Bethesda’s own Todd Howard has given us a look ahead at what’s coming for their recent spacefaring RPG. According to a recent interview, a new Starfield update arriving later this week will bring some changes to one of the game’s biggest systems ahead of the Shattered Space DLC’s release later this fall.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Todd Howard revealed that an update that will be announced later this week is set to bring changes to the game’s ship building mechanics. While he didn’t go into detail on what these changes are, the ship building remains one of Starfield’s most complex mechanics, so it’s nice to see that it’ll be getting some improvements.
Howard also confirmed that the imminent update would bring a few other minor changes, such as improvements to the map system, specifically inside cities, and other “gameplay options” the team will be adding. Console versions of Starfield will also receive new display modes, which has been highly requested.
Todd Howard also officially confirmed that the game’s first major DLC, Shattered Space, would be launching this Fall. The release date for this is still yet to be determined, but it’s now been confirmed that we can likely expect it within the next nine months. Howard didn’t share any details as to what might be included in Shattered Space.
Finally, we also received confirmation that modding support is still on its way to consoles for Starfield. Howard mentioned that several people already had their hands on the game’s upcoming Creation Kit and are working on some pretty exciting things, so console players have that to look forward to.
As is common with Bethesda games, Starfield launched in a bit of a rocky state, but community feedback has helped the team to focus on ways to make their game better. We look forward to seeing the update when it drops and we’ll be sure to let readers know what’s included as soon as we receive word.
Arc System Works has revealed that the Guilty Gear Strive Season 3 last fighter is none other than Slayer! We have the gameplay video and a breakdown of the character’s abilities below! Slayer will join the Guilty Gear Strive roster on May 30, which will be accompanied by a title update.
Alongside Slayer, there’s also a new battle stage set to become available on May 30 as well called “Amber Fest with Kind Neighbors,”
Slayer Details
Slayer will be available to purchase for $6.99 for players who have yet to purchase Season Pass 3 ($24.99) on PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, Steam®, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, & Windows platforms. The DLC character will also be available simultaneously for current owners of Season Pass 3.
The laid-back and dignified vampire Slayer joins the fray! Equipped with an arsenal of moves that allow him to change up the tempo of his gameplay, he can easily propel himself forward, rushing down his opponents. Despite his calm demeanor, he possesses an overwhelming strength in battle. His code of ‘dandyism” is key to taking anything in stride.
A descendent of vampiric lineage, he finds human society trivial at times. However, he admires humans’ tumultuous emotions, finding them both coveting and charming. He created the Assassin’s Guild but has since retired, indulging in instead with genuine combat and haikus. After meeting his immortal wife, Sharon, who is immune to aging and bloodsucking, he enjoys an untroubled life in retirement, occasionally venturing out for some people-watching.
New Battle Stage “Amber Fest with Kind Neighbors”
A brand new battle stage is coming to Guilty Gear -Strive- and the townspeople are ready to express their gratitude for the blessing of the aurora. “Amber Fest with Kind Neighbors” invites players to the town from Season Pass 1’s “Another Story”. As a special thank you to the Gears who saved them from the crisis, experience enthralling new light-up decorations.
Expect a title update to be released alongside the new character, which should include new changes, bug fixes and more. Once the update is out, we’ll be sure to post it, which you’ll be able to see on the homepage or on our Guilty Gear Strive page.
Vampire Survivor fans, you’re in for a treat today, as poncle just dropped Vampire Survivors update 1.10 on consoles and PC, and this is for the “Laborratory” surprise patch. This brings seven new extra achievements, a new challenge stage, a new weapon and more. We have the official trailer and patch notes available below.
Vampire Survivors Update 1.10 “Laborratory” Patch Notes for April 29:
New Content:
– 7 new EXTRA achievements
– 1 new challenge stage
– 1 new bonus stage
– 1 new character
– 1 new weapon with its evolution
– 1 new passive weapon
– 1 new power-up, Seal III
Since the early days of VS, people have been asking important questions like “Why is it called Santa Water?” and this patch is finally here to answer that; but what other dark mysteries will surface while looking for answers in the Laborratory?
Quick walkthrough to unlock all the new content:
Pick up a total of 33 Rosaries to unlock the Laborratory stage. If you’ve been playing for long you’ll most likely already have enough; if so, enter and exit a run to get the unlock.
Use the levers in the larger rooms of the stage until you get the Santa Javelin and Arma Dio.
Evolve the Santa Javelin with a maxed out Clover
Use the levers at the bottom of the new stage to defeat a lot of enemies and unlock a bonus stage
Survive 20 minutes to unlock Santa Ladonna.
Seal/Banish 40 items in a run to unlock the Seal III power-up.
Full spoilers:
New stage: Laborratory
A challenge stage where everything is trying to kill you, including the narrow corridors. There are special levers you can pull to trigger mostly positive effects (depending on Luck) that could also spawn weapons and passives, depending on which room they’re from.
New weapon: Santa Javelin & Seraphic Cry
Though starting weapon as it aims for random enemies, can critically hit and it turns the Duration stat into additional Amount for itself. Compatible with special arcanas (Gemini, Twilight Requiem, Tragic Princess). Requires a maxed out Clover to be evolved.
The evolution uses Luck to deal additional damage. Picking up Rosaries while it is equipped turns them into a quadruple screen clearing explosion that turns enemies into XP gems.
New passive: Arma Dio
Allows you to choose any base-game passive.
It actually counts as a weapon, so can also be chosen from a Candybox.
New character: Santa Ladonna
Starts with a temporary cooldown bonus and automatically triggers a Rosary when reaching critically low HP (recover hp to full to recharge the ability). Absolutely nothing else
New stage: Carlo Cart
A silly little bonus stage where you cannot fully stop moving. It plays very differently compared to the average stage, so there are no extra unlocks tied to playing it, it’s just for fun.
1.10.0 tweaks and fixes
– You can now PET the dog by pressing both triggers on a controller.
– When playing co-op, added the option to Share Passive among players for evolution purposes.
– Stage Selection is now split into two steps for ease of navigation if you’re playing with a controller
– Updated pre-spawned arcana treasures so they get pulled in by VIII – Mad Groove.
– Improved loader to provide more information about the current DLC loading progress.
– Added missing retaliation damage to Pako Battiliar and its evo.
– Fix for tips not showing in the Treasure Chest info panel of evolutions.
– Fix for Bestiary mobile portrait info masking issue.
– Pickups group in recap page now generates a new row when exceeding max width.
– Fix for the game over red background overlay to use correct sizing after White Hand.
– Fix for Sole Solution causing tile map issues during the fight with The Ender.
– Fixed audio playback error in fight with The Ender.
– Fix for “new content available in store” button showing up incorrectly.
– Fixed character reveal so the characters are the correct scale.
– Hyper mode toggle is now correctly shown.
– Fix for text overlap/sizing in treasure chest info panel.
– Updated pause menu map to match old-engine implementation.
– Fixes for various weapons to hide them correctly when dying in co-op.
– Fix for errors with random arcana selection being triggerable before the animation is complete.
– Fixes for various stage collisions when playing in inverse mode.
– Updated the player stats panel (pause menu) to handle displaying the Recovery value to 2 decimal places, so small increments are shown.
– Fix for DLC ordering so that DLCs will now be loaded in a consistent order.
– Fixed cosmic egg in bestiary.
– Updated the Item Found page to check whether the item you are picking up allows duplicates, and if so displays the base level data.
– Fixed an issue where if you manually changed the window size the current resolution would not display correctly inside the options page.
– Fix for camera zoom issues when playing on displays less than the target 16:10 aspect ratio (both portrait and landscape).
– Fixed selection arrows sometimes showing on mobile when they should not.
– Fix to make drop downs hide when clicking anywhere outside of them.
– Fixed an issue with allowing player 1 to reassign controllers when toggling in options.
– Fix for Gatti chicken eating power and chance upgrades being reset on level up.
– Fix for drowner’s spawned via trisection events after 30 minutes being invulnerable.
– Fix for disable moving background not being applied on stage start (only when toggled).
– Fixed formatting / centering issues with secrets page on mobile.
– Added a loader between menu and gameplay to show that the game is loading a stage.
– Fix for Moongolow secret check in co-op.
– Added scrolling to character selection progress panel.
– Fix for hyper (and inverse) mode creeping to stages without hyper (or inverse) unlocked.
– Added in missing scene fade transition between Moongolow and Holy Forbidden.
– Fixed hellfire rotation on world bounce.
– Various portrait UI scaling fixes.
– Fix for error with coin spawn in Poe’s Adventure Chapter 3.
– Improved back button navigation on bestiary to be more accurate to JS.
– Fix for cut off character found animation on mobile portrait.
[LEGACY OF THE MOONSPELL]
– Evolving Four Seasons now only requires a maxed out Candelabrador
[TIDES OF THE FOSCARI]
– Evolving the Flash Arrow now only requires a maxed out Bracer
– Fixed a sprite error in Foscari Abyss’ background.
– Fixed animation timing of World Eater.
– Fix for World Eater offsets.
[EMERGENCY MEETING]
– Fix Impostongue firing assassination when disabled.
– Updated the body part pickups that Shapeshifter spawns to allow them to be attracted by the magnet.
– Updated the font used for the Vent2Weapon when enemies are ejected.
– Fix for reactor engine sprite not filling in the black bars in portrait leaving visible gaps for the flames.
Minecraft update 2.88 is now available for download, and this is for version 1.20.81 (Bedrock). Given how big the Armored Paws update was, it’s not surprising that fixes has to be rolled out after its been implemented. Read on for the new Minecraft patch notes, as well as the changelog for Java Edition 1.20.6 also out today.
Minecraft Update 2.88 for Version 1.20.81 (Bedrock) Patch Notes for April 29:
A new update is now available to address stability issues introduced with the 1.20.80 update. This update is available on all platforms except Nintendo Switch, but will be available there soon.
Fixes:
Fixed several crashes that could occur during gameplay
Camera no longer lags one frame behind after teleporting
Minecraft Update Java Edition 1.20.6 Patch Notes:
The shipping room sure has been bustling with activity lately! So much so that we managed to cram one last release into the month of April. Today we’re shipping Java Edition 1.20.6, a hotfix release that takes care of some critical issues that managed to sneak their way into the Armored Paws drop (1.20.5) last week.
FIXED BUGS IN 1.20.6
MC-271109 Trader llama inventory shifted, partially lost during upgrade
That’s about it. While most Minecraft patches are pushed out on Tuesdays or Thursdays, it’s a welcome sight to see this small download surface this Monday to usher in bug fixes.
Rockfish Games has pushed out Everspace 2 update 1.014 on consoles and PC this April 29, and this is for the Incursions Update! This brings new events, legendaries and a lot more info the space game.
Everspace 2 Update 1.014 Patch Notes for April 29:
What’s New in Everspace 2 Incursions Update:
New Incursions Events
Past certain rift-related point in the EVERSPACE 2 story, Incursions beacons will begin to appear as events on player maps. We’ve added a small portion of story in-game explaining how rifts came to be—perhaps Adam and crew shouldn’t be so flippant about playing with the fabric of space.
These new horde-mode style combat challenges pit pilots against fleets of enemies that are spawned in by Beacons. Destroy enemy ships to drain a Beacon’s shields, but be quick! You’ll have only seconds to strike.
Defeating all the beacons in an area completes the Incursion and rewards players with a large loot drop including chances at new legendary gear and Reliquary treasure chests.
New Legendary Gear
Fifteen new legendary items can be found in Rifts and Reliquaries. Legendaries also have a chance to drop in rare, superior and legendary High-Risk Areas. Tier four ships can equip one additional piece of legendary gear.
Read on for loot spoilers!
Rime – Pulse Laser
Has a chance on hit to freeze targets, turning them “Icebound” for a few seconds. Killing an icebound enemy creates a frost explosion that deals radial damage.
Last Rites – Rail Gun
Each successive, fully charged hit increases the damage. Resets after a few seconds or after missing a shot.
Grim Reaper – Blaster
Critical hits with this weapon will instantly kill targets with low hull.
The Scourge – Scatter Gun
Charging this weapon will absorb armor and shield from nearby enemies and add it to the shot as kinetic and energy damage respectively.
Hunter’s Fang – Thermo Gun
After hitting an enemy, the projectiles will continue to track consecutive targets within range, dealing reduced damage with each jump.
Perfect Hatred – Gauss Cannon
Killing an enemy with this weapon grants a charge of “Seething Wrath”, increasing damage for each stack. When you stop firing, the charges are consumed, granting damage reduction for a few seconds and recharges a portion of shield, boost and weapon energy.
Figure of Eight – Mine Launcher
Creates a singularity that pulls in smaller enemies within range. Afterwards, the mine explodes, damaging nearby targets.
Ritual – Homing Missile
Unleashes a swarm of autonomous homing missiles, seeking random targets in front of you. The damage is increased for each targeted enemy.
Zero-K Boomer – Rocket Launcher
The rockets are equipped with a proximity sensor that triggers frost explosions along their way, dealing damage to enemies in a range radius and freezing them for a few seconds.
Pestilence – Sensor
If the initial target of the Annihilator Virus survives the infection, it will remain infected and suffer another burst of damage after a few seconds. During this time it will be able to infect new targets.
Equilibrium – Energy Core
Consuming one type of energy (shield, boost or weapons) will recharge the other two for a portion of the amount spent.
Fields of Mayhem – Cargo Unit
Sticky Turret consumables gain unlimited charges and their projectile range is increased. The maximum number of turrets active at a time is significantly increased.
Ragnarök – Plating
After you damage an enemy for the first time, they become destabilized for a few seconds, increasing the damage they take.
Epicenter – Thruster
Teleporter creates a shockwave at the target location, dealing damage to enemies within range and stunning them for a few seconds.
Momentum – Thruster
While in combat, boosting forward builds up space debris around your ship. Upon stopping, the debris is launched, dealing damage to enemies within range in front of you, depending on the amount of debris collected.
Legendary Catalysts
Legendary Catalysts are new rare catalysts that can only be applied to Legendary equipment. Discover these by completing new High-Risk Areas that can be found using new Legendary Signal Decoders. These new Catalysts can be used to improve gear attributes, break Legendary equipment limits, and make Legendary gear part of certain item sets.
Flawless – All
Sets all randomized attributes to their maximum value.
Peripheral – All
Allows this legendary to be equipped despite the limit being reached. Can only extend the limit once.
Chaos – All
Randomly shuffles ALL attributes and stats of the item, for better or worse.
Sovereign – Weapons
Gains +2 item levels, reduced by 0.5 per active set bonus
Thunderous – All
Counts as part of the “Stormchaser” item set
Contaminated – All
Counts as part of the “Blightmonger” item set
Tidal – All
Counts as part of the “Tides of Siren’s Sea” item set
Devoted – All
Counts as part of the “Redemption” item set
Imperious – All
Counts as part of the “Commander” item set
New Treasure Boxes: Reliquaries
New legendary lockboxes called Reliquaries can be found after completing Incursion events. Each contains a legendary piece of gear!
These sealed chests can be unlocked by completing rifts at certain lunacy levels which can be modified by spending Tears of the Mad.
When carried into a rift, Reliquaries provide special Blessings that can heavily modify weapons and abilities or provide additional fire support—there’s nothing quite like having an Ancient Warden on your side for a change.
With all the new legendaries added, we’ve increased the number a ship can equip by one.
Lunacy 2000 Rifts
Elite pilots from the community have been clamoring for even greater challenges. The rift lunacy cap has been increased to 2000, allowing for even more madcap runs and we’ve also added new stage mutators and more boss variation. Make sure to bring Reliquaries for Blessings that will improve your chances of survival!
Scout Ultimate Change
The Scout’s Shadow Strike Ultimate has undergone a major change. While active, Shadowstrike cloaks your ship and greatly increases both critical hit chance and critical hit damage. Firing weapons or using devices breaks cloak, but killing an enemy restores it and extends its duration by 2 seconds, to a maximum of 20 seconds.
Improved Controller Support on PC and Consoles
Button mapping options have been our number one request from console pilots since EVERSPACE 2 debuted on PlayStation and Xbox last August. Incursions overhauls controller setting options to allow for full customization, close to what is available for PC players.
On PC, native PlayStation 4 Dualshock and PlayStation 5 DualSense support has been added for players on Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store.
Photo Mode Improvements
We are in absolute awe of the shots virtual photographers have taken of EVERSPACE 2, capturing the fantastic vistas and stunning spaceships in our game. Incursions adds community-suggested improvements to photo mode, mainly on the UI/UX front.
We’re surfacing more information for photographers by adding a progress bar for min/max values and navigation bar to see all changeable camera settings like FOV, aperture and exposure. Many smaller tweaks should make it easier for photographers using controllers.
Photographers will also be able to save their favorite settings and make them their default when opening the photo mode. Finally, we’re adding some SFX and VFX to the feature that’ll make it more fun to use.
New Cosmetic Ship Modules
A variety of stylish ship modules have been added for pilots to find and customize their ships with. In addition to new front and rear modules, a new cockpit type has been added.
Unreal Engine 5
A large part of the development team have spent the last few months migrating EVERSPACE 2 from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.3, and we will be polishing right up to the last possible second before release. We’re aware that the community is concerned about introduced bugs and reduced performance—both have been our two main focuses during this massive endeavor and we are doing everything we can to ensure the best experience possible.
For pilots on high end PCs, EVERSPACE 2 will never have looked better. With UE5, we’re able to enable Lumen GI on DirectX 12, Nvidia DLSS 3.5 upscaler with Frame Generation, Nvidia Reflex latency reduction, AMD FSR 3.0, and Intel XeSS upscaler to really make the stars shine. All these new settings are togglable and completely optional.
Changelog 1.2.39656
Features
Added new endgame activity: Ancient Incursions
Added new legendary items
Added new front and rear ship modules
Added new type of ship module: cockpit
Added legendary catalysts
Added new item bonus attributes
Added new Ancient Rift stage mutators
Added new Ancient Rift boss variations
Added option to enable Lumen GI on DirectX 12
Added option to save photo mode settings
[PS5, Xbox Series X|S] Added controller button remapping
[Windows: Steam, GOG, Microsoft Store] Added native DUALSHOCK®4 and DualSense™ wireless controller support
[Windows: Steam, GOG, Microsoft Store] Added new plugins: Nvidia DLSS 3.5 upscaler with frame generation, Nvidia Reflex latency reduction, Intel XeSS upscaler, AMD FSR 3.0 upscaler
Tweaks
Legendary items can now roll as “Radiant” grade with superior, but randomized, attributes
Legendary items will now rarely drop from High Risk Areas (Level 15+, “Rare” decoder quality and above)
Reworked Scout ULT “Shadow Strike”
T4 ships can now equip 3 legendary items
Ancient Rift stage mutators are now associated with varying loot quality bonuses
Increased “Nightmare” difficulty scaling curve
Increased the maximum Lunacy in Ancient Rifts from 1000 to 2000 and changed the step size from 50 to 100
Removed damage and shield regeneration increase in sunlight bonus attributes
Removed “Dismantling Quality” attribute from cargo units
Changed Opulence Treasury Unit effect
Dismantling will now always yield all lower rarity resources
Reduced tractor beam range bonuses provided by sensors, energy cores and cargo units
Removed “5% chance to drop Credits with each hit” bonus attribute
Changed critical hit chain attribute calculation
The following mutators will now scale with the Lunacy level in Ancient Rifts: “Enemy Regen”, “Corrosive Death”, “Explosive Death” and “Mines on Death”
Nanobots and Nano Injectors can no longer be used when hull is at 100%
Controls Customization Menu: Improved usability through collapsing headers and improved binding validation
Add options to GameUserSettings.ini to customize the framerate limit in menus (defaults to 60fps)
Added lock-on sound for Outlaw Sniper Drones
Sticky Turrets will now be deployed towards the aim direction
UI: Photo mode UX and UI overhaul to improve usability (especially with gamepad)
UI: Added option to choose previous ship in hangar when using gamepad (was ‘next ship’ only)
UI: Added confirmation prompt if player tries to skip the tutorial
UI: Tweaked ship buying process to hide popping of purchased ship in some situations
UI: Added recenter action to map tab when using gamepad
UI: Added weapon range hero stat sorting option to equipment item selection
UI: Improved display logic of loot message log entries within containers to make it more consistent
UI: Added numerous fade in animations for many (sub-) menus and modal widgets including SFX for a more responsive user experience
UI: Improved internal handling of changing the active player ship to avoid memory issues after extensive usage
UI: Introduced caching of many widgets to eliminate hiccups and improve performance on repeated usage and ultimately avoid freezes in rare cases
UI: Hiding truly empty blueprint slots within crafting tab
UI: Shop buy action button rendered inactive for already unlocked devices on offer
UI: Sorting inventories with keyboard actions now results in implicit display of static item tooltip (stat card)
UI: Improved logic of augment and device shine animation
UI: Speeding up shop inventory view style action when switching from list to grid view and vice versa
UI: Fixed that no error message was shown when trying to store multiple items to a fully occupied storage inventory
UI: Fixed overlapping of stat card hero values in space and item shop in rare cases
UI: Fixed cutoff unlock banner description text in some languages
UI: Fixed unassigned ship cycle action button when using joystick input in some cases
UI: Fixed that slot highlight frame could flicker while expand cargo inventory animation
Integrated community suggestions for translation improvements from Crowdin
Bugfixes
Fixed that when viewing a ship in the hangar that was not used last time and had 3 “Escort Duty” items installed, your current ship would get damaged
Fixed High-Velocity Catalyst description
Fixed freighters in distress calls not playing jump out sound when leaving
Fixed that Interceptor regarded destroying mines as a “kill” to extend weapon overdrive for +1s
Fixed that equipment that had been damaged before entering a Rift was not correctly damaged when returning
Fixed that the description of the 4th orb perk did not mention ship speed
Fixed that devices/consumables could be selected (but fortunately not used) when remote-controlling a drone
Fixed right-hand-side UI elements disappearing when remote-controlling a drone and stopping any of the hacks before they’re finished during “The Eye”
Fixed that Energized Boost did not move player ship forward when there was no boost energy left
Fixed crash when entering a location or using cruise drive without having a thruster equipped
Fixed Madcap Pods being hostile towards other player enemies in Ancient Rifts
Fixed item duplication bug in rifts
Fixed Quantum Tether not forwarding corrosion damage
Fixed that re-rolling attributes could sometimes produce two identical mining attributes
Fixed that boosting buffs were only applied/removed on new boost start
Fixed that pilot radio chatter events were triggered constantly when healing events took place
Fixed that energy shield condition falsely removed damaged and overheat debuffs, leading to permanently damaged and overheated items states
Fixed Gauss Cannon having wrong weapon mesh
Fixed that hitpoint bars of turrets were shown in rifts and HRAs when hidden HP modifier is active
Fixed wrong amount of cargo slots when switching ships in hangar
Fixed that Reactive Radar was only dropping in Union
Fixed that G&B allies in high-risk areas died too easily
Fixed G&B Fighter, G&B Light Fighter and Coalition Fighter having almost no hitpoint and damage increase coming with their Elite rank
Fixed that Interceptor passive refunded secondary ammunition without activated ultimate
Fixed an edge case in which after loading a savegame a “return from rift” animation at Spatial Bypass locations was played
Fixed that the Execution Effect of Grim Reaper and Executioner could be transferred via quantum tether
Fixed that the dogmatic scanner web effect did not apply when using Sentinel ult and probably other effects not applying using sentinel ult
Fixed Redemption 2-Set bonus working too well
Fixed that System Recovery Routine consumable and Unyielding Assault perk would not completely remove overheated status from items
Fixed that Quantum Entangler would switch targets when player switches targets
Fixed that scorpion missiles would not teleport beyond base weapon range when using a Scout with increased weapon range
Fixed that Maddocks’ freighter looked different during “Paving The Way” compared to other missions (always has the “Paving the Way” look now)
Fixed missile defense system attacking sticky turret capsules
Fixed that hidden cargo drones were attacked by enemies
Fixed TrackIR not working correctly in some locations
Fixed that analogue input for scrolling would not work in all menus, and rebinding it did not work.
Fixed that missile lock HUD marker animation was still showing after switching to a secondary weapon without homing/lock ability
Fixed that shadow creatures gained weight after returning to their initial position, which made them more difficult to move
UI: Fixed a crash when moving large quantities of items between ships & storage
UI: Fixed level and demand info within item icon which wasn’t refreshed properly in some cases
UI: Fixed that decal reward items did not show the proper icon in loot message log
UI: Fixed an issue that impacted performance after hovering between two items in quick succession
UI: Fixed wrong or missing item amounts of some loot message log entries (e.g. after “Take All” from containers)
UI: Fixed possible flickering of action buttons within team credits while scrolling with gamepad
UI: Fixed minor issues while selection style slots in ship customization menu
UI: Fixed potential bug in tutorial in case a player uninstalls devices before a certain main mission
UI: Fixed missing sfx when clicking inventory sorting buttons
UI: Fixed missing “new” indication for mission relevant shop items in some missions
UI: Fixed that storage items were not listed in item selection of inventory tab when docked on homebase
UI: Fixed that the unlock banner could still be overlapped by dialog boxes in rare cases like job completion chatter
UI: Fixed a couple of smaller issues within equipment item selection
UI: Fixed a couple of smaller issues within save game info widget
UI: Fixed issues in modify tab when selecting a category with an empty item list
UI: Fixed that opening and closing the in-game menu simultaneously could render the game unresponsive in some cases
UI: Fixed that the modify progress circle in re-rolling panel covered item attributes
UI: Fixed different icon sizes of loot message log entries in some cases
UI: Fixed that switching the shop inventory view style from list to grid might crash the game in some cases
UI: Fixed that device charges could show up for every item in a loot container if at least one item is a device with charges
UI: Fixed that device inventory item charge indication count wasn’t updated when adding extra charges by selecting a specific device mode
UI: Fixed that the shine animation of a fully stacked mainframe component was accidentally displayed on other items after sorting
UI: Fixed that the item price isn’t refreshed after modifying item level or rarity
UI: Fixed a bug that cargo space wasn’t properly updated after crafting a cargo unit into an empty cargo unit slot (might have led to negative cargo ratio)
UI: Fixed that item tooltip in shop was sometimes not showing
UI: Fixed that price label of a device was accidentally displayed in mastery preview
UI: Fixed that modify action could be executed twice under some circumstances
UI: Fixed broken ‘other ships’ category navigation of item selection in case of two owned ships
UI: Fixed loss of focus when selling or buying ships with gamepad in some situations
UI: Fixed that purchase and sell options dialog window actions could be executed multiple times
UI: Fixed that credits animation in perk invest overlay wasn’t colorized correctly on first use
UI: Fixed issues within ship dealer in case menu tab was changed immediately after opening sell- or purchase dialogs
UI: Fixed potential crash or exploit when changing the crafting slot while holding craft action button
UI: Fixed potential loss of focus (freeze on consoles) in rare cases when opening 2 (cargo full) loot container screens in small succession
UI: Fixed that device preview and item compare action were shown in footer when using mouse even though no item info was visible
UI: Fixed that item info within catalyst selection wasn’t scrollable using spacebar + mousewheel
UI: Fixed accidental catalyst selection list refresh after installing one
UI: Fixed that wrong perk slot details could be shown after returning from invest screen in some cases
UI: Fixed that no error message was shown when trying to store multiple items to a fully occupied storage inventory
UI: Fixed numerous minor visual glitches like overlapping elements, color adjustments and unintentional clipping
UI: Fixed multiple issues with stuck animations especially when closing in-game menu and changing tabs within it
Known Issues
Due to the Engine migration, all controls have been reset to defaults
Due to the Engine migration, the game’s language might revert to your OS language
Given how big this patch is and how many things got adjusted, don’t be surprised to see yet another patch released to fix any problems caused by this title update.
TopSpin 2K25 update 1.04 has been released by Hangar 13 on all platforms this April 29, and this is a small download indicating that it houses fixes rather than new content.
TopSpin 2K25 Update 1.04 Patch Notes for April 29:
Hangar 13 or 2K Games have yet to release any official patch notes for the title update. What the publisher has acknowledged are the crashing issues, and we wouldn’t be surprised if this patch housed stability fixes.
Thanks for your patience. Connectivity to online modes for 2K Games including TopSpin 2K25 are now running properly and available. Rally on!
In addition to that, some gamers on TopSpin 2K25’s Steam page states that this bug has fixed the Twitch Drops issue, and tutorial XP tokens (viaSstrayz). In addition to that, user SM- claims that this update installs Denuvo anti-cheat to the game, which is a pretty big deal.
If we get patch notes from Hangar 13, we’ll update the article to reflect it, so stay tuned!
If you haven’t played the game yet, go read our review here where our own PMC states, “If this is the start of another multi-year entries, then this bodes well for tennis fans as the series will no doubt be even more impressive in future iterations. If you count yourself amongst tennis fans, you owe it to yourself to check out TopSpin 2K25.”
Obsidian Entertainment has released a new Grounded patch this April 29, and those on consoles will see this as Grounded update 1.03 (PS5 version 1.000.003), and the devs call this as patch 1.4.1. While there is no new content in this title update, there’s quite a lot of fixes, which are listed in below.
Grounded Update 1.03 for Version 1.4.1 Patch Notes:
Grounded PS5 Update Version 1.000.003
BUG FIXES / CHANGES
MAJOR FIXES:
Players no longer respawn with a dark screen for 3 seconds after dying to a boss and respawning in Single player.
Creatures involved in base attacks or Waft Emitter attacks no longer freeze up for clients when arriving.
Boss shout attacks and Wasp Drone shouts in New Game+ no longer trigger infusion AOE attacks on anything their shout hits.
Milk Molar upgrades for clients properly carry over when activating New Game+.
Bases no longer load in with some structures incorrectly noting that they are supporting the entire base.
Fixed the Microsoft Account login screen incorrectly showing the wrong environment error (fixed in prior hot fix build).
CHANGES:
Increased damage reduction amount for the random trinket status effect “+Damage Resist” from 10% to 50%.
You can activate text chat via the gamepad on consoles.
OPTIMIZATIONS:
Improved performance across the game in general.
Improved performance when playing in Multiplayer mode.
Reduced memory usage across the game.
Playgrounds with lots of links will run with better performance when in Play mode.
Improved rendering performance inside interior spaces on lower settings.
CRASH FIXES:
Fixed crash that could occur sometimes after looting a dead pet and an autosave triggers.
Fixed crash that could occur when completing a conversation.
Fixed crash that could occur when a client rejoins a game where their last saved data was while they were knocked out.
Fixed crash that could occur when a client loads into a yard with bases built.
Fixed crashes that could occur randomly during playthroughs.
OTHER BUG FIXES:
Voice Chat settings properly reapply after closing and reopening the game.
Loading a game while in the Pond Lab no longer shows an underwater effect onscreen.
A few pieces of the oak lab roots no longer pop out at a short distance on Low settings.
Lighting properly transitions if a defense event is active.
Pond lab cutscene properly works for clients who are far away when the cutscene activates.
Duplicating infused weapons properly copy over the random effect.
Improved water quality on low settings.
Clients no longer get a Raw Science notification immediately on join.
Siren lights near the Black Anthill boss fight properly animate when in view.
NINTENDO SWITCH
The water fog when looking outside of the Pond Lab dome no longer pops in and out.
Improved performance in the various labs that are displaying a camera feed to a door you unlock.
Reduced the amount of art popping that happens in interiors.
Playgrounds properly load on the Switch.
Host and Client mics are properly detected if they don’t have their mics connected into the Switch when joining a game and later connect one.
That’s about it. Once Obsidian releases new one, we’ll be sure to alert our readers about it.
In their recent business review for January to March 2024, developer Remedy Games shed some light on what they’re working on next and those titles’ current statuses. Among the games listed, the Max Payne 1 and 2 remake and Control 2 both received updates that have us looking forward to their futures.
In a note from CEO Tero Virtala, Remedy outlined the current status of several of their in-development products. According to Virtala, the Max Payne 1 and 2 remake, which is currently in the production readiness stage, is expected to reach the full production stage during the second quarter of 2024.
Additionally, Control 2, the highly anticipated sequel to one of 2019’s best games, is also moving forward in development. Previously in the proof-of-concept stage, the game is expected to advance to the production readiness stage in Q2 2024 as well. Codename Condor, another project in the Control universe, was also confirmed to have entered full production during the beginning of the year.
Remedy’s been on a roll in the last several years, and it looks like they’re not planning to stop any time soon. They’ve built a very dedicated fanbase, and we hope to see them continue to release really special games. It sounds like they’re in good shape for the next few years, especially now that they own the Control franchise outright.
To stay in the know about Remedy’s next announcement, stay tuned in to us here at MP1st.
Returnal was released in April 30, 2021 and was one of the hallmark PS5 exclusives that justified owning the new console back then. Tomorrow will be Returnal’s third anniversary, and it seems Housemarque might be doing something special to mark this occasion.
Over on Twitter/X, the official Housemarque account teased the following:
What could this mean? Is it Returnal 2 being announced? Perhaps a new DLC/expansion? Or maybe a new title update that brings new features and content? Maybe the PC version is getting crossplay support? We’re left wondering like you are. Then again, it could also mean nothing, and just be the studio releasing behind the scenes footage of the game’s development and whatnot. If that was the case though, they probably wouldn’t be hyping it as they are right now.
While the PS5 version was released in 2021, a PC version was released on Steam just last year on Feb. 15, 2023. To date, Returnal has fared well critically as it stands on a very impressive 86 average on MetaCritic, and a “Mighty” OpenCritic rating.
Our own review is in line with those averages, as we gave the game a 8.5/10 and said, “Housemarque largely succeeds with their first AAA outing in a big way and have released what I feel is the first true Game of the Year contender for 2021.”
Once we know more about tomorrow’s announcement, we’ll be sure to let our readers know. Are you hoping to see a Returnal sequel? Maybe a new DLC? Leave a comment below and let us know.
While Capcom has already announced two months ago that Akuma will be joining the Street Fighter 6 roster this spring, with the new season looming, the company has today pushed out our first actual look at Street Fighter 6 Akuma gameplay!
Watch over three minutes of mayhem where we see Akuma’s special moves and some brutal combos in action. And of course, the Akuma beatdown wouldn’t be complete without a Raging Demon super move!
For those who own the Deluxe or Ultimate editions or the Year 1 Character Pass and Ultimate Pass for Street Fighter 6, expect to be able to play as Akuma when the character is made available on May 22. Year 1 Ultimate Pass owners will also receive the new stage Emma’s Hollow as part of the package.
Alongside Akuma, there will be a title update out on May 22 that will focus on major rebalancing on all characters. Once the patch is out, we’ll be sure to let our readers know about it. Expect a server update to be triggered before the patch is released.
Hell Let Loose update 1.031 is out now and this is the first hotfix for the previously released update 15. This update should address some bugs players may have noticed. Check out the April 29 patch notes down below.
Hell Let Loose Update 1.031 Patch Notes:
Hello everyone,
We hope you’re enjoying Update 15 and Mortain! An unintended issue surfaced with last week’s update, removing hedgerows from Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. You may have noticed…
The hedges will be reinstated in Hotfix 2, which is due ASAP, alongside a fix for the admin message pop-ups.
For now, please see the changes that have been pushed live in Hotfix 1:
[Offensive] Attackers are able to spawn vehicles in inactive HQs
[Offensive] Defending commander can not spawn vehicles on two of the Headquarters of the map
[XR-064] Unable to send invites to other users
[15.0][Mortain] Changing the Texture Quality will crash the game
The server name in the top right corner of the Scoreboard will show up as “HLL Server” instead of the actual name on Win10
[Offensive] Attackers are able to spawn vehicles in inactive HQs when there is a player in the enemy team
[Mortain] All instances of the thin white tree asset are missing collision
[Mortain] Collision issue when attempting to enter certain houses while crouched/prone.
Hotfix 2 for the game will be released very soon so stay tuned.
Hangar 13 and 2K Games have released TopSpin 2K25 update 1.004 today on all platforms. Check out the April 29 patch notes for TopSpin 2K25 down below, which should show up as patch version 1.04 on last-gen consoles.
TopSpin 2K25 1.004 Patch Notes:
TopSpin 2K25 Update Version 1.04 on PS4
Size: 250MB (Xbox)
2K Games has not posted any official patch notes for the game yet, but they did address some online issues that players had been experiencing. Check out the Twitter/X posts down below for more.
We’re aware some players are having difficulty connecting to online modes across 2K Games including TopSpin 2K25. We’re looking into this and will update again soon.
We will update this post as soon as we can if the official patch notes are revealed today. In the meantime, you can read what we thought of the game in our review.
TopSpin 2K25 is an excellent restart of a tenured franchise. While the graphics occasionally dip into Uncanny Valley territory, overall the presentation feels like developer Hangar 13 has paid attention to what makes for a great career mode, while balancing difficulty and accessibility to boot. What it lacks in game modes, it makes up for in game feel and challenge. If this is the start of another multi-year entries, then this bodes well for tennis fans as the series will no doubt be even more impressive in future iterations. If you count yourself amongst tennis fans, you owe it to yourself to check out TopSpin 2K25.
We’ll let you know when the next update is out soon.
Dovetail Games has released Train Sim World 4 update 1.028 today on all platforms. This update should rectify many known issues that the game had been receiving. Check out the April 29 patch notes down below.
Train Sim World 4 Update 1.028:
Hello folks,
We have a small update for you today, remedying some of the issues flagged as a result of the Easter Core update, and prepping us for tomorrow’s New York – Long Beach, Hempstead & Hicksville Route Add-On.
Resolved instances of missing sign details across Semmeringbahn stations
Resolved a crash reported on Save Game load (reported since Easter core update)
Resolved a crash when setting paths for trains in Service Mode – for instance, when player tries to set path at West Drayton Cement Sidings in Great Western Express
Dispatcher updates to support LIRR Commuter release
We will let you know when the next update is deployed soon.
Arrowhead Game Studios has released Helldivers 2 update 1.000.300 today for both PC and PS5 players. This patch has balance changes for weapons, stratagems, and enemies. Read on for the Helldivers 2 April 29 patch notes down below.
Helldivers 2 Update 1.000.300 Patch Notes:
Patch dispatch from High Command
For this patch we bring you a number of adjustments fixes and improvements do aid your democratic endevours
Overview
For this patch, we have made improvements and changes to the following areas:
Balance changes to weapons, stratagems, and enemies
Change to the Spread Democracy mission
Balancing
General
Armors with armor rating above 100 now also reduce damage on headshots.
Victory poses will now only play for the extracted. (No stolen valor on my ship.)
Burning damage reduced by 15%
Primary, Secondary & Support Weapons
CB-9 Exploding Crossbow
Slightly smaller explosion
Increased stagger
Decreased number of maximum mags from 12 to 8
Increased number of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8
Slight reduction in ergonomics
Muzzle velocity increased
LAS-99 Quasar Cannon
Increased recharge time by 5 seconds
BR-14 Adjudicator
Full auto is now the default fire mode
Reduced recoil
Increased maximum mags from 6 to 8
Increased number of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8
Now placed amongst assault rifles
LAS-98 Laser Cannon
Slightly increased damage
Slightly reduced damage versus large volume bodies
SG-8P Punisher Plasma
Decreased maximum mags from 12 to 8
Increased amount of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8
Increased projectile speed, but will still keep a similar range
Decreased damage falloff on the explosion
Now placed in the energy weapons category
ARC-12 Blitzer
Increased shots per minute from 30 to 45
Now placed in the energy weapons category
R-36 Eruptor
Decreased number of maximum mags from 12 to 6
Explosion damage drops off slightly faster
LAS-16 Sickle
Decreased amount of magazines from 6 down to 3
LAS-5 Scythe
Increased damage from 300 to 350
Decreased max number of mags from 6 down to 4
RS-422 Railgun
Increased armor penetration in both safe mode and unsafe mode
Stagger force slightly reduced
MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun
Third person crosshair enabled
63CS Diligence Counter Sniper
Damage increased from 128 to 140
Ergonomics improved
R-63 Diligence
Damage increased from 112 to 125
P-19 Redeemer
Slight increase in recoil
P-2 Peacemaker
Increased damage from 60 to 75
P-8 Senator
Increased damage from 150 to 175
Speedloader added when reloading on an empty cylinder–speeds up reload on empty considerably
LAS-7 Dagger
Increased damage from 150 to 200
AR-19 Liberator
Damage increased from 55 to 60
AR-23C Liberator Concussive
Damage increased from 55 to 65
JAR-5 Dominator
Damage decreased from 300 to 275
AX/AR-23 Guard Dog
Decreased damage by 30%
RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher
Airburst Rocket Launcher will no longer detonate when shot near stratagems (HMG turret, Sentries, Resupplies) and other Helldivers
Reduced proximity radius
Stratagems
A/MG-43 Machinegun Sentry
Increased health to match other Sentries
A/ARC-3 Tesla Tower
Increased health by 33%
FAF-14 Spear
Added reload stage reload after the spent missile had been discarded
RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher
Enemies
Bile Spewer and Nursing Spewers movespeed slightly reduced
Hulks: Force required for them to stagger slightly increased
Hulk Scorcher direct flamethrower damage reduced by 20%
Devastator fire rate slightly increased (only the standard devastator)
Gunships sideways movement slightly increased
Scout strider Riders now less vulnerable to explosions
Fog Generators health and armor increased
Gunship spawners now have a much lower cap on how many gunships they can have active at the same time
Enemy Patrols
Patrol spawning has been increased when there are fewer than 4 players. The fewer the players the bigger the change. For 4 player missions there will be no change compared to before.The biggest noticeable change will be for solo players at higher difficulties
Gameplay
Made minor level generation improvements to how we distribute locations throughout the mission map. This should improve variation in distance between objectives, and objectives will likely not spawn as far away from each other as often as before.
Added setting in the options menu gameplay section to disable automatic climbing and vaulting while sprinting.
The Spread Democracy mission otherwise known as “raise the flag” can now be enjoyed on higher difficulties for maximum freedom spreading.
When readying up, Helldivers now salute to ensure maximum democratic readiness.
Added ambience to the Tremor planetary hazard to underline the severity so Helldivers can react accordingly
Shots that ricochet from heavy armored enemies will now properly hit the Helldiver who fired them. Trigger discipline is highly recommended.
Fixes
Crash fixes
Fixed crash that could occur when host abandoned mission with squad.
Fixed crash that could occur if a player tried to enter an occupied EXO-45 Patriot Suit.
Fixed crash that could occur for all players after or during mission results screen.
Fixed crash that could occur after shooting from the EXO-45 Patriot Suit’s rocket launcher.
Fixed crash that could occur for all players apart from the one that rejoined the ongoing mission with different armor and got reinforced.
Fixed Superior Packing Methodology ship module not working properly.
Fixed Blast Absorption ship module so that it correctly increases sentries’ resistance to explosions.
Fixed issue where players could not navigate to the search results in the Social Menu.
Fixed some issues where items equipped in a Warbond were not actually equipped.
Fixed an exploit that allowed overly eager Helldivers to use grenades excessively.
Fixed issue where kills from orbital barrage did not progress Indirect Fire Exercise order.
Fixed issue that allowed traitors to try to sabotage the extraction shuttle by deploying sentry stratagems below it.
Fixed issue where ion storms incorrectly prevented extraction beacon from deploying.
Fixed some stratagem beams using incorrect color-coding.
Fixed issue where the left stick on a controller could not be used to navigate the Social menu.
Fixed some issues where various UI elements were cut off, off-centered or too close to the edge of the screen on ultrawide displays.
Fixed Anti-Materiel Rifle facing away from the Helldiver after deploying it.
Fixed bug where player could duplicate rounds by canceling the reload of Anti-Materiel Rifle at a specific time.
Fixed bug where Anti-Materiel Rifle would consume an extra magazine after a canceled reload.
Fixed bug where Recoilless Rifle would consume an extra shell from the backpack if the reload was canceled just after a shell was inserted, but before the reload was completed.
Fixed issue where the Sickle and Quasar Cannon could not shoot through foliage.
Fixed several issues where weapon thumbnails would disappear when scrolling through Armory.
Fixed issues where Automaton Gunships sometimes could not see the player.
Fixed incorrect collision being left over after destroying Automaton bunkers or detector towers with hellbombs.
Fixed issue where Hellbombs would not deploy on certain missions
Fixed certain issues that resulted in Helldivers drowning in deep water upon landing.
Fixed issue where Hellpod Space Optimization made ammo go above capacity.
Fixed issue where Stalkers became very visible in fog
Mines are now pingable for better coordination with your team.
Receiving friend requests now gives the player a pop up.
Improved readability of prompts and hints displayed in the tutorial and onboarding.
Total experience is now visible in the career tab.
Added better support for ultrawide monitors by fixing the aspect ratio of menus to 16:9 and adding a setting to control the width of the HUD.
Keybinds bound to numpad will no longer reset upon restart.
Fixed inconsistent audio when headphones are plugged into the Dual Sense controller while playing on PC.
Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors in front of the ship no longer causes player to fall out into space.
APW-1 Anti-Material Rifle and MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun now trigger hitmarkers while scoped in.
Secondary weapon no longer remains in the Ballistic Shield ADS position after using a stim with the Ballistic Shield Backpack equipped.
“Open Text Chat” is now rebindable.
Explosive weapons such as R-36 Eruptor, CB-9 Exploding Crossbow. GP-31 Grenade Pistol no longer pulls players inward from the blast.
Disabled the squad invites during the tutorial which caused an overlap in the UI.
Fixed Primary and Secondary weapons overlapping on the character model in the armory.
Fixed UI elements during first boot are cut off on a 21:9 aspect ratio monitor.
Report and block player is now visible in the squad menu.
Dead Scavengers now stop screaming for help if killed while calling in reinforcements.
Fixed Anti Air cannons showing up as “Stratagem Scramblers” in danger warnings.
Known Issues
Various issues involving friend invites and cross-play
Friend Request cannot be accepted when the requesting player changed their username before the request was accepted.
Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the Friend Requests tab.
Players cannot unfriend players befriended via friend code.
Players cannot unblock players that were not in their Friends list beforehand.
Damage-over-time effects may only apply when dealt by the host. We expect to have this fixed in the next patch.
Reinforcement may not be available for some players who join a game in progress.
Helldiver may be unable to stand up from crouching when surrounded by enemies.
Game may crash if the host leaves while dead and rejoins the same play session.
Game may crash if the player changes the text language while on a mission.
Players may experience delays in Medals and Super Credits payouts.
Enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions.
Scopes on some weapons such as the Anti-Materiel Rifle are slightly misaligned.
Arc weapons sometimes behave inconsistently and sometimes misfire.
Spear’s targeting is inconsistent, making it hard to lock-on to larger enemies.
Stratagem beam might attach itself to an enemy but it will deploy to its original location.
Explosions do not break your limbs (except for when you fly into a rock).
Area around Automaton Detector Tower makes blue stratagems such as the Hellbomb bounce and be repelled when trying to call them down close to the tower.
Planet liberation reaches 100% at the end of every Defend mission.
We will be sure to update you in the near future when more Helldivers 2 patches are deployed soon.
GSC Game World has pushed out a new Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl trailer, and this one is titled “Not a Paradise,” and gives us a look at the game’s world, and how it’s a barren wasteland now.
Per the press release, the clip contains both cutscenes and location overview, giving us a glimpse of the in-game story and even the atmosphere. This trailer also marks the first time players can have a taste of the Ukranian voiceover, which will be available alongside the English voiceover for everyone at launch.
About Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a brand-new entry in the legendary series, enjoyed by millions of players worldwide.
The unique combination of first-person shooter, immersive sim, and horror is back. With unprecedented scale, advanced graphics, freedom of choices, and the thickest atmosphere of a deadly adventure, it’s going to be the ultimate S.T.A.L.K.E.R. experience.
Welcome to The Zone — an area of exclusion around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Full of radiation, mutants, and anomalies, it keeps drawing adventurers from beyond the perimeter.
Bounty hunters dwell deep into the Zone, driven by its treasures and mysteries. These people are known as stalkers.
Aside from the free update roadmap, Bandai Namco Entertainment has also revealed that the Tekken 8 Season 1 second character will be Lidia Sobieska! She will be joining the fight this summer, and we even get a new Season 1 trailer today as well.
Watch the trailer to see to get a glimpse of the new stuff hitting later this year.
As for Lidia, go check out the short teaser released:
For those not familiar with the character, Sobieska is a karateka and the Prime Minister of Poland. The character made her debut in Tekken 7 as part of the Season 4 Pass. You can read more about the character here.
Sobieska is the second character to be released post-launch (with Eddy Gordo being the first one), and we have two more fighters yet to be revealed that’ll join the roster sometime this year.
While no release date has been given for Sobieska’s Tekken 8 launch, those who own the Deluxe, Ultimate editions or have availed of the Deluxe edition upgrade will be able to get 72-hour early access to the character. After that, she will be available to purchase piecemeal or as part of the Season 1 Pass.
Bandai Namco Entertainment has revealed the Tekken 8 roadmap for free updates coming this 2024, and it includes a new free stage, Photo Mode and more! There’s also a patch set to be released tomorrow, April 30, on all platforms.
Tekken 8 Roadmap for Free Updates for 2024:
Here’s what players can expect from the game this year in terms of free updates per Bandai Namco:
Spring
Balance adjustments
Summer
New stage: SEASIDE RESORT
New Photo Mode
Autumn
New chapter of Story Mode
And more!
Online Practice
Ghost vs. Ghost
Expect a balance patch for the season (Spring) to be released soon! Bandai Namco has announced that patch notes for version 1.04 will be available tomorrow, April 30, 2024.
Of course, this free update roadmap doesn’t include the paid character DLCs players are getting as well. Will we see a free character be released for the game? While chances are slim, Tekken franchise boss Katsuhiro Harada did tell us that they might consider it. For more on our chat with Harada, go read our full interview where we talk about pluggers, the in-game shop and more.
If you still haven’t bought Tekken 8, you might want to read our review to see if it’s worth a purchase. Spoiler: it is, and we even state, “Tekken 8 will probably compete for fighting game of the year and barring any surprises, should be the runaway winner.”
Remember when publishers and video game companies used to push hard in promoting a game? It seems that’s going the way of the dodo if Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is to be believed.
In a recent PC Gamer roundtable interview with developers across different studios, Warframe’s Creative Director Rebecca Ford mentioned, “Actual players don’t want to be marketed to,” which is something Larian Studios Publishing Director Michael Douse agreed to stating video game marketing is “dead.”
“Marketing is dead…Marketing is dead. It truly is—I can back this shit up, man. There’s no channels anymore—it doesn’t work. You used to have marketing, communication, and PR. Marketing was essentially a retail theory—you were trying to get your box on the right point of the store shelf, and you have partnerships with retail stores. Those pipelines are gone. Now you’ve got the internet. Nobody is looking at ads anymore … all of the channels that we would usually market through are no longer really viable. So their function is also reduced by the fact that players just want to be spoken to. They don’t want to be bamboozled—they just want to know what you’re making and why you’re making it and who it’s for.” – Michael Douse, Larian Studios Publishing Director
Douse further adds that the best place to market your game is on the store itself, stating that “everything else isn’t worth it,” and how they learned that with Baldur’s Gate 3, though it took them a while.
Given Baldur’s Gate 3 essentially mopped up every gaming award last year, I’d like to think Larian and Douse kind of know what they’re talking about. I mean, BG3 wasn’t heavily marketed like other AAA games, but it managed to outsell noteworthy franchises just by word of mouth.
In other Baldur’s Gate 3 news, Larian mentioned that they are still working on crossplay. While that won’t be part of Patch 7, evil endings getting reworked is, which you can read about here.
While the Game of Thrones craze might have died down after the finale aired back in May 2019, there are still a lot of fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series. For book and TV show fans that play games, a rumor has surfaced stating that there is a new Game of Thrones video game in development at Nexon.
The unnamed source by Lord of the Rings, The Witcher and Game of Thrones fansite Redanian Intelligence claims that Nexon is working on a Game of Thrones MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) that’s set in the North. Allegedly, the story is set somewhere around Game of Thrones Season 4/S5 where Roose Bolton is already Warden of the North, Jon Snow and Samuel Tarly are still on the Wall.
The rumor states that the Game of Thrones video game will feature a story campaign but will be online. Players will be able to choose between male and female protagonists, and the one not chosen will still be involved in the game somehow. Per the source, it claims “the entire package sounds somewhat like The Elder Scrolls Online,” though not enough details are known about it.
No release date is set for it as well, as the report claims it might be out in 2025 or 2026 or even later. No word whether Nexon is developing or publishing the game. Nexon is, of course, no stranger to video games, as the company has published games like The Finals, and is even developing hero multiplayer shooter, Marvel Rivals.
While Game of Thrones was the biggest TV show when it was still airing, we surporisingly didn’t get a lot of video games about the franchise. The only game based on the IP that was high profile was Game of Thrones: A TellTale Games Series which was released back in 2014 on consoles and PC. Outside of that, most of the Game of Thrones video games were released on mobile and to little fanfare. If this rumor rings true, this makes to the second MMORPG based on the Game of Thrones franchise attempted, as Bigpoint announced Game of Thrones; Seven Kingdoms back in 2012, though after the studio was bought out by Yoozoo Games in 2016, the game was scrapped and the license was instead used to push out Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming, which is an MMORTS released on mobile and PC in 2019.
MP1st Take on This Rumor:
While Game of Thrones might not be as hot of a property as it was when the TV show was still airing on HBO, it still has a good following (as evidenced by House of the Dragon). Also, it does make sense for Nexon to do this given the brand’s lore, story, enemies and whatnot all lend themselves well to an RPG.
While Nintendo hasn’t acknowledged or said any specific details about its next gaming console which most have dubbed as the “Nintendo Switch 2,” it seems a third-party peripheral maker has outed details based on data they know by its partnership with Nintendo.
Chinese accessory maker Mobapad has posted a list of details on the company Facebook page stating that old Joycon and Pro controllers from the original Switch will be compatible with the Switch 2 and more.
Note that the company has changed the wording a bit and removed the mention of how they came across the info “through our partnership with Nintendo’s supply chain.” We’ve included both versions below.
Original post:
Nintendo Switch 2: insider Insights: Show everything we know! Are you eagerly anticipating news about Nintendo’s next-generation Switch console? Through our partnership with Nintendo’s supply chain, we have acquired exclusive information about the upcoming Switch 2, which we are pleased to share with you:
New (updated) post:
Exclusive Insights into Nintendo Switch 2: What to Expect! Are you as intrigued as we are about the latest news on Nintendo’s next-generation console? 1. Will the Bluetooth chip in Switch 2 support current Joy-Cons and Pro controllers? 2. Is the card slot in Switch 2 compatible with previous generation Switch cartridges? 3. Have there been any upgrades to the screen? Feel free to discuss, as we’re set to unveil the firsthand information we’ve gathered in early May.”
Alongside that statement, the company listed the following details about the Switch 2’s compatibility with old controllers, changes to the dock, and more importantly, how the cartridge slot on the Switch 2 will support backwards compatibility from the original Switch.
The Bluetooth chip of Switch 2 still supports existing Joy-Con and Pro controllers (after development machine testing), and still features HD vibration (ALPS dual-axis linear motor), but the volume of the new Joy-Con motor will be smaller. And certainly, our Chitu and MBS/HD controllers will remain fully compatible!
The cartridge siot on the Switch 2 will support backward compatibility with existing Switch game cards, both physical and digital. However, new game cards designed for the Switch 2 will not be compatible with the original console.
in handheld mode, the new Joy-Con rails will adopt a horizontal magnetic docking structure for smoother attachment. The SL and SR buttons will be metallic and magnetically activated.
The Switch 2 will retain a USB-C port for docking, compatible with the new generation of docks featuring minor design enhancements.
The redesigned dock will include a metal damping bracket for improved angle adjustment.
The screen will be upgraded to 1080p resolution and slightly larger dimensions. In essence, the Switch 2 represents a conservative evolution in hardware, resembling a refined “Pro* version of the Switch.”
While Mobapad is a legit gaming peripheral company that sells multiple Switch products, we should still take all the info mentioned with a gran of salt, as everything about the Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t been confirmed by Nintendo. Well, except the one about the new console being shown to developers six months ago, which is something the big N refuted.
While we are treating this one with a huge bag of salt, peripheral makers usually get advance info about products so they can prepare their items/accessories in time for the product’s launch.
Chinese product manufacturers leaking info is nothing new, as it almost always happens every year for iPhones and other tech products with manufacturing in the country.
