gfk charts, PS4 has its strongest Black Friday week since 2013. PSVR sales were similar to its launch week. More than 83 percent of hardware units were sold as part of a bundle.
While DICE might have announced some of the content coming down the pipe for Star Wars Battlefront II, it seems the studio has been holding out on fans on what new stuff to expect. Over on Reddit, user uninspired_zebra has posted a screenshot of what appears to be the Arc Trooper, whom the leaker says is part of the Sentinel class.
Take a look at the following two images of the new class in the menus.
It’s said that the class will have the following Star Cards available:
The image above is said to be a placeholder for now, so bear that in mind before the complaints come in, alright?
We’ve reached out to EA for a statement on the leaked class and will update the post if and when we get a reply.
In other Star Wars Battlefront II news, DICE knows about the recent lag-fest that’s happening on every platform and is currently “investigating.” Don’t forget to check out our list of fixes we want DICE to make for Battlefront II ASAP.
Phones are now pretty damn powerful, and capable of driving some impressive looking games. For many, a mobile phone is considered a gaming platform, and more and more publishers are looking to push content to the Android and iOS stores.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds‘ Chinese publisher Tencent is aiming to port the hugely successful PC game to mobile devices. The PUBG mobile game is being described as a “full fledged mobile port” which will allow “players jumping over to mobile … to take advantage of their play on PC and maintain a consistent experience.”
Sounds a little too good to be true, but according to the (Google translated via Kotaku) press release, it’s what Tencent is promising.
This port sounds mighty ambitious, but I’d love to give it a go. Unfortunately, as I don’t live in China, I won’t be able to! (At least, not without a complicated workaround…)
What do you make of this PUBG mobile game? Think it’ll be as successful as the PC version? Let us know.
If you haven’t yet jumped into Bungie’s latest blockbuster title, Destiny 2, you might be curious to hear that there’s a free trial starting tomorrow, November 28. This trial will allow all gamers on PC, PS4 and Xbox One to try out the game for free.
The length of this trial period isn’t clear, but I’ll update this post as I learn more.
Take a look at the “Free Trial Trailer”:
So, you’re new to Destiny 2? Enjoy the free trial and jump into the cinematic campaign on your own or with friends. Want to battle other players? Enter the multiplayer arena and put your skills to the ultimate test. Carry over your progress from the trial with purchase of the full-game.
Here’s the full announcement, which contains details on how to download the trial, and what you can do once it’s installed:
Destiny 2’s free trial begins tomorrow, November 28, on PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One.
Download Destiny 2 through your console or Blizzard Battle.net to participate.
Team up with friends or play solo and experience your first steps in the epic cinematic-filled campaign, explore new worlds, and face off in competitive multiplayer.
Will you be giving the Destiny 2 free trial a go? Or are you perhaps a veteran who’s looking forward to some fresh meat and easy kills? Let us know!
While there are dozens — if not hundreds — of TVs, monitors and the like available in the market, the same can’t be said for personal virtual theaters. Not familiar with those? I don’t blame you. Think of it as giant private screens that can display whatever you’re playing, watching, streaming, and more.
Enter the Royole Moon; this headset isn’t a virtual reality device (as some people will most likely assume it is), but rather, it lets people experience a full 1080p display up close, private and in any place you want (no, really!). Want to have a watch a movie privately on a plane? You can do that. What about streaming something in the comforts of your bed? Yep, that works, too. The Royole Moon essentially acts as a second (or third, or fourth) TV in your house, but with the added layer of privacy. However, there is a price to pay (literally) for it.
Premium Everything
Make no mistake, the Royole Moon is a premium product. The headphone bands have soft cushion on them, there are gold accents everywhere, and soft leather is used to great effect. However, the downside is, it costs a hefty $800, which would put it out of reach for most casual gamers and buyers.
Just what do you get for that price point? For $800, buyers are getting the headset, cables, carrying case, the 32GB storage/battery pack (which can be filled up with movies, pictures, etc.). Basically, what you see in the image above.
The headset can output in stereoscopic 3D (though I haven’t tested its 3D capabilities), at full 1080p via two AMOLED displays, simulated on a 800″ giant curved screen, with over 3000PPI (pixels per inch), with fast-response times. It can connect via Bluetooth to your phone or tablet, or HDMI to your PC, console of choice, and doing so is a cinch, thankfully.
Controlling the Moon is a breeze, too, with the headphones is a touchpad-like sensor that lets you adjust the volume, choose settings and more. It definitely adds to the premium feeling given you’re not fumbling with buttons to do tasks.
There’s also a neat hidden feature in the Moon and that’s built-in corrective lenses. This is for people who wear glasses (like me!), so you won’t need to wear your glasses when using the Moon. That said, don’t expect it to a “one size fits all” kind of thing, since it made me view things OK, though I still needed my glasses for some intense multiplayer matches.
Heavy Lifting
During my testing period, I watched a few YouTube clips, a movie, and played a few games on the Moon. While the performance itself was topnotch, there was a nagging issue of the device digging into your nose. The Royole Moon weighs in at 1.5 pounds (700 grams), which might not seem much on paper, but is significant when you’re using it for an hour or so given the device is being supported by the headphone straps, with some weight distributed on your face via the device.
There’s also the headphones, which provide noise-cancellation tech, though that also means your ears are cupped entirely, which might prove to be uncomfortable for some, and in some cases, hot.
Speaking of hot, the device itself gets quite hot. Mind, I was using it in an air conditioned room, so I didn’t mind it much, but for prolonged used, you will feel the headset emanating heat, though nothing to get worried about.
In Your Face Gaming
While the Moon’s main draw might be watching YouTube videos, movies (some of the exotic variety for some) for on-the-go situations, or when you want some privacy, the device can hold its own when it comes to gaming.
Say you want to play some video games and your kids or significant other is watching on the TV, you can do so with the Moon and not feel like you’re relegated to the crappy, secondary TV of the house. During my time testing Titanfall 2 it performed admirably, with the only issue being the headset itself digging into my nose for prolonged use. But for the performance itself, if it can handle something as fast-paced as Titanfall 2, I suspect you won’t have any issues with slower titles.
Royole Moon has been touted as something that would make sense to bring onto a plane so people wouldn’t be bored while in-flight, and maybe get some gaming on, but I wasn’t fortunate enough to test it in real-world conditions in that regard.
For those curious, the makers are saying it can handle a five hours in a single full charge. I tested it, and it seemed to last longer than two entire movies, which is more than good enough.
Over the Moon and Back
The Royole Moon definitely delivers on its promise. However, the main deterrent here isn’t the performance or the hardware itself, but rather, the high price point of $800. For most, that’s hard to swallow and instantly takes it out of impulse buy territory. And for those looking for an alternate TV in the house, at that price, a lot of solid and sizable TVs can already be bought.
However, if that isn’t the concern, and having privacy watching a movie, or playing a game is, then the Royole Moon does the job well. Just don’t forget to use it somewhere cool.
Score: N/A
Pros:
Fantastic build quality and premium feel
Works as advertised
Can be used on planes, rooms, car rides, etc.
Has its own HDD, and everything else out of the box
Can be synced to your phones, tablets, and hooked up PCs and consoles super easy
Cons:
Quite expensive
Unit can get a little hot after prolonged use
Might be too heavy for some to use for long durations
Lots of wires to sort
Royole Moon headset review unit provided by manufacturer. Used a PS4 Pro to gane, and a few movies, and streamed online conent, Full product specs can be seen here. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
Microtransactions and loot boxes aren’t the only thing causing an uproar within the Star Wars Battlefront IIcommunity. Laggy connections between players and the servers are causing frustration, too.
Here’s an example of one player being brutally ruined by terribly-timed lag:
Complaints have been appearing across Reddit and social media since launch, with no real acknowledgement by developer DICE. That is, until now.
Posting on the official Battlefront II forums, a developer commented with the following short response:
Hello,
We are aware of the issues that lead players to experience latencies on the game servers. We are currently investigating and will update you as soon as we have more info.
And that’s all you’re getting! But at least it’s something, right?!
Have you been experiencing lag in Star Wars Battlefront II? Let us know.
A new Gran Turismo Sportupdate is being rolled out. It adds offline modes, three new cars, improved physics simulation, and more.
Here’s the official rundown of the main features that have been implemented:
1. New Cars
- The following 3 cars have been added:
・IsoRivolta Zagato Vision Gran Turismo (Gr.X)
・Audi R18 (Audi Sport Team Joest) (Gr.1)
・Shelby Cobra 427 (N500)
2. Physics Simulation Model
- Some elements of the car physics simulation model have been improved. This can be noticed especially in the handling of commercial cars, which exhibit less grip on the road;
- Control management of the ABS when set to ‘Standard’ has been adjusted, improving handling under braking conditions;
- Control management for rear wheel drive cars when TCS is set higher than ‘2’ has been adjusted, raising stability at corner exits.
3. Campaign Mode
- It is now possible to play the campaign mode while being offline;
- In line with the changes to the physics simulation model, the difficulty level of the Driving School and Mission Challenges events have been adjusted;
- As a consequence of the change to the above difficulty levels, the ranking boards of the Driving School, Mission Challenge, and Circuit Experience have been reset. (This has no impact on game progress and the Gold/Silver/Bronze results achieved before the reset).
4. Livery Editor
- It is now possible to use the Livery Editor while being offline;
- It is now possible to create and edit Liveries of a car even when it is not selected as current car;
- It is now possible to apply liveries to cars loaned for the Manufacturer Series. (It is now possible to participate in the Manufacturer Series races with cars displaying custom liveries).
5. Museum
- A Museum section has been added to Bugatti in Brand Central.
6. Race Screen
- There is now a warning indicator when the fuel level is low.
7. Sound
- It is now possible to adjust the balance of sound effects during gameplay. The adjustment can be made from [Options] -> [Sound Volume].
8. Scapes
- It is now possible to use the Scapes feature while being offline;
- “Autumn Leaves” has been added to the featured collection. In line with this, a few new Photo Spots have been added.
9. Sports Mode
- It is now possible to download and view the replays from the top drivers in the Daily Race Qualifying Time Attack rankings;
- A network indicator is now displaying the connection status and quality of the participating players;
- The judgement algorithm of the Sportsmanship Rating (SR) has been improved. It is also now possible to see the deductions of SR points for other drivers involved in a collision/incident with your car.
10. Sports Mode / Lobby
- It is now possible to select premade phrases when entering text chat;
- You can now set an automatic greeting message for when you enter a lobby. The content of this text can be edited from [My Menu] -> [Profile Settings]. (Up to 40 characters).
In addition to the above improvements, “various other issues have been addressed.” Not very specific, but there you go!
What do you make of the latest GT Sport update? Glad to be be able to play modes offline? How about those new cars? Let us know.
While Activision has announced how successful Call of Duty: WWII has been out of the gate, it seems the game’s not captivating players enough — at least on PC — as the player population has dropped by more than 20,000 players just a few weeks since launch.
Over on SteamCharts, it shows that the all-time peak of Call of Duty: WWII is at over 56,000 players, but the highest it’s been so far this holiday weekend is at 29.556. Note that this number is more than your average given the holidays and the weekends, which means more players can log on. Checking the numbers from launch day (November 3, 2017) until today, we see the COD: WWII player base drop to below 10K levels multiple times.
Does this mean that gamers are moving on to other games? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll most likely have a fairer assessment of how it goes a month or two after launch. Of course, there’s a good chance some players are not logging in until Sledgehammer Games fixes the issues that are still plaguing the game.
In other COD: WWII news, go read up on our list of stuff we want fixed by Sledgehammer Games ASAP. Our final review also made its way out which you can read about here.
Do you think this is a cause for concern for Sledgehammer Games? Why do you think the player count is dropping that much just weeks after launch?
I’m forever posting about PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds ever-increasing concurrent player count, which continues to rise and rise with no sign of slowing down. That game is just so damn popular! However, what’s also popular, is the client that houses PUBG. I’m talking about Steam!
Steam has just hit a new milestone for all-time concurrent users. Thanks to the Steam Autumn Sale attracting players far and wide, over 17 million gamers were logged into Steam, all at the same time!
The exact peak figure was 17,171,854, as seen in the graph below:
Dayum, that is a lot of people playing PC games! Almost 3 million players were online last-man-standing it up in PUBG, while the other 14 million were inexplicably playing other things. (PUBG is love, PUBG is life.)
Were you one of the 17 million who were signed in on November 25? If so, let us know in the comments below.
The new Rise of Agon patch prevents war targets from being freely attacked inside NPC lawful or capital cities, adds village billboards to each capital city, and more.
For the full list of patch notes, see below:
Crafting
– Visually updated the crafting and remote crafting windows.
– Professions that are not obtained yet are greyed out and show the requirements necessary to learn each profession
In-Game Map Enhancements
– Cities and Hamlets on the map now show which Clan owns them.
Villages
– Adjusted the timer in which villages go live. Six villages now go live every hour.
– Global message has been added stating when a village has been capped and by the number of members in the party who capped it. (Ex, A party of 6 has successfully captured the village of Trinwood.)
– Village Billboards have been added to each Capital City. Players can port to all active villages or 30 minutes prior to the village being active, for a cost of 1000 gold.
Miscellaneous
– The cost of Gem Enchants on all quality of gems has been reduced to 100 gold.
– Rage will now automatically unlock at 40 strength/40 vitality.
Anti-Grief
– War targets can no longer be freely attacked inside npc lawful or capital cities. War targets will display their true alignment color inside these zones with the war target icon. There is no change outside these zones.
Do you like the look of the enhanced maps? Let us know in the comments.
The first-person shooter genre is full of intense multiplayer titles that can cause stress and frustration. When a player is on the losing side, or they aren’t performing their best, it’s easy for tempers to be lost. A bad temper can lead to toxic behavior, affecting the enjoyment of others.
To help encourage more “GGs” and positivity from Rainbow Six Siegeplayers, Ubisoft is testing a new report player option on the Technical Test Server. Players will now find a “Report for Toxic Behavior” option located below “Vote to Kick”.
