Like getting free stuff for doing virtually nothing? If the answer to that is a resounding yes, then the latest feature to be implemented for Path of Exile will definitely be up your alley.
Grinding Gear Games has announced that Twitch drops are now available for Path of Exile. If you’re wondering exactly what this is, it’s simple; you can now be awarded a random cosmetic helmet for simply watching any streamer playing Path of Exile.
However, it should be noted in order to eligible for these drops all you have to do is follow these simple steps below:
Step 1 – Link your Path of Exile account to Twitch.
Step 2 – Watch any of your favourite Path of Exile streamers play Path of Exile.
Yes, it’s really that simple. But, to make things even sweeter. Grinding Gear Games have also revealed that every five minutes of watching a Path of Exile stream, you’ll have a chance of winning these helmets. If picked as a winner, you’ll have a chance to be awarded one of these helmets shown below:
Unfortunately, for those on the Xbox One platform looking forward to this new feature will be disappointed. as it seems that this feature is only available PC gamers — at least for the time being.
Aside from news of this new feature that’s now live, GGG have also showcased one of the end-game bosses for the upcoming expansion. You can check out the footage of said boss in the video provided:
For more Path of Exile news, feel free to read our coverage of the upcoming War for the Atlas expansion that arrives December 8.
YouTube users Uninspired Zebra and DylanRocket have now provided us with a look at some unreleased Arcade maps and the “Select Faction” screen from the upcoming The Last Jedi free DLC.
Here’s footage of the not-yet-released Arcade maps:
And here’s a look at The Last Jedi menu screen:
Another day, another load of new datamined info! I wonder if this is everything… Perhaps we’ll have even more to talk about tomorrow!
What do you make of the unreleased Arcade maps? It’d be wonderful to take out bots on the Death Star II, Kashyyyk, Hoth, Endor and Jakku! Here’s hoping they get added soon.
If you play Digital Extremes’ highly popular free-to-play game Warframe on either the PC, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, then chances are you know of Baro Ki’Teer — the bi-monthly vendor that makes an appearance every other Friday to sell some exotic stuff for players.
For today, December 1, 2017, Barok Ki’Teer’s wares can be seen below courtesy of Reddit user Lord_Dust_Bunny!
Lord_Dust_Bunny even has a list of “suggested buys” for mods and cosmetics. Bear in mind that these are subjective and should not be taken as fact on what to purchase and what not to. Think of ’em as guidelines more than anything.
Making another “Suggested Buys” list, though remember this is subjective. Items are listed in general order they should be bought, with the ‘best’ buy being at the top of each section.
Mods:
The Impact mods are all particularly niche, and all drop from the Eidolon now. Skip.
Special note to Collision Course: there is a Prime version of the base Impact mod for melee. Skip unless you want it for an Atlas stat stick as it has no other use.
Cosmetics:
The Eos Prime Set is a very nice armor set.
Ki’Teer Solstice Syandana is a festive syandana, but it is very blocky and does not fit most frames well.
Everything else is summed up as if you like what it’s for (Puppers, Baro Glyphs, Sentinel Cosmetics) get it and otherwise ignore.
Other:
Sands of Inaros is always a good buy if you do not own Inaros.
Machete Wraith is a Machete that isn’t the Gazal or a Zaw. Skip unless you want the Mastery.
Do not buy the Corrupted Bombard Specter
If you’re curious why people should NOT buy the Corrupted Bombard Specter, here’s why:
In no particular order:
The Specter is a one time use blueprint you have to pay to make in your foundry. It only makes 5 specters.
The Bombard specter, unlike every other specter in the game, is not an Eximus. This means it is significantly less tanky then other specters and provides no additional utility.
The Bombard specter comes with a shield drone. This shield drone only follows the Bombard, cannot give shields to the Bombard, and has no shields itself.
The Bombard specter can be stunlocked.
The Bombard specter does not CC enemies with it’s weapon
It’s basically a meme item. Just summoning a Lancer specter or Shield Charger specter will provide you with much more actual usage, with the benefit of not costing ducats.
That’s it for this week. Once Barok updates his wares, we’ll let readers know. If you’re a Warframe fan and want to see more coverage of the game here on MP1st, let us know in the comments below.
Following EA’s announcement of EA SportsUFC 3, beta signups were also revealed for a select number of players. Well, today, the UFC 3 beta is now open to everyone on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One!
The UFC 3 beta is available to download and play now, until December 4, 11:59 p.m. PST, and offers the game modes Fight Now, Online Quick Fight, Practice Mode and UFC Ultimate Team. EA is also introducing its new “Real Player Motion” (RPM) tech, which is a new animation technology for a more realistic look to the fighters.
In all game modes, players will get their first hands-on experience with Real Player Motion (RPM) Tech, a revolutionary new EA SPORTS animation technology that sets a new bar for motion and responsiveness in the best-looking – and now the best-feeling – EA SPORTS UFC game ever. With over 5,000 new animations captured and rebuilt from the ground up, players can now move, strike, and create seamless combinations in-game with the world’s best mixed martial arts athletes.
EA’s UFC 3 will be available worldwide this February 2 on the PS4 and Xbox One. Those who pre-order the game will get the “Champions Edition” and receive three days early access to the full game, the choice of one current or former UFC champion as a Champion Fighter item in UFC Ultimate Team, and 20 Premium Packs in Ultimate Team.
We’ve already went a few rounds with the fight sim, and will post our impressions very soon.
Bungie has published its weekly update on its official blog. In addition to the featured community videos and a reminder about the upcoming maintenance period, there’s a short video showing off some of the Destiny 2 Curse of Osiris gear.
Give the video below a click to check out the new weapons and armor, which will be available when Curse of Osiris launches on December 5.
If you were looking forward to the fashion show that was cancelled this week, we still have a small glimpse of the gear that’s coming with Destiny 2’s first expansion. If you wish to remain unspoiled, scroll on. We fully understand the desire for discovery while you’re playing the game. If you want an idea of what gear you’ll be adding to your inventory, here’s a taste:
In the first expansion to Destiny 2, you’ll earn powerful new weapons and awesome armor that will change the way you look and fight. ‘Curse of Osiris’ launches on December 5.
I hope you stayed until the end for the mic drop and Sweeper Bot emotes!
Are you looking forward to the Destiny 2 Curse of Osiris expansion? Let us know.
The latest patch for ARK: Survival Evolved is now rolling out on PC, which adds Heavy Turrets and more.
You can find the full list of patch notes below:
– Added “Heavy Turret”, which packs approximately 4 times the power of a regular Turret and has faster tracking, but uses 4 Ammo per shot.
On Official Servers, in preparation for ultimately limiting all Turrets to 100 within a 10,000 unit range, only 100 Heavy Turrets can be placed in a 10000 unit range, including ALL Auto Turrets & Plant Turrets within that range. If you wish to enable this Heavy Turret limit on your own unofficial Server, you can use these values in the ShooterGameMode section of your Game.ini:
bLimitTurretsInRange=true
LimitTurretsRange=10000
LimitTurretsNum=100
(Later on, those values will also hard-limit regular Auto Turrets and Plant Turrets)
– Doubled Tek Turret Damage
Kayd Hendricks, ARK’s gameplay designer provided us with more information in a previous post.
What do you think to the latest patch? Looking forward to trying those heavy turrets? Let us know below.
Well, this is a bit awkward… Despite PUBGcreative director Brendan Greene confirming in an interview with GamesTM that the game would “definitely” run at 60fps on Xbox One X, we’ve now learned that it actually won’t be running at that smooth frame-rate.
Responding to the sudden buzz about PUBG Xbox One X performance, Greene tweeted the following in an attempt to clear things up:
While I previously stated PUBG would run at higher FPS at XGP launch on 12/12, I want to clarify that PUBG will run at 30 FPS across all @Xbox One devices. We’re constantly refining the game & exploring options to increase FPS, but this early in dev, we’re unable to confirm more.
Well, that’s disappointing! Greene sounded super confident when speaking to GamesTM, and I’m thinking this has more to do with enforced parity for competitiveness sake, than a lack of Xbox One X horsepower.
It should be noted that, as the game is featured in Xbox Game Preview, lots of big changes could occur. We may see a bump up in frame-rate sometime down the road, but for launch on December 12, all Xbox One players will be experiencing the same 30fps output.
Are you disappointed by this? Or is it fine? Let us know.
World of Warcraft‘s latest patch is now available on the PTR. Update 7.3.5 focuses on Allied Race Racials and mounts.
Find the list of Allied Race Racial highlights below:
Lightforged Draenei
The Lightforged Draenei are a new Alliance Allied Race coming in the Battle for Azeroth expansion.
Racials – Light’s Judgement – Call down a strike of Holy energy dealing 5,150 Holy damage to enemies within 5 yards after 3 sec. 40 yd range, 2.5 min cooldown.
– Forge of Light – Summon a forge of light, enabling Blacksmithing. Blacksmithing skill increased by 10.
– Demonbane – Experience gains from killing demons increased by 20%.
– Holy Resistance – Reduce Holy damage taken by 1%.
– Final Verdict – When you die the Light avenges you, dealing 1,162 Holy damage to enemies within 8 yards and healing allies for 1,383.
Dark Iron Dwarves
The Dark Iron Dwarves are a new Alliance Allied Race coming in the Battle for Azeroth expansion.
Racials
– Dungeon Delver
– Fireblood
– Forged in Flames
– Mass Production
-Mole Machine
Void Elves
The Void Elves are a new Alliance Allied Race coming in the Battle for Azeroth expansion.
Racials
– Chill of Night – Reduces Arcane and Shadow damage taken by 1%.
– Entropic Embrace – Your abilities have a chance to empower you with the essence of the Void.
– Ethereal Connection – Reduces the cost of Void Storage and Transmogrification by 50%.
– Preturnatural Calm – Your spell casts are not delayed by taking damage.
– Spatial Rift – Rip a rift in space and time. Reactivate this ability to teleport through the rift.
Highmountain Tauren
The Highmountain Tauren are a new Horde Allied Race coming in the Battle for Azeroth expansion.
Racials
– Rugged Tenacity – Reduces damage taken by 330
– Pride of Ironhorn – Mining skill increased by 15 and allows you to mine faster
– Mountaineer – Increases your Versatility by 1%.
– Bull Rush – Charges forward for 1 sec, knocking enemies down for 1.5 sec. 2 minute cooldown.
– Waste Not, Want Not – You have a chance to loot additional meat and fish
Nightborne
The Nightborne are a new Horde Allied Race coming in the Battle for Azeroth expansion.
Racials
– Ancient History – Inscription skill increased by 15.
– Arcane Affinity – Increases magical damage 1%.
– Cantrips – Conjure up an Eldritch Grimoire, allowing you mail access for 1.5 minutes.
– Dispel Illusions – Draw upon your arcane sight, piercing illusions and invisibility within 15 yards.
– Magical Resistance – Reduces magical damage taken by 1%.
– Masquerade – Shroud yourself in illusion, taking on the appearance of another Nightborne.
For the full (extensive) list of patch notes, as well as a look at the new armor sets, click here.
What do you think to the latest WoW patch? Let us know below.
We knew a PUBGmobile game announcement was coming, but we didn’t expect two big reveals. One game will stay true to the PC and Xbox One version, while the other will boast a more arcadey feel, as well as naval warfare. Yep, you read that right!
One of the games is being developed by Tencent TIMI, while the other is being developed by Lightspeed & Quantum Studio.
Do remember that, for now at least, these titles will only be coming to the Chinese market. Of course, that won’t stop your curiosity, so I’ve embedded both reveal trailers below!
PUBG Mobile Game #1
PUBG Mobile Game #2
That naval warfare just explodes out of nowhere. It just seems so bizarre, but I guess that’s fine!
Analyst Daniel Ahmad posted about the two game announcements on Twitter:
So yes.
Two PUBG Mobile games.
One is developed by Tencent TIMI studio and the other is developed by Lightspeed & Quantum Studio.
Both are developed on Unreal Engine 4.
First game adds naval battles and arcade feel. Second one seems to be more in line with original PC game pic.twitter.com/NxEX889W9r
EA has released a new patch for FIFA 18, available to download on PC. This update makes a bunch of changes across all game modes. Several issues have been addressed with the gameplay, including: a freezing issue which happened in some situations during the celebration of a goal, and more.
For the full list of patch notes, see below:
Addressed the following issues in Gameplay:
– A freeze happening, in some situations, during the goal celebration for a goal that was scored by the goalkeeper.
– The goal celebration being skipped, in some situations, after a goal was scored by the goalkeeper.
– Holding the sprint button will once again cause a goalkeeper to get up quickly if he is on the ground while holding the ball.
– The player sometimes being in control of the wrong player in a Skill Game.
– Stringing the juggle skill move together multiple times in the Practice Arena could cause your player to disappear.
– Updated the default FIFA Trainer settings for the Intro Match to show both Movement and Mechanics instead of just Movement.
Addressed the following issues in Online Modes:
– Captains, or players that had just transferred captaincy to another player, getting disconnected or crashing after inviting another club to a match in Pro Clubs Friendlies in some situations.
Made the following changes in FIFA Ultimate team:
– Added the ability to watch FUT Champions Channel replays in a slower (0.5x) playback speed.
– When toggling the playback speed of the replay, it cycles through Normal –> Fast –> Slow.
– Removed the Single Player Camera from the list of available camera angles in FUT Champions Channel.
– Removed the non-functional Restart button in the FUT Champions Channel Pause Menu.
– Renamed the FIWC Stadium item to FeWC Stadium.
Addressed the following issues in FIFA Ultimate team:
– FUT Squads that had default tactics values that were incorrectly set to over 100 have been reset to the normal default values.
– A visual issue where sometimes the kit that a player selected to play with would not be the kit that their opponent would see them playing with in FUT Online modes.
– The FUT Squad Battles Featured Squad image not loading properly after rapidly transitioning through screens.
– The Pause Menu countdown timer sometimes displaying throughout a FUT Champions Channel replay.
– The scrolling team lineup list sometimes displaying at the start of a FUT Champions Channel replay.
– The penalty shootout tutorial sometimes displaying during a penalty shootout in a FUT Champions Channel replay.
Addressed the following issues in Audio / Visual / Presentation:
– Updates to the 2D portraits for some players.
What do you think of the latest FIFA 18 patch? Let us know in the comments below.
Let’s get this out of the way first: if you’re reading this review expecting us to just lambaste Star Wars Battlefront IIdue to the microtransactions controversy, then you’ll sadly be disappointed. While we do touch on that a bit, the review focuses more on the actual gameplay and how it fares (a game reviewer focusing on the actual gameplay — shocker!).
Having said that, we did give the game a fair shake trying out all the game modes available, testing the progression extensively by playing the multiplayer for hours. If you want to read how Star Wars Battlefront II is a game (and not as an “online casino”), then dive in, Padawan! As one can expect given MP1st is a multiplayer-focused site, the majority of the review will focus on the multiplayer modes, though we account the single-player portion as part of the overall score.
First Order
In Star Wars Battlefront II, you star as Iden Versio, an officer in the First Order. It’s a big departure from the usual Star Wars games where you often played as the Resistance (good guys), or as a Jedi. It’s a big gamble on DICE’s end, and one that pays off. Hearing the story from “the other side” gives the First Order soldiers a more human side and explains why they do the things that they do.
There are a few twists and turns in the 12 chapters Battlefont II’s story encompasses, but for the most part, it’s fairly predictable. What’s less predictable is the actual gameplay scenarios. Sure, there are the usual “go to a spot, clear all enemies before proceeding to the next level” sort of thing. Breaking the monotony of shooting are stealth scenarios, space battles, and even instances where you control Iden’s droid ID10.
The campaign lasts roughly 4-6 hours depending on if you spend time looking for collectibles, or just speeding through. While it’s a solid offering from DICE, the main draw of Battlefront II is, of course, the multiplayer.
Space Pirates
Let’s get it out of the way: Star Wars Battlefront II originally had a microtransaction-riddled progression system that was pulled at the final hour due to pressure from fans, and reportedly from Star Wars IP owner, Disney.
At the time of this review’s publication, Battlefront II has no microtransactions to speak of. No cosmetics, no gated Star Cards, no nothing. Of course, given that EA has been public about reinstating microtransactions back in, we don’t know for sure how that will work. For the sake of clarity and transparency, this review is being judged solely on the version we’re playing now, which has no microtransaction elements tied into progression.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the core gameplay of Battlefront II feels relatively the same as DICE’s 2015 Battlefront. I say “relatively” since there are a few major and minor differences that make Battlefront II one of the most puzzling multiplayer games I’ve ever reviewed.
Playing With a Full Deck
In case you haven’t been paying attention to Battlefront II’s multiplayer, the game employs Star Cards as its form of progression and abilities for all aspects of multiplayer. There are Star Cards for all four classes, all the Heroes, ships and more. For better or for worse, Star Cards are an integral part of multiplayer, and that’s where some of the main issues lie. In Battlefront II, you earn loot crates that house these Star Cards. You earn ’em by completing challenges, buying them for credits you earn in-game and so on. Speaking of which, the credits earn rate are a problem in of itself as well, given how random its given out at the end of every match. It’s gotten to the point that people even use homemade bots just to farm credits while going AFK.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to guarantee that the Star Cards you earn in loot crates won’t turn into duplicates. You do get credits and Scraps in crates that you can use to buy more loot crates, or craft gun attachments or Star Cards directly, so there is that little workaround. But for the most part, the Star Cards progression system is a deviation from the standard multiplayer progression shooter fans are used to.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the RNG-based progression system the Star Cards offer. It’s too random, and just randomizes progression. Its entire premise does seem like it was tailor made for microtransactions, which is not ideal for a balanced multiplayer game.
It Hurts So Fine
Another odd bit of gameplay decision comes in the form of time to kill (TTK). In Battlefont II, it seems the TTK is a tad too slow, making engagements last longer than they should. Not sure why this was changed since 2015’s Battlefront had it down pat.
Speaking of 2015’s Battlefront, one of the major complaints to that game was the lack of progression and unlocks — a fact DICE took to heart and made sure won’t be an issue in BFII. While I commend the studio for putting in a lot more stuff for players to unlock, it comes so at the expense of gating items and equipment, for the sake of gating them. Want a different gun from the base gun you’re using? Yeah, go kill X number of enemies first. Want an attachment for your gun? Yep, do X task first. It’s tedious enough that you have to do this with every class’ gun, but you need to do it for every gun to unlock every attachment as well, which is just grindingly annoying.
That’s not even the worst part. Star Cards slots are also gated too. Sure, one can argue that reaching level 5 for a class won’t take long to open Star Card slot #2, but the fact that it’s even needed, just feels like artificial padding, and gives veteran players more advantages against the newcomers. As if learning the map, weapons, proper use of Star Cards and shooting mechanics weren’t enough advantages.
Note to devs: players don’t appreciate being given crappy weapons, equipment or gimping their capabilities just because of time played, or level number. Veteran players don’t need more advantages than the ones I mentioned above.
While I’ve dished out a fair number of complaints with BFII, the core gameplay is still sound. Add in the allure of the Star Wars license, and well, BFII might be an easy purchase for some. DICE has always been known to create balanced — and fun — games, and BFII is no different.
Either playing as a standard infantry grunt, a Jedi, a Wookie or another class, the core gameplay feels tight. Action is fast, frenetic, and satisfying enough that you’ll want to keep on grinding Battlepoints to be able to play as a Hero and lay waste to your enemies.
Adding to the appeal of the core gameplay are the audio-visual presentation. While some parts of BFII does look a bit inferior to the 2015 version (not sure if that’s just my eyes playing tricks on me), the game still looks drop-dead gorgeous. It’s even more impressive when you factor in 40 players fighting, an expansive stage to fight on, and other stuff happening (AT-ATs, etc.). In the audio department, DICE once again doesn’t disappoint. Lasers are fired off with that familiar sound, and the dialogue, music and sound effects match up with what’s happening on-screen to complement it.
Dogs Fighting in Space
I’ve already written an entire preview on Starfighter Assault based on the beta — Battlefront II’s space battles mode. For the most part, it plays the same, which is a good thing since DICE has nailed down this mode more than any other. If you ever wanted to fly an X-Wing or Boba Fett’s Slave-1, and feel like a badass in doing so, Starfighter Assault is the mode for you.
The only issue here is: a lot of players have managed to mine and collect Star Cards for their spacecrafts, and these affect the gameplay and match outcome greatly than in your standard infantry match (in my opinion). Missiles lock on faster, overdrive recharges quicker, etc., are just some of the Star Card abilities that available to players, which newcomers will surely when playing.
Of course, an easy solution for this is to grind for loot crates, craft Star Cards yourself, but for the initial few matches, be prepared to be blown to bits by enemy spacecrafts.
Universal Soldier
While Battlefront II has been mired in controversy for months now, there is a good game underneath all of the microtransactions and hate it managed to amass, no thanks to publisher EA.
An above average single-player campaign, paired with an oftentimes satisfying multiplayer component is no easy feat. DICE manages to do that with Battlefront II. Add in Starfighter Assault, and a competent local co-op mode, and you have the complete package that every Star Wars fan will gobble up willingly.
It’s just an annoying state of affairs that EA failed to see that when it wanted to shoehorn microtransactions into the game, and that effect is still felt with the Star Cards, and how Heroes can be bought in the game with in-game credits.
For Star Wars fans, Battlefront II is a no-brainer purchase decision, and I don’t blame them. Now for those just looking for a shooter, then Star Wars Battlefront II can scratch that itch, but just be prepared by some minor annoyances along the way. And of course, the ever looming threat of microtransactions is always there that can skew the game balance severely if haphazardly implemented.
Star Wars Battlefront II is an above average shooter, and the complete package when taken as a whole. Just be prepared for lots of game balancing, and tweaks to weed out the unbalanced progression system. If you can overlook those, then this is one battle you’ll want to be a part of.
Score: 7.5/10
Pros:
Complete package of single-player, multiplayer and space dogfights
Faithful to the Star Wars license
Starfighter Assault is space battles done right
Cons:
The presence of microtransactions is ever-looming
Star Cards and loot crates combo is an annoying progression system that shouldn’t be replicated ever
Not newbie friendly at all
Some odd gameplay decisions persist
Star Wars Battlefront II review code provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PS4 Pro, played hours of multiplayer using all classes, and a few Heroes as well. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
While we just got a new Call of Duty: WWIIgame update yesterday, it didn’t manage to fix most of the issues still affecting the game. On the contrary, it even managed to introduce a few new ones. One of the few things that got tweaked is the nerfing of the “Primed” Basic Training perk that lessened flinch when being shot at. This nerf has proven to be unpopular with gamers, as even pro players have gone on to say that it’s a problem.
Over on the WWII Subreddit, Michael Condrey, Sledgehammer Games boss, wrote a lengthy post explaining the patching process, and how the team rolled out “tuning adjustments to global flinch on all weapon classes.” Note that it seems this is a server-side update given there’s no actual patch that got rolled out.
In case you can’t read the embedded post, it reads:
Post launch game updates are uniquely complex, and delicate. #CODWWII is a feature heavy game, and we have several hundred developers actively making fixes and incorporating community feedback. Yet, when launching to many millions of players across the globe (under highly varied home network infrastructures), stability is always a priority for us. Part of our process is a rigorous QA testing phase. In addition, there are first party protocols for how updates get safely propagated to players. For fans, that means you are generally seeing changes several days or weeks after we’ve implemented them in the development environment at Sledgehammer Games. Rest assured, that doesn’t mean we aren’t working incredibly hard or fast to address feedback. It just means that there is sometimes a delay between the time we make the change at the studio and the time we can communicate it, and see it rolled out to the live community.
We have plenty of changes in coming updates, including the start of Ranked Play Season One: The Placement Season, beginning (tomorrow) December 1, 2017. In addition, based on player feedback and validated through internal playtests, today we released new tuning adjustments to global flinch on all weapon classes. These reduced flinch values provide better consistency while engaged in head-to-head combat. Jump online and let us know what you think.
We look forward to sharing more soon. In the mean time, please keep the constructive feedback coming. And thanks for your continued support!
Additionally, over on Twitter, Michael Condrey has called “Toughness” (a perk that appeared in past COD games to lessen flinch) a “crutch,” and revealed that the studio is “close” to the next update.
Toughness was a flinch crutch perk. I don’t want Primed to be the same, wrecks the meta. We’re close with next update. Keep your powder dry.
Have you played COD: WWII just now? Have you noticed gun flinch considerably toned down? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
In other COD: WWII news, make sure to check out our latest feature where we talk about post-patch impressions for certain games, and as you can guess, it kicks off with COD: WWII.
Are you a big Destiny 2fan, who just so happened to pick up a shiny new Amazon Echo device during the Black Friday sales? Well, I’ve got some good news for you!
Bungie has announced a new Alexa Skill which lets you bring Ghost functionality to Echo devices. This is the first-ever Alexa voice integration in a live game experience.
I’ll let the official breakdown tell you what exactly you can do with this new Ghost Skill:
The Destiny 2 Ghost Skill serves as a premier companion for Destiny 2players, creating brand-new ways to interact with the game, players can say, “Alexa, ask Ghost to…” with a variety of utterances — from “…tell me which friends are online,” to asking “…what should I do next?” giving recommendations for what to play next based on players’ real-time current progress, to “…call for back up,” which offers an easy way to interact with friends in their clan to enhance the social experience of Destiny 2, to “… equip my Raid loadout,” equipping players’ favourite weapons and armour for a number of different gameplay activities, to learning more about the world and characters of Destiny2 with a request like, “…tell me who are the Red Legion?”
In addition to the new free Ghost Skill, there’s also a limited edition Destiny 2 Ghost and Echo Dot speaker bundle available to pre-order for £129.89 (~$176). Alternatively, the limited edition Destiny 2 Ghost can be purchased on its own for £79.99 (~$108). The Ghost will become available on December 19.
Will you be giving the Alexa Ghost Skill a try? Let us know.
More Star Wars Battlefront IIskins have been found within the game’s files. A new YouTube video by DylanRocket provides an in-depth look at each character’s alternate looks, including Heroes. What’s more, there also appears to be a curiously contorted General Grievous skeleton. (Head to 6:45 for a good look at that!)
Here’s the General Grievous model that was leaked a while back:
With so many unreleased/unfinished skins in the game, it begs the question as to whether these have been scrapped indefinitely, or whether we’ll see them popping up in future updates. Here’s hoping it’s the latter!
What do you make of these unreleased cosmetic options? Do you want to see them eventually make it into the live build? And how about General Grievous? Think he’s coming soon? Let us know.
Overwatchprincipal designer Geoff Goodman took to the game’s official forums to discuss changes to Doomfist. He gave a breakdown of “Things that are fixed,” “Things we’re still working on,” and “Things we’re still investigating.”
Here’s what players can experience now on the PTR, and in the future once the changes are finalized and implemented:
Things that are fixed
Wall slamming should be much improved. The wall slamming logic has also been simplified so players should find that a 45 degree impact angle is the cutoff between the target being slammed into the wall, or sliding off. This is the biggest change that should be noticeable instantly.
Rocket Punch now breaks breakables again. Not only was the bug fixed that caused it to no longer break breakables, but the system we have in place now should break them much more consistently than before.
Seismic Slam being canceled when landing too close to a wall should be fixed.
Seismic Slam will now ‘slide’ a small ways up ramps instead of instantly triggering. Winston’s leap has also changed in the same way. The slide distance is manually tuned so let us know if it seems like he is sliding up ramps too much or too little.
Things we’re still working on
Seismic Slam has a bug when you or your target is near a corner, it will sometimes not find them as a valid target. We have identified this bug but it is going to take a little longer to get a fix in place.
Ghost punches. This is an issue where you Rocket Punch and go through an enemy, instead of impact them. Some of these reports are latency related, but we did find an issue that was causing this to come up beyond just typical networking issues. Hopefully we’ll get in a fix in soon.
Corner bounce. This happens if you use Rocket Punch near a corner or edge, and it causes you to ‘bounce’ off and slide quite a ways away, probably messing up your punch. This is a recent bug caused by a seemingly unrelated change. We have identified why this can happen though, and are working on a fix for it.
Things we’re still investigating
Rocket punch vs. Rocket Punch/Charge. We get reports that it can feel really ‘random’ what happens when 2 Doomfists using Rocket Punch hit each other, or a Reinhardt using charge hits a Doomfist that is Rocket Punching. We’re still gathering data and information on this one, and hope to be able to improve the consistency of situation. The intended result is that both players should fall over, much in the same way that two Reinhardts charging into each other knocks both of them down.
Aerial Seismic Slam sometimes causing Grounded Seismic Slam. We’ve gotten reports of people being up in the air and using Seismic Slam sometimes triggering the ‘Grounded’ version instead of the ‘Aerial’ version. This one seems really rare so its pretty hard to track down, but we’re looking into it.
Goodman also mentioned that future patch notes will offer more details about bug fixes, instead of just tuning changes and features. This is in response to the community wanting more information.
Are you a Doomfist player? If so, what do you make of the changes? Let us know.
Appearing in the latest issue of GamesTM, PUBG‘s Brendan Greene spoke about the upcoming Xbox One version of the game, which is set to release on December 12.
Performance was one of the more interesting topics he discussed. He confirmed that 60fps is definitely the target for Xbox One X hardware, while base-level Xbox One systems may have to settle for 30fps.
Definitely on Xbox One X, 60FPS. On Xbox One, we’re not sure. We may have to limit it at 30FPS, maybe, but the last time I saw it, it was running at about 30 to 40. We’re still constantly improving it so, you know, the aim is to get to 60. That’s why we’re doing Game Preview, because I think the great thing about console is it’s a locked hardware system, so we can do really specific tweaks that tune it for those systems.
I have great faith that we’ll get there. The great thing about Battlegrounds is that it’s not…unlike the more high paced shooters, frame rate isn’t that important. Yes, it is important, but it’s not as important for us as it is in a twitch shooter. So we’re aiming for 60; not sure if we’ll get there, but that is our aim.
Nothing is certain yet, but we don’t have to wait long to see how the game runs for ourselves. December 12 is the day that Xbox owners can get their hands on PUBG and see what all the hype is about!
An upcoming Final Fantasy XV update will launch on December 12, making several changes to the Comrades multiplayer. What’s more, there are further updates planned for 2018, but details are scarce for now.
Find the list of patch notes for update 1.1.0 below:
Fixes
– Cases where the player’s level does not rise
– Cases where enemies do not appear in multiplayer quests
– Other things that prevent progress
Improvements
– Shorter loading time between Lestallum and Camp
– Shorter AI comrades generation time
Additional Content
– Timed Quests – Quick Matching-exclusive quests. Defeat a lot of enemies within the time limit.
– Witch’s Shop – Receive the buff effect obtained through a meal in exchange for the Timed Quest reward.
Drector of comrades, Kazuya Takahashi has released a FFXV 1 year Anniversary message, which you can watch below.
What do you think of the upcoming patch? Let us know below.
